Chapter 39 - New Castle from History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire From: Claudia Menzel - menzel99@gateway.net Source: History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and Representative Citizens by Charles A. Hazlett, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill., 1915 Page 526 CHAPTER XXXIX NEW CASTLE Geographical-Topographical-First Settlement-Great Island-The Fort of 1660-The Separation--The Meeting-House-Lithobolia-Prominent Men-Fort William and Mary-Miltary Record-Walbach Tower- Public Library. The Town of New Castle is an island lying off the coast of Portsmouth, and was formerly called Great Island. The surface of this town is rocky. The history of New Castle is of some interest, as the first settlement in New Hampshire was made in 1623 near its borders by a Scotchman named David Thompson. The original designation was Great Island, but in 1693 it was separated from Portsmouth and incorporated under its present name. At the time of its incorporation a large portion of land on the west was included within its limits, but in consequence of the incorporation of Rye in 17I9 its area was reduced to 458 acres. The soil, though thickly interspersed with rocks, has ever been made to produce abundantly, and owing to the plentiful supply of seaweed the farmers need never fail for want of the proper means of enriching their lands. Formerly a bridge was built on the southwest side of the town, forming a means of connection between Rye and New Castle, and previous to the building of the new bridges in 1821 all travelers for Portsmouth went by way of the "Old Bridge." Soon after the settlement of Great Island a fort was built upon Frost Point, to serve as a protection to the harbor. It was an earthwork "made with certain great gunns to it," and in the year 1660 was mentioned in the documents of that day as the means of distinguishing Great Island from other islands in the vicinity. It was several times remodeled, and for many years prior to the War of the Revolution was called Fort William and Mary, named in honor of the king and queen of England. In the eleventh year of the reign of Charles the First, of England, the island, together with the fort, came into possession of Mistress Anne Mason, widow of John Mason, of London, who at the time of his death was engaged in mercantile pur- suits. Portions of the island were afterwards deeded to Robert Mussel and other individuals by her agent, Joseph Mason, of "Strawberry Bank," on the river of the "Pascattaquack." It is difficult to separate the history of New Castle from the general affairs of the Province of New Hampshire in the early times. For the first seventy-five years it was the capital of the province, and two-thirds of the provincial officials were citizens of the town. No actual local government, independent of the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, was put in operation in Page 527 New Hampshire before 1680-81, so that there is very little doubt the very first representative body ever convened in the state was at New Castle. The date of the first council meeting is "Great Island, January 15, 1683," and everyone of its meetings was here until the year 1697. All the members of this first recorded council, including the governor, Edward Cranfield, lived at New Castle. The town records from 1693 to 1726 were gone, none knew where, but in the autumn of 1873, the postmaster of New Castle, H. M. Curtis, Esq., received a letter from Mr. Henry Starr, of London, informing him that one of his neighbors, a Captain Bokenham, of Cheshunt, in Herfordshire, had in his possession two volumes of the town records of New Castle. The letter was cautiously answered, inquiry made as to the expenses of getting back the precious documents. The reply was the volumes them- selves, by the next English mail. They proved to be the long-lost records, of the first thirty-three years of the town's corporate existence, in perfect preservation, and in the handwriting of Francis Tucker, an attorney of New Castle. The discovery and return of these records was an almost romantic event for our little town, which had, indeed some vague idea that its ancient history was more remarkable than its modern, but could not hitherto produce any evidence of it. The records were all the more indispensable to its earliest history, inasmuch as those of Portsmouth, which might have shed some light upon it, were known to have been destroyed. From these records it appears that a meeting-house had been erected at least as early as 1693, for in December of that year an order was put on "ye Meeting-House" for a town-meeting to agree with a "minister and dis- corse other things Necessary for the towne's Benefitt." Separation of the Town of New Castle.--Until the year 1693 there was but one place of worship, the old South Meeting-house, for the inhabitants within the limits of Portsmouth, New Castle, Rye, Greenland, and a part of Newington. From the settlement at Odiorne's Point in 1623 the way was easy across the beautiful waters of the Little Harbor to the Great Island (as New Castle is even still frequently called), with its small and pleasant beaches, its higher rocks, with its small and pleasant beaches, its higher rocks, and its securer defenses by nature from the attacks of the Indians. One finds at the present time graves in all parts of the island, and although, by reason of the incon- veniences of the ferries and in the growth of the colony, Portsmouth became more prominent and engrossed nearly all the history of the settlement, we must not forget that for a number of years Great Island was of more importance and the most populous and aristocratic part of the town. Here were the governor's residence, the fort called William and Mary, on the site used ever since for the same purpose, the prison where Moodey and others were confined, the houses of several of the most wealthy and influential settlers, mansions of note for their day. In the year 1693 there appears the following record: "To the Honorable, ye Lieut. Governor and Councile of this their Majes- ties Province of New Hampshire: the humble petition of the inhabitants of the Great Island humbly sheweth: "That whereas we, being part of ye towne of Portsmo', and having found for many years great Inconveniences arising thereby in regard of the dis- Page 528 tance we are from the banck, and no way to it but by water, wherein there is great difficulty at any time, but sometimes more especially to the hazard of our healths and lives, in going up to attend the publike worship of God at Strawberry banck and having many poore people amongst us, both men and women and children, which have no convenience of passage, by which means ye greatest part of our people cannot enjoy ye hearing of ye word preached to them, wch causeth many times ye breach of ye Sabbath, and ye dishoner of God's holy worship; as also, our Island being ye mouth of ye harbor and Inlet into ye province, having the King's fort placed here, and all the stores of ammunition, wh. is of great Consequence and ought at all times to be care- fully attended and lookt after; but if the Inhabitants of this Island must be confyned to attend their duty at Strawberry banck upon every publike ocation, the King's fort is left destitute of assistance, and lyes exposed to ye surprizall of ye enemie and our owne destruction; we therefore, the Inhabi- tants of ye Great Island, being a competent number to make and uphold a towneship, do humbly beg and desire of this honorable board ye Governr and Council that we may be constituted a Towneship by ourselves, and that you would grant us the privileges and imunities as their Majestys have bin gratiously pleased to allow sutch a Towneship, . . .and ye peti- tioners shall ever pray." This petition is signed by a number of persons, among whom we find names still common at New Castle: Of course there was considerable oppo- sition on the part of Portsmouth to the petition. The selectmen appeared before the Council and confessed it was inconvenient for the inhabitants of Great Island to go to meeting at the Bank, and that the fort and stores ought not to be at any time deserted; but there should be a minister settled on the island rather than a separate town. The Council, however, decided that Great Island should be made a town- ship, and divided from the Bank, taking in Little Harbor and a part of Rye, and on the 30th day of May, in the fifth year of the reign of William and Mary, 1693, the charter of the Town of New Castle was given. It is written on parchment in black letter, or old English, and preserved with great care among the town papers. The result was that Mr. (Benj'e) Woodbridge was engaged to be the minister for a year at a salary of sixty pounds and the contribution of strangers. Whence he came and when and why he left there is no record, but he is mentioned two or three times in a strange book written about that time and printed in London in 1698, to which we shall soon refer, and called Mr. Woodbridge, a divine. I judge there was some trouble in regard to the salary, as this is a trouble which seems to run through the record, or the inhabitants felt that they had not been sufficiently consulted, for soon after Mr. Woodbridge was settled his advice was asked in regard to a successor. He named three clergymen, and of course the parish did not agree upon any one of them; but in 1694 Mr. Samuel Moodey was "discoursed," and called by the parish at a salary of seventy pounds, finding himself housing and all other things on his own charge. This Mr. Moodey was a son of Joshua Moodey, the minister of Portsmouth, and was graduated at Har- vard in 1639. He remained until the latter part of 1702, or early in 1703, and thereafter appears at the Shoals, where he is spoken of as "a man of piety and a pathetic and useful preacher." The last record in regard to Page 529 him is on a matter of salary, the town agreeing to pay him not all in money, but part in provisions, and thereafter he is spoken of as the late pastor. At a town-meeting held on the 24th of May, 1703, it was voted to settle Mr. John Emerson, at a salary of sixty-five pounds and the contribution of strangers; and also to build a minister's house, "when the town is able," and to fence in the land belonging to the "ministry,"' and to pay the minister the freight on his house goods. Altogether they seem to have begun with Mr. Emerson with a good deal of enthusiasm, perhaps because of his dis- tinguished presence and gifts, which won promises they could not make good in money, for in 1710 Mr. Emerson complains to the town of the poor house in which he has lived ever since he came among them, and puts them in mind of their promise to build a parson's house. This seems to have led to some difficulty, which resulted in the loss of their minister, for although the town voted to build a parsonage, January 18, 1710, the vote was not carried into effect for two years, and on the 17th of September, 1711, Mr. Emerson informed the town that he being sickly of the "ague, and the town not agreeing with him, he thinks it absolutely necessary for his regaining his health to move farther from the sea." He left in 1712, and in 1715 was settled over the South Parish of Portsmouth. When he left New Castle application was made to the president of the college and the minister at Cambridge to procure a minister suitable for the place, and in 1712, Novem- her 24th, it was voted "that Mr. William Shurtleff shall be ye minister in this town, and that he be called to office and ordained here," and in the same year it was voted "that ye Reverend Mr. William Shurtleff shall have sixty-five pounds per year for his annual salary during the time he lives single, but when his family increases by marriage it is voted that he shall have eighty pounds per year." In 1732 he gave up the parish at New Castle, and on the 21st of February, 1733, was installed over the South Parish, where he had a ministry of great prosperity for fourteen years. The first meeting-house at New Castle, built in or before the year 1693, gave way to another in 1706, which was furnished with a bell of fine tone sent over from England, decorated with a beautiful altar-piece, and supplied with a silver communion service, to which was added a splendid silver cup, the bequest of a sister of Sir William Pepperell, and on the pulpit was a large folio Bible with illuminated letters, printed at the University of Oxford. This meeting-house was, perhaps, as a whole, finer than the first old South at Portsmouth, standing at the same time. In these early records there are votes at the town-meetings which show the same general characteristics of the inhabitants in regard to social and religious customs that we have already noticed. We find the same order as to seating the townspeople in the meeting-house. We find it ordered "that one householder or more walk every Sabbath day in sermon time with the constable to every Publick House in ye town to suppress ill order, and If they think conveiniant, to private Houses also." We find the same votes in regard to the entertainment of strangers, and giving their names to the select- men if they remain more than a few days. We find it ordered, "for the prevention of fire or other dangers which may happen by smoking in the Meeting-House, that every person soe smoking at any meeting in the Meet- ing-House be fined." We find it ordered, "for the prevention of charge com- ing on the town by some certain noted common drunkards, that the names Page 530 of such persons given by the selectmen to every publick house in the town in a paper, and a fine to be inflicted on whomsoever shall sell any drink to persons so noted and named." We find a vote that all the inhabitants shall pass the ferry free on Sabbath days and on all other public days; and we find many votes at various meetings about 1720, and thereafter, in regard to building a bridge over Little Harbor, which was built, fell into decay and disuse, was swept away by the tides. Another was built upon its site, of which almost the last traces have disappeared. Lithobolia.-The most remarkable incident in the history of Great Island is connected with one of the few cases of witchcraft in our neighborhood, and while one instance of the appearance of the witches at Little Harbor is in all the accounts, this, the far more extraordinary, has been almost entirely lost sight of. There are two roads that lead into the ancient village, one by the water and the other a little farther inland. About a third of a mile east by south of the last bridge, on the latter road and very near to it, per- haps, indeed, on it, as the highway has been opened since the building dis- appeared, and on the land owned by Mr. John Locke, there stood, as early certainly as 1686, a large mansion with a gambrel roof, a hall extending through the lower story, with several spacious chambers above. The house belonged to one George Walton, called a planter, and among the inmates was one Richard Chamberlain, a prominent public functionary under Cran- field, being variously styled justice of the peace, Secretary of State, clerk of the court, etc., and near by was a friend of his, also prominent in provincial matters, Capt. Walter Barefoot. When Chamberlain went home to England he wrote a book, which was printed in London in 1698, of which the follow- ing is the name and its explanation: "Lithobolia; or the Stone-throwing Devil. Being an Exact and True Account (by way of Journal) of the various actions of infernal Spirits or (Devils Incarnate) witches, or both, and the Great Disturbance and amazement they gave to George Walton's family, at a place called Great Island, in the province of New Hampshire, in New England, chiefly in throwing about (by an Invisible hand) stones, bricks, and brickbats of all sizes, with several other things as hammers, mauls, Iron Crows, Spits, and other domestic utensils, as came into their Hellish minds, and this for the space of a quarter of a year. By R. C., Esq., who was a sojourner in the same family the whole Time, and an Ocular witness of these Diabolical Inventions. The Contents hereof being mani- festly known to the Inhabitants of that province and known of other provinces, and is upon record in his Majestie's Council Court, held for that province, 4to. Dedication 2 pp. 16, London: Printed and are to be sold by E. Whit- lock near Stationer's Hall, 1698." Lithobolia is a Greek word, signifying a throwing of stones, and is the title given to this book because it describes the intervention of supposed evil spirits whose manifestations took that form. The belief in witchcraft was then almost universal even among legal minds best trained to the examination and sifting of evidence. So easy is it for persons to see what they believe they will see therefore the book begins with a charge against the skeptical, incredulous, and infidel spirit of the age which should venture to disbelieve such well attested things, as with equal reason one might as well deny his very senses, infidelity being always nothing more than the reproach of not accepting the belief of the majority, no matter how much Page 531 stronger or higher our faith may be in something different. The malicious acts of these fiends ceased about the time the governor arrived, so that he insisted upon it that it was only the waggery of some unlucky boys, but this Chamberlain regards as impossible after the sight and testimony of so many considerable persons. These preternatural occurrences were supposed to be caused by the maliciousness of a neighboring woman, who pretended that some land of her field had been taken into the bounds of this George Walton, and who had been heard to say with much bitterness that Walton should never quietly enjoy that piece of ground. It would often be a source of grim satisfaction to many if they could thus call all the evil spirits to their aid in tormenting those who have infringed upon their rights. This true narrative, the writer says, is set down to rectify the depraved judgments and sentiments of such unbelieving persons as reject the operations and being of witches, and convince all who hear without prejudice by the testimony of eye-witnesses almost every day for a quarter of a year together. One Sunday night, about ten of the clock, this Richard Chamberlain, justice of the peace, lodging at the house of George Walton, heard many stones thrown and hit with great noise against the top and all sides of the house. Walton and his neighbor, Amazeen, an Italian, had gone to examine the gate between their houses, which had a habit of being swung off the hinges and cast upon the ground, and as they returned to the house they were assaulted with a peal of stones, taken, as was supposed, from the rocks hard by the house (thus always, in spite of their belief in the super- natural and omnipotent agency, persons try to let the attendant circum- stances make it easier for the divine agency) and by human hands as agents. Everybody in the house was aroused by the strange alarm, and all looked out as sharply as possible, it being a bright moonlight night, but could make no discovery. Then a shower of stones, some of them as big as the fist, came into the entry of the house, whereupon they withdrew into the next room, none being hit save two youths. "Praised be Almighty Providence," says Richard Chamberlain; for certainly the infernal agent, constant enemy to mankind, had he not been overruled, intended no less than death or maim. Forthwith they began a search; they searched the hall, they searched the cellar, and of course the shower of stones began to diminish, but when they came into the room "these unfriendly lapidary salutations" were renewed. The windows were broken, and yet the stones had a way of coming apparently from the inside, forcing the bars and cast windows out, and themselves falling back into the room. One stone they took out of the glass of the window where it lodged itself in the breaking of it, in a hole exactly fit for the stone. Sometimes they scratched the stones, and found that the same ones were taken up and thrown at them again and again. After four hours of fright Chamberlain concluded to go to bed (thus do the powers of nature overcome the supernatural, and we go to sleep even in the presence of demons), but soon he was again awakened by another battery, when it seemed as if shelves, pictures, books, and everything had been knocked down, and upon all the household rushing to his room, they found a stone weighing eight pounds and a half, which had burst open the door. Soon after the manifestations ceased for that night. It was a dis- turbed night for the household, and in the morning each one had some strange experience to relate, which probably lost nothing in the relation. Page 532 That day while the men were at work in the field, and with Mr. Wood- bridge, the divine, now present to see, the stones came jumping and tumbling on the grass, and upon one person skeptically asserting he was not per- suaded, but that the boys at work did throw them, the devil rewarded his infidelity by a blow with a stone upon the boy, which convinced the one and set the boy a-crying. That night Chamberlain began to play upon a musical instrument, perhaps to drive away his fears-as boys whistle in the night- when a great stone came rumbling into the room, which, he says, was on a much different account than in the days of old, and of old fabulous enchant- ments, his music being none of the best; and while many gathered at the house on account of the marvelous thing, just as the stones were being thrown about, two youths saw a black cat in the fields, which was shot at, but missed by its changing places, and being immediately at some distance, and then out of sight. The next Monday Walton went by water to a place called Great Bay, and as the men were at work in the woods felling wood, there came another shower of stones, which they gathered into a pile under a tree, and return- ing after a time found they had disappeared, and were again thrown about. Once again, returning from Great Bay with a load of hay, about midway in the river he found his boat in a sinking condition by the pulling out of the stopple in the bottom-"a contrivance, a combination," says Richard Cham- berlain, "of the old serpent to have doomed my good landlord and his com- pany." At one time, after a nunber of prominent persons gathered there had been wondrously affected by these strange things, they offered them- selves to give testimonies, which Richard Chamberlain, Esq., then wrote down, and several signed a paper attesting the truth of their being eye- witnesses of at least half a score of stones that evening thrown invisibly into the field and entry and hall and chamber of George Walton. Among these we find the governor of West Jersey and the deputy governor of Rhode Island and other persons of note. Strange sounds sometimes attended the throwing of the stones, and besides the stones strange things flew about, and familiar things strangely changed their places. One of the worst days was Friday, the 4th of August, when the fence between Mr. Walton and the neighbor who was supposed to be the witch was maliciously pulled down to let their cattle into his ground, and when he and his servants went to put it up again they were pelted with above forty stones. Walton was hit divers times, and all that day as they were reaping it ceased not, and there fell above one hundred stones. Sickles were bent, and Mrs. Walton going out to make most diligent observation, to dispel the incredulity of some and confirm her own belief, met with a severe blow from the Unseen Power; and Mr. Woodbridge, the divine, and Mr. Jaffrey, the merchant, were all hit and injured. Thereafter the stony disturbances grew less, and last of all they ended with Mr. Walton, who, going in his boat from the Great Island to Ports- mouth, to attend the Council which had taken cognizance of the matter, he being summoned thither for examination, as if to have a final fling at him (all such things generally ending upon proper examination), the devil hit him sadly with three pebble-stones as big as one's fist. One gash broke his head, which for evidence Chamberlain saw him show to the president of Page 533 the Council, and from the stroke of another he complained afterwards to his death. The "Lithobolia" closes thus: "Who that peruses these preternatural occurrences can possibly be so much an enemy to his own Soul and irre- futable Reason as obstinately to oppose himself to, or confusedly fluctuate in the Opinion and Doctrine of Daemons and Spirits and Witches! Certainly he that do's so must do two things more. He must temeraniously unhinge or undermine the best Religion in the world, and he must disingenuously quit and abandon that of the three Theologick Virtues or Graces, to which the great Doctor of the Gentils gave the precedence-Charity-through his unchristian and uncharitable incredulity." So it was the faith of that day that if witchcraft and a belief in the devil went, Christianity went too; still they have gone, and Christianity remains. Prominence of New Castle.--At Great Island resided Cranfield and Barefort, and here was the governor's house. Here, too, lived Robert Cutt, the royalist Episcopalian, whose Puritan brothers, Richard and John, at the Bank, took such a prominent part in our early history. Here lived Pendle- ton, Stileman, and Fryer, three leading persons in early church matters, and the first two among the seven names of those who became members at the organization of a church in 1671. Here lived Theodore Atkinson, for a long time foremost in all provincial matters; Richard Chamberlain, holder of several offices, and author of "Lithobolia" ; Charles Story, secretary of the province. Here we first find the name of Tobias Lear, whose descendant became a somewhat eminent diplomatist, and the private secretary of Wash- ington. It would be a serious omission, and would leave this sketch quite incom- plete were I not to mention another name whose descendants have held a prominent place in the town until the present day-- The Sheafe Family.--On an ancient monument within the diocese of Norfolk, of St. George, Nonwich, is this inscription: "Here are buried under this stone, Thomas Sheff and his wife, Marion; Sometyme we warr as yee now bee, And now we are as bee shall yee; Wherefore of your charite, Pray for us to the Trinite. "Obyt. Mccclxxxxiii." Here, at Cranbrook, Kent, in England, we first find the Sheafe family, of whom it is believed Jacob Sheafe came to America with Rev. Henry Whit- field, and died in Boston. His son, Sampson Sheafe, came to Great Island in 1675, and here was the beginning of the family in this neighborhood. He had at New Castle housing, wharf, and lands, was one of his Majesty's Council, and collector of customs at Portsmouth. The Jaffrey House.--This brings us to another and the last name of per- sons living at Great Island who had a conspicuous place in civil as well as ecclesiastical matters. In 1677, after Sampson Sheafe had returned to Boston, he contracted with one George Jaffrey to go to Great Island and Page 534 take charge solely of his goods, housing, orchard, and land, and to do no other business, in consideration of forty pounds lawful money of New England for two years, and to be found and allowed "good and sufficient meat and drink, washing and lodging." In 1682, Jaffrey was tried for an attempt to defraud the revenue, and this matter brought him into con- flict with Rev. Joshua Moodey. It seems he was afterwards forced to flee and his house was taken by the Government, for there is a record, dated May 16, 1684, ordering the "General Assembly to convene at Great Island, at the house late in possession of George Jaffrey," and, again, "the talk is that his (George Jaffrey's)house must be courthouse and prison both, and standing so near the governor, it is judged suitable for both these ends, that he may have the shorter journey to court, and the prisoners may be always under his eye." And last of all there is a note in the journal of Rev. John Pike: "George Jaffrey, Sr., of Portsmouth, one of the Council, journeying from Boston to Piscataqua on a very cold day, was taken sick and died at Ipswich. A man of singular understanding and usefulness among us." Among the men of eminence in this ancient town early in the last century Hon. John Frost held a high rank. He was a native of Kittery, Me., born in 1681, and was the son of Maj. Charles Frost (who was slain by the Indians on the Sabbath, July 4, 1697, as he was returning from meeting), and grandson of Nicholas Frost, an emigrant from England, born in Tiverton about the year 1595, and settled at Sturgeon Creek, in Eliot, in 1636, where he died in 1663. This grandson, Hon. John Frost, in 1702 married Mary Pepperell, sister of Sir William, the baronet. Hon. John Frost and his lady were early established at Newcastle, where he soon rose to eminence. He was a member of his Majesty's Council, at one time commanded a British ship of war, afterwards pursued the profes- sion of a merchant, and was much distinguished and highly useful in civil life. His place of residence was on an eminence westerly of the Prescott mansion, commanding a view of the spacious harbor, the river and its table-lands, with the lofty Agamenticus in the distance. Some remains of his extensive wharf may yet be traced. His family was numerous and highly respectable, one of whom was Madame Sarah Blunt, born in 1713, consort of Rev. John Blunt, third pastor of the church in Newcastle, and after his decease the wife of Hon. Judge Hill, of South Berwick, Me. Ron. John Frost died February 25, 1732, in the fifty-first year of his age. In the cemetery is a moss-covered monument, which bears unmistakable evidence that the same poet who sketched the above chaste epitaph has also, in as smooth and as strong lines, drawn another marked portraiture : "To the memory of Rev'd JOHN BLUNT, Pastor of the Church of Christ of this Town who died Aug. 7, 1748, in the 42d year of his age, whose body lies here interred, this stone is erected. "Soft is the sleep of saints, in peace they lie, They rest in silence, but they never die; From these dark graves, their flesh refined shall rise And in immortal bloom ascend the skies. Page 535 Then shall thine eyes, dear Blunt! thine hands, thy tongue-- In nicer harmony each member strung- Resume their warm devotion, and adore Him in whose service they were joined before." Rev. Benjamin Randall, "Founder of the Free Will Baptist Society in America," was born in this town in 1749. In youth he acquired a decent mercantile education, and was employed in the occupation of a sail maker. From childhood his mind was peculiarly susceptible of religious impres- sions, but became more deeply interested in the subject of religion under the itinerant and ministerial labors of Rev. George Whitefield. In 1772 he united with the Congregational Church at New Castle. In 1775, having embraced the principles of the "General Baptists," he was baptized by immer- sion at Madbury, and was ordained at New Durham, April 5, 1780, and there organized a church of the Free Will Baptists--the first ever estab- lished. He died October 22, 1808, aged fifty-nine years. FORT WILLIAM AND MARY So many versions of the attacks on Fort William and Mary in December, 1774, have been written that we select the following extracts from a recent paper by John G. Crawford, Esq., read before the Manchester Historic Asso- ciation, December 23, 1896. "The errors which have occurred in all the histories of New Hampshire in relation to the expeditions which were planned and carried out to dismantle Fort or Castle William and Mary are so apparent that they certainly require some correction. "Historians are allowed to take great liberty with facts, but when they record important transactions and state matters which are not facts, then that which purports to be history not only ceases to be of value but becomes detrimental and misleading. "Fort, or Castle, William and Mary was one of the line of forts estab- lished by England along the coast to defend the several harbors and ports of entry. Portsmouth at the time of the trouble between the colonies and the mother country was, next to Boston, the most important port along the New England coast. This fort was situated in New Castle, some two miles down the harbor from Portsmouth. After the close of the French and Indian war there had been but little use to maintain a large force in it; only sufficient to care for the guns and munitions stored therein, and for revenue service. The expense of maintaining the fort, in supplying it with men and pro- visions, was borne by the colony of New Hampshire. The troubles which had been brewing between the colonies and England ever since the pas- sage of the stamp act, which 'culminated in the War of Independence, made the occupation of the fortifications on the coast of great importance in the struggle soon to follow. "The House of Representatives of the Province of New Hampshire which convened at Portsmouth, the capitol, on Thursday, May 26, 1774, voted: 'That there be allowed and paid unto the captain general of this province for payment of officers, soldiers, billiting, fire-wood, and candles for support of his majesty's Fort William and Mary for one year, viz: from Page 536 the 25th of March, 1774, to the 25th of March, 1775, the sum of two thou- sand pounds, lawful money, to be paid in four quarterly payments out of the money that is, or shall be in the treasury, with advice of council.' This vote was sent up to the council by Mr. Jennes. The next day, May 27, the secre- tary brought from the board the vote for an allowance for the fort, with a verbal message from his excellency, Governor Wentworth, that he thought the allowance insufficient and desired some alterations might be made, by allowing a larger sum, or appointing a number of soldiers sufficient, with proper allowance. "The house took immediate consideration of the message from the gov- ernor, and to show their loyalty to England, voted that the captain general be desired to give orders for the enlisting three men to be posted at his Majesty's Fort William and Mary for one year, commencing the 25th day of March, 1774, under such officer as he shall appoint. "This vote was sent up by Colonel Folsom and Captain Waldron. It was returned on the same day to the assembly, with a message from the governor, in which he said: 'The vote of assembly for the support of his majesty's Castle William and Mary, dated this day, appears to me to be so inadequate that it is my duty to inform the assembly that I do not think it safe to entrust so important a fortress to the care and defense of three men and one officer.' The members of the assembly were not disposed to vote a large sum or raise much of an army to occupy the fort. Already there was a movement to form another government and from this assembly were to come those men who were to lead the colony in its struggle for independence. "Committees of correspondence had been appointed in several of the col- onies to consider the situation of the country, and on the next day, after voting three men to defend the fort, the assembly chose Hon. John Went- worth of the house, Samuel Cutts, John Gedding, Clement March, Joseph Bartlett, Henry Prescott, and John Pickering a committee to correspond with the committees appointed by the several houses of the sister colonies. "They took into consideration the 'great difficulties that have arisen and still subsist between our parent country and the colonies on this continent,' and declared they were ready to join in all salutary measures that may be adopted by them at this important crisis for saving the rights and privileges of the Americans.' After choosing this committee and passing the resolutions they took up the governor's message in reference to the support of the castle and authorized the enlistment of five men under an officer to be posted at the fort. "Governor Wentworth saw the tendency of the members of general assembly to join with the representatives of the sister colonies in appointing a congress of the colonies, and to prevent further action he adjourned the assembly from time to time until the 8th day of June, 1774, when he dis- solved it. "The provisions made for the fort were carried out, and five men under the command of Capt. John Corcoran were stationed there to defend it. This was the condition of affairs when, on the 13th of December, 1774, the movement was first put on foot to dismantle the fort, and it is this account given by the several historians of New Hampshire that we desire to call attention to, and to give, as far as the records will permit, a correct version of the affair. Page 537 "In order to better understand the true history it is necessary to copy extracts from pages 298 and 299 of McClintock's History of New Hamp- shire. I am fully aware that McClintock's history is not considered reliable in its details, having been hastily gathered, and published without that veri- fication which should accompany all histories, yet it stands before the public as the history of New Hampshire, and though this generation may be aware of its many deficiencies, it may be regarded as correct by the generations to come after us. Yet McClintock is not alone responsible for the many his- torical inaccuracies on these two pages, for the earlier writers upon this sub- ject, including Mr. Amory, in his Life of General John Sullivan, and Head- ley in his work, Washington and His Generals, made the same mistakes. " 'An order had been passed by the king in council, prohibiting the expor- tation of gunpowder and military stores to America. The committee of safety received a copy of it by express from Boston the 13th of December. They collected a company with great secrecy and dispatch, who went to Fort William and Mary at New Castle, under the direction of Maj. John Sulli- van and Capt. John Langdon, confined the captain of the fort and his five men and brought off one hundred barrels of gunpowder. The next day another company brought off fifteen of the lightest cannon, all the small arms and some warlike stores. " 'On the 13th of December, 1774, Paul Revere took his first public ride. While it may not have been so far reaching in importance as his later one, it richly deserves a place in history. It happened in this manner: The Boston committee of safety had just heard of the British order that no military stores should be exported to America. They accordingly sent Paul Revere on a fleet horse to Portsmouth to apprize the similar committee there of the news, and probably to urge them to secure the powder which was in Fort William and Mary in the harbor, as reinforcements were expected shortly from England. * * * John Sullivan was a member of the Pro- vincial congress that year, and had just arrived in Portsmouth from Phila- delphia. * * * Sullivan proposed the immediate capture of the place, and offered to lead the men to the attack. A military force was accordingly sum- moned as secretly as possible from the neighborhood, Sullivan and John Langdon took the command and the march was commenced towards the English fort. It was a hazardous undertaking. There danger from the fort. If the captain became aware of their designs he was sure to turn the guns on them and destroy them. But no alarm was given; with a rush they gained the gate, captured the sentry, and before a challenge could be given had the captain and every man in the fort prisoners. The British flag was hauled down, the gunpowder, of which there were one hundred barrels in the fort, was immediately taken away and hid in the houses of the patriots. Sullivan concealed a portion of it under the pulpit of the Durham meeting- house. A large part of this plunder afterwards did good service at Bunker Hill. Next day fifteen of the lighter cannon and all the small arms were carried away. The governor and his officers received no intelligence of the affair until it was too late to remedy it. * * * It was the first act of armed hostility committed against the crown of Great Britain by an Amer- can.' "The above quotation from one and one-half pages of what is called history contains no less than sixteen errors, some of which I desire to call Page 538 attention to, that the future historian of our state,--and no state stands in need of one more than New Hampshire,--may not repeat the same in giving an account of these expeditions. "The order in the British council, prohibiting the exportation of gun- powder, etc., may have been the primary cause for the dismantling of the fort but not the immediate cause. That order was not what the committee at Portsmouth received at the hands of Paul Revere from Boston. A gentle- man in Boston, who evidently was infonned upon the subject, said in a letter to Mr. Rivington in New York under date of December 20, 1774: " 'On Monday, the 12th instant, our worthy citizen, Mr. Paul Revere, was sent express from only two or three of the committee of correspondence at Boston--of whom no number under seven were empowered to act--to a like committee at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, informing them "That orders had been sent to the governors of these provinces to deliver up the several fortifications or castles to Gen. Gage, and that a number of troops had the preceding day embarked on board the transports with a design to proceed and take possession of said castle." This information was delivered by Paul Revere to Samuel Cutts, one of the committee at Portsmouth, who imme- diately called together the committee to consider the situation. Action was postponed until the following day. Some of the committee deeming a delay dangerous, determined to immediately seize the fort.' "There was no secrecy about the matter. Notice of their intention was openly avowed on the streets of Portsmouth. In a letter written from Ports- mouth, under date of December 17, 1774, the writer says: " 'On Wednesday last a drum and fife paraded the streets of Portsmouth, accompanied by several committee men and the Sons of Liberty, publicly avowing their intention of taking possession of Fort William and Mary.' "Notice of this intention was sent by Gov. Wentworth to the commander of the fort. Captain Cochran, who was in command, in his report to Gov. Wentworth on December 14 said: " 'I received your Excellency's favor of yesterday, and in obedience thereto kept a strict watch all night and added two men to my usual number, being all I could get. Nothing material occurred till this day, one o'clock, when I was informed there was a number of people coming to take possession of the fort, upon which, having only five effective men with me, I prepared to make the best defense I could, and pointed some guns to those places where I expected they would enter. About three o'clock the fort was besieged on all sides by upwards of four hundred men. I told them on their peril not to enter; they replied they would. I immediately ordered three four-pounders to be fired on them and then the small arms, and before we could be ready to fire again we were stormed on all quarters, and they imme- diately secured both me and my men and kept us prisoners about one hour and a half, during which time they broke open the powder house and took all the powder away except one barrel, and having put it into boats and sent it off, they released me from my confinement. To which I can only add, that I did all in my power to defend the fort, but all my efforts could not avail against so great a number.' "This was not Paul Revere's first public ride. He had been sent express on important business on at least two occasions previous to his ride to Ports- mouth. Page 539 "John Sullivan was a member of the continental congess which met September 5. This meeting could hardly be called a congress. It was a meeting of delegates from the several colonies to consider the situation and devise some measures to have the difficulties between the colonies and Eng- land adjusted. They drafted an address to the king, in which they made their final appeal for justice. Peyton Randolph was president. The first name signed to the address after the president's was John Sullivan. John Sullivan had returned from the sitting of congress and was at his home in Durham on the 14th of December, and did not go to Portsmouth until the 15th, as stated by Mr. Bennett, who is the authority for the statements made in Amory's Life of Sullivan. "The account given by Governor Bell in his History of Exeter, as taken from the lips of Gideon Lamson, is so far from the accounts given by all others, it ceases to be of any value, for anyone can readily see the many errors contained therein. "The errors which have occurred in other histories have arisen from the mixing up of the two expeditions, the one on December i4, when the powder was removed, which occurred in the afternoon of that day, and the expedi- tion on the night of the 15th, when the cannon and small arms were seized. The latter expedition was led by Maj. John Sullivan, and had the writers upon the capture of the fort applied the description to the work accomplished on the night of the 15th, they would not have been far from the truth. "On the 14th, when the forces started for the fort and removed the pow- der, expresses were sent to all the surrounding towns, and they came in to Portsmouth on the 15th. This is the statement of Captain Bennett, who relates his story many years after. He says he was at work for Mr. Sulli- van, and on the I5th of December a messenger came to his house in Durham and informed Major Sullivan of the situation at Portsmouth, and Sullivan with others immediately started for the latter place. "In a letter written at Portsmouth under date of December 17, 1774, from which I have already quoted, the writer says: " 'On Wednesday last a drum and fife paraded the streets of Portsmouth, accompanied by several committee men and Sons of Liberty, publickly avow- ing their intention of taking possession of Fort William and Mary, which was garrisoned by six invalids.' "After describing the capture of the powder, which he says was carried up to Exeter, a town fifteen miles distant, he says : " 'The next day after, while the Governor and Council were assembled in the Council Chamber, between two and three hundred persons came from Durham and the adjoining towns headed by Major Sullivan, one of the dele- gates to the Congress. They drew up before the Council Chamber, and demanded an answer to the following questions : Whether there were any Ships or Troops expected here, or if the Governor had wrote for any? They were answered that his Excellency knew of no forces coming hither, and that none had been sent for; upon which they retired to the Taverns, and about ten or eleven o'clock at night a large party repaired to the Fort and it is said they carried away all the small arms. This morning about sixty horsemen accoutred, came into town, and gave out that seven hundred more were on their march to Portsmouth, from Exeter, Greenland, Newmarket, etc, and would be in that Town by eleven o'clock; their intention, it is sus- Page 540 pected, is to dismantle the Fort, and throw the cannon, consisting of a fine train of 42-pounders, into the Sea.' "The party led by Major Sullivan on the night of the 15th was conducted in great secrecy and no alarm was given. The capture of the powder on the 14th was in open daylight, there was nothing secret about it. They were fired upon from the fort but ho one was injured. The entry was not made through the gate of the fort, but it was stormed on all sides. The four hundred patriots overcame the five soldiers and captured for the American army one hundred barrels of powder. This powder in the first instance was taken to Exeter and from there distributed among the neighboring towns for safety. Part of this powder was sent to the army on the frontier and sold to towns in the province. There is no evidence that any was sent to the army at Cambridge until after the battle of Bunker Hill. (See Professor C. L. Parson's pamphlet as to the tradition of use of the powder at Bunker Hill.) "On May 20, 1775, the provincial congress at Exeter 'Voted the thanks of the convention to the persons who took and secured for the use of this government a quantity of gunpowder from Castle William and Mary in this province.' After choosing a committee of safety, they voted that Nicholas Gilman and Mr. Poor be a committee to sell any quantity of gunpowder not to exceed four barrels to such frontier towns in this province as they shall think most need it. This was the first action taken in relation to this pow- der, and the sale was limited to the towns in this province. "On June 2, 1775, they voted, 'That the committee on supplies be desired to apply and obtain the quantity and quality of the powder brought from the Fort William and Mary; also take it into their possession and lay the state of it before the committee of safety.' "The committee on supplies in making their report, found that the pow- der remaining at that date was stored in the following named places, viz: Kingston, 12 barrels; Epping, 8 barrels; Poplin, 4 barrels; Nottingham, 8 barrels; Brentwood, 6 barrels; Londonderry, 1 barrel; Exeter, 29 barrels in eleven different houses. Four barrels were furnished to Portsmouth on the request made in April, 1775. They found stored in these different places 72 barrels. "The first powder sent to the army at Cambridge, at least in any quantity, was on June 18, the next day after the battle of Bunker Hill. On the day of the battle express was sent from the army to the committee at Exeter; he stopped on his way at Kingston, where Col. Josiah Bartlett resided, one of the committee. He immediately ordered a general meeting of the committee, and on the 18th Col. Bartlett wrote to Gen. Folsom saying, 'Mr. Moreton left Cambridge on the evening of June 17 and rode all night, arriving at Kingston the 18th. He brought the news of the battle of Bunker Hill.' The committee immediately ordered the selectmen of Kingston, where some of the captured powder was stored, to deliver to Samuel Philbrick six barrels of powder to be by him conveyed to the army. They also ordered Major Cilley and the companies of Captams Elkins, Rowe, Clough, Adams, Tit- comb, Gilman, Wentworth, Tilton, and Norris of Colonel Poor's regiment to march to Cambridge to join the army. All the companies except Captain Elkin's started for Cambridge. "June 21, there was sent to the army by Nathaniel Gordon one cask flints, Page 541 quantity 3,200; five kegs bullets, weight 113,110,62,123,220 pounds each; 30 tents, poles, pins, etc., ten barrels of powder l00 pounds each. "June 23 'the selectmen of Newmarket were directed' to send by Nicholas Nichols four barrels of the provincial gunpowder, now in their custody, to be dealt out as the public service may require. On this order they received only one barrel, and on the 26th of June they received one more barrel. "On June 26, Lieutenant Bartlett was directed to pick out two of the largest, strongest, and best cannon taken from Fort William and Mary and convey them to Exeter to be sent to the army at Medford. "August 7, 1775, the committee of safety issued an order to Major Cilley as folloWS: " 'Sir: You are desired as soon as possible to apply to the selectmen of the several towns in this colony with whom was lodged the powder taken last winter from Fort William and Mary, take an account of what is now in their custody, and request of them forthwith to convey the whole to Col. Nicholas Gilman at Exeter.' "It may have found its way into the powder house at Exeter, and we find no further record of this particular powder until the report of the com- mittee, made August 24, that they had on hand only eight or ten barrels. "The call of General Washington was made upon August 4 for powder, and General reported to General Washington that he had of powder fur- nished by New Hampshire to his troops nineteen barrels of one hundred pounds each. Sixteen barrels of this was doubtless the six sent from King- ston and ten from Exeter. "Fort William and Mary was not again occupied by any English soldiers. On May 30, 1775, while the English man-of-war Scarborough was seizing vessels loaded with salt and provisions to be sent to General Gage's army, thirty or forty men £rom the vessel came ashore and tore down the greater part of the breastworks. The day before the Scarborough had seized a vessel loaded with provisions, and refused to deliver it up, and on this refusal between five and six hundred men in arms went down to the battery called Jerry's Point and brought off eight cannon, twenty-two and thirty-two pounders, all there were there, and brought them to Portsmouth. "The question, 'Was the capture of Fort William and Mary the first overt act of the Revolution?' was fully considered in 'The Capture of Fort William and Mary, Dec. 14 and 15, 1774,' by Professor Charles L. Parsons (reprinted from proceedings New Hampshire Historical Society, 1902), and its con- clusions are as follows : " 'There is no question that previous to Dec. 14, 1774, bodies of men had destroyed private property owing to their disapproval of British methods, and in a few cases had even assaulted the royal power. But the capture of Fort William and Mary was the first organized fight of the Revolutionary War and on Dec. 14, 1774, the first gun of that war was fired.' "The opinion of Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D. D., in regard to the capture of Fort William and Mary is often well quoted in the words: 'The daring character of this assault cannot be over-estimated. It was an organized investment of a royal fortress, where the king's flag was flying, and where the king's garrison met them with muskets and artillery. It was four months before Lexington, and Lexington was resistance to attack, while this was a Page 542 deliberate assault. When the king heard of this capture it so embittered him that all hopes of concessions was at an end. It made war inevitable.' " C. W. Brewster, in the "Rambles," pictures Pickering as the projector and the leader with Langdon on the attack on the fort. Brewster, who lived during a period that enabled him to obtain his statements from some of the participants, obtained his facts about Pickering fro Daniel P. Drowne, a nephew of Pickering. Prof. Charles L. Parsons in his pamphlet says in reference to the powder at Bunker Hill : "It has always been the tradition in southeastern New Hampshire, founded upon the statements of persons who claimed to have the facts from the actors themselves, that Major John Demerit took a cart load of the powder, captured at Portsmouth, from the magazine at his house, to Cambridge, and reached there just in time for its opportune use at Bunker Hill. No inhabitant of Madbury or Durham doubts the story, but it cannot with our present knowledge be proven. On the other hand there is nothing to render it improbable. The official documents of the time are silent upon the question." In the autumn of 1775, fearing an attack upon Portsmouth, General Sullivan, at that time a resident of Durham, N. H., was appointed by Gen- eral Washington to take command of the militia of this State and to defend this harbor. Several fortifications had been thrown up, which he strength- ened, and placed in them several companies of militia. In Fort William and Mary a company of artillery were placed, who "were allowed the same pay as soldiers of the Continental army." In 1808 the fort was again rebuilt under the name of Fort Constitution, and remained tmtil a new structure was commenced in 1863 upon the same spot. The fort and harbor are now protected by heavy disappearing guns and a company of United States artillery are stationed at this fort. The fort on Jaffrey's Point, at the entrance of Little Harbor, was once thought to be a very important post. It was garrisoned in the war of 1812 by citizens of this and other towns, under command of Capt. William Mar- shall, who remained stationed at that post for several years. Nine guns, six and nine-pounders, were placed in position, and on several occasions full one hundred and twenty men were stationed there. During the visits of the English ships to this harbor, in 1775-76, a spirit of hatred seemed to prevail against the British seamen, but by the major part of the citizens they were respectfully treated. The sailors would often conduct themselves badly, and if reprimanded would threaten to fire upon the town. Oftentimes the lives of the inhabitants were endangered, and on some occasion a committee of citizens waited upon the commander of the Scarborough, offering an apology for some fancied insult to his men, to pre- vent him from permitting the threats of the sailors to be carried into execu- tion. Owing to the state of public excitement at that early period of the Revolution, many citizens left the town and many more were prepared to leave at a moment's warning. In the rear of the Congressional Church is a well, in which some of the citizens once placed their silverware for safe-keeping, and at another place may be noticed a depression of the ground, showing the site of an old Rev- olutionary house, which was then occupied by a Mrs. Trefethren, who was noted for refusing water to the British sailors on account of her hatred to them. It is stated that notwithstanding her positive refusal to permit the Page 543 sailors of the Scarborough to get water there, they once succeeded in filling their casks; and leaving them near the well, visited the central part of the town. No sooner were they out of sight then she emptied the casks. Upon their return they demanded of her why she had turned away their water. She promptly replied that she did not turn away their water; the water was her own. On returning to the ship they rewarded her by firing a ball through the room in which her family were sitting. MILITARY AND NAVAL RECORD, 1861-5 New Castle was compelled by the blundering of some one in authority to furnish more men for the United States service during the period of 1861- 1865, than her legal quota, consequently she contracted a big war debt, which was so unjust, that Hon. Frank W. Hackett took the matter before the United States Government at Washington, and early in 1911 the United States paid the State of New Hampshire $10,000 for the relief of the town of New Castle, which the state promptly paid the town. Capt. John Murry, Company D, Fifth New Hampshire, enlisted October 12, 1861, killed Decem- her 13, 1862; Lieut. Chas. H. Curtis, Company C, Thirteenth New Hamp- shire, enlisted September 19, 1862; Ambrose Yeaton, United States Navy, enlisted November 29, 1861, discharged December 31, 1863; Frank W. Neal, Company K, Sixteenth New Hampshire, enlisted October 22, 1862, dis- charged August 20, 1863; C. C. Amazeen, United States Navy, 1861, dis- charge unknown; John S. Hubley, United States Navy, 1861, discharge unknown; Wm. B. Bell, United States Navy, 1862, discharge unknown; John W. Amazeen, Maine regiment, discharge unknown; John B. Holbrook, Maine regiment, discharge unknown; Levi W. Cole, Maine regiment, dis- charge unknown; Frank Gilson, Maine regiment, discharge unknown; John N. Bickford, Maine Thirty-second regiment, discharge unknown; James Smith, Company F, Third United States artillery, enlisted December 15, 1858, discharged September 28, 1863, reason of loss of leg; John W. Bell, Company K, Second regiment, enlisted June 8, 1861; discharged May 22, 1862; George W. Wheeler, Company D, Third regiment, enlisted August 23, 1861, discharged August 23, 1864; Thomas Halcrow, Company I, Third regiment, enlisted August 10, 1863; James Meile, Company E, Third regi- ment, enlisted August 10, 1863; Charles Moore, Company F, Third regi- ment, enlisted August 10, 1863; J. P. Bassett, Company H, Third regiment, enlisted December 24, 1863; discharged August 23, 1865; John Eaton. Jr, Company H, Fourth regiment, enlisted December 24, 1863; discharged July 20, 1865; Henry F. Edgerly, Company H, Fourth regiment, enlisted Decem- ber 24, 1863, died, date unknown; William Harrison, Company K, Fourth regiment, enlisted March 1, 1865, discharged August 23, 1865; Peter Brown, Fifth regiment, enlisted December 9, 1863; William Burns, Fifth regiment, enlisted December 9, 1863; James Brean, Fifth regiment, enlisted December 9, 1863; Joseph Jones, Company F, Fifth regiment, enlisted December 9, 1863, transferred to United States Navy April 26, 1864; Isaac Marcheso, Company F, Fifth regiment, enlisted December 9, 1863, not officially ac- counted for; Henry Tracy, Company G, Fifth regiment, enlisted December 9, 1863, absent, sick, June 3, 1864, no discharge furnished; William Wein- rich, Company G, Fifth regiment, enlisted Decem~r 9, 1863, absent, sick, June 3, 1864, no discharge furnished; Alfred A. Libby, Company D, Fifth Page 544 regiment, enlisted February 19, 1864, discharged June 28, 1865; Thomas Finnigan, Fifth regiment, enlisted December 9, 1863; William Oram, Com- pany G, Fifth regiment, enlisted December 9, 1863; Albert P. Peakes, Com- pany A, Sixth regiment, enlisted March 28, 1865, discharged July 17, 1865; Dennis Sullivan, Company K, Seventh regiment, enlisted September 21, 1864, drowned March 25, 1865; Michael Welch, Company I, Seventh regi- ment, enlisted September 6, 1864, discharged July 20, 1865; Thomas Antone, Company G., Eighth regiment, enlisted August 10, 1863, transferred to United States Navy June 18, 1864; Alonzo Gilson, Company E, Ninth regi- ment, enlisted May 15, 1862, discharged May 14, 1865; David Smith Com- pany K, Ninth regiment, enlisted December 9, 1863; John Geelan, Company C, Tenth regiment, enlisted August 10, 1863, discharged October 28, 1864; Henry Thompson, Company F, Tenth regiment, enlisted August 10, 1863; William J. R. Burke, Company G, Tenth regiment, enlisted August 10, 1863, absent, sick, no discharge furnished; Lewis Davis, Company G, Tenth regi- ment, enlisted September 4, 1862, discharged January 12, 1863; John H. Sullivan, Company C, Tenth regiment, enlisted August 10, 1863, discharged December 19, 1865; William Clark, Eleventh regiment, enlisted December 23, 1863; Charles Davis, Eleventh regiment, enlisted December 22, 1863; Levi W. Curtis, sergeant Company C, Thirteenth regiment, enlisted Septem- ber 19, 1862, promoted to first sergeant, commission in United States C. T. December 5, 1864; John L. Amazun, Company C, Thirteenth regiment, enlisted September 19, 1862, transferred to navy April 29, 1864; Thomas J. Davis, Company C, Thirteenth regiment, enlisted September 19, 1862, killed June 15, 1864; William Hodgdon, Company C, Thirteenth regiment, enlisted September 19, 1862, discharged February 5, 1863; Oscar 0. Hodg- . don, Company C, Thirteenth regiment, enlisted September 19, 1862, pro- moted to Corporal March 1, 1865, discharged June 21, 1865; William T. Holbrook, Company C, Thirteenth regiment, enlisted September, 19, 1862, discharged January 23, 1863; George W. Libbey, Company C, Thirteenth regiment, enlisted September 19, 1862, discharged June 21, 1865; Andrew J. Stackpole, Company C, Thirteenth regiment, enlisted September 19, 1862; Patrick Coleman, Company A, Thirteenth regiment, enlisted August 10, 1863; Robert Oliver, Company C, Thirteenth regiment, enlisted September 19, 1862, transferred to navy April 28, 1864; Charles Carle, Company H, Thirteenth regiment, enlisted September 2, 1863; Judson P. Randall, Com- pany K, enlisted September 20, 1862, discharged May 28, 1865; Daniel Con- nor, Company K, Eighteenth regiment, enlisted March 30, 1865, discharged May 6, 1865; Edward Gerrahty, Company E, First cavalry, enlisted March 29, 1865, discharged July 15, 1865; Charles D. Foster, First cavalry, en- listed March 23, 1865; John Carey, First cavalry, enlisted March 23, 1865; James Miller, First cavalry, enlisted March 23, 1865; John Townsend, Com- pany G, Heavy artillery, enlisted September 13, 1864; Dennis V. Burbank, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted September 17, 1864, discharged June 15, 1865; John V. Hodgdon, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted Septem- her 24, 1864; Jas. A. Shaw, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted March 29, 1865; Charles Flynn, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted August 31, 1863; John Brennon, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted September 14, 1863; Donald Monroe, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted September 26, 1863; James Marlo, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted October 10, 1863; Isaac Pridham, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted September 23, 1864; Geo. Page 545 D. Lamson, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted September 23, 1864; Har- rison Sparlin, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted March 29, 1864; Wm. T. Frost, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted September 2, 1864, discharged August 31, 1865; John S. Frost, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted Sep- tember 2, 1864, discharged August 31, 1865; Wm. T. Holbrook, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted September 2, 1864, discharged August 31, 1865; Frederick Bell, Company K, Heavy artillery, enlisted September 2, 1864, discharged August 31, 1865. WALBACH TOWER The Martello Tower, a little west of the fort, is the most picturesque object in New Castle. It is built on the ridge of a high ledge, anciently called Jourdan's Rocks. Artists have painted it, and poets love to relate its story, relying upon each other for imaginary embellishments. Its date is so recent, and its history so small, that it is almost necessary to invent some facts in order to properly celebrate so rare a ruin. The annals say that the tower was built during the last war with England, and when an immediate attack was expected by an English fleet. Its purpose was to guard more effectually the so-called Town Beach, to the south, from landing parties, and to reinforce the batteries of Fort Constitution. It was planned and con- structed under the care of Colonel Walbach, whose name it has always borne. He was a German count, who had seen service in the Prussian army and had fought against Napoleon in twenty-six battles. He was long in the service of the United States, and in command of Fort Constitution from 1806 to 1821. Colonel Walbach summoned the company of sixty men under Captain Marshall, who garrisoned the earthworks on Jaffrey's Point, at the eastern end of New Castle, to assist his own soldiers in building the tower; and all the citizens of the town also aided. It was rapidly completed, but not in a night as the legends tell us. No enemy appeared, and soon the tower grew a ruin. It is so small as to suggest a fortification in miniature or model, rather than for actual use. It is the size of the round towers of the Middle Ages, and on this account, perhaps, appears of greater antiquity of the age the imagination easily renders it. Walbach Tower is a brick; the terreplein was of peat, which has become like grassy turf. Within is a rude Pintle-stone, on which to swing a thirty- two-pounder. There are three casemated embrasures for small cannon or muskets, in case of assault, and a Lilliputian magazine. It is the only Martello Tower on the northern coast. At the south are the somewhat analogous structures of Tower Depre in Louisiana and Tybee Island in Georgia. The name was added in consequence of the good defense made by a small round tower in the Bay of Martello in Corsica in the year 1794. The legend of the building of the tower has been told by George Houghton in the Atlantic, and by John Albee, the poet and author of New Castle Historic and Picturesque. From the latter the following extract is made: "There just above the shore, is Walbach Tower, Its crumpling parapet with grass and weeds O'er grown, and peaceful in its slow decay. Old people always tell strange tales to us, Page 546 A later race-always old tales are strange. And seems the story of this ancient tower A marvel, though believing while I hear, Because who tell it do believe it true. Three English ships lay under Appledore, And men in groups stood on the rocks, intent If they the fort could mean to cannonade, Or land along the coast and in land march To sack and burn the wealthy Portsmouth town. The morning dawned and twice again it dawned, And still the hostile ships at anchor swung; But now a rumor ran they meant to land; At once brave Walbach was resolved to build A tower which all the beaches should command, And mount thereon his sole tremendous gun. He summoned all the villagers at dusk Of one September Sunday when the days Are shortening, and the nights are bright and cool. Men came and boys, and with them women came, Whose dauntless mothers helped our fathers win, In that rebellious time again the king, The freedom which, forgetful of its cost, We toss to any hand raised o'er the crowd, And pushing hardest, or with loudest voice. They wrought as never men and women wrought, And in one night the tower completed rose." New Castle became quite a summer resort soon after the close of the Rebellion and had the greatest number of summer people about 1890. Since that time the town has been on the decline, the United States officials having begun talking of enlarging the military reservation in this town, and shortly after did take a large amount of valuable property, and again about 1908, after much opposition by the town, secured the Wendell property, which at the time was the most valuable estate, excepting the Hotel Wentworth. At the same time it also acquired the Belknap property. The late Edwin Niles tried hard to prevent the Government from obtaining the Wendell and Bel- knap properties, even sending a delegation at his own expense to Washing- ton to see the President and Secretary of War, but without avail, as it only delayed the matter a little while. Beautifully located on this historic island is The Wentworth, which is acknowledged to be the leading seaside hotel on the New England coast. The New Castle Library Association was organized October, 19 1900, and the town accepted the library on July 20, 1901, under the title, New Castle Public Library. The books are selected by the Library Aid Association. Miss Ella Becker is librarian. Societies.--Wentworth Lodge Knights of Pythias, King's Daughters, Ladies Industrials, Walbach Pythian Sisters. Town Officers.--Clerk and treasurer, C. C. Tarlton; E. E. Eaton, chair- man of selectmen; postmistress, Mrs. Nellie A. 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