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CHAPTER X

HOLLIS CONTINUED. – THE WORCESTER HOME. – THE LEXINGTON ALARM AT THE WORCESTER DOOR. – TOWN MEETING CALLED. – DEATH-ROLL AT BUNKER HILL. – EQUIPMENTS LOST IN THE BATTLE OF JUNE 17, 1775. – CALL FROM GENERAL SULLIVAN. – BOY SOLDIERS. – THE WORCESTER FAMILY IN THE WORLD. – THANKSGIVING DAY AT THE OLD HOME.

      THE Worcester home is a little south of the centre of Hollis, and has been in the family possession since the year 1750.
      The pioneer of the family in this country was Rev. William Worcester, who came from Salisbury, England, and became the minister at Merrimack, later called Colchester, and permanently named Salisbury. Although in a rude log meeting-house, the settlers were in favor of order, and voted, "Every freeman when speaking in meeting shall take off his hat, and rise when speaking, and put it on when done." The pioneer died at Salisbury in 1662. We next find the family at Sandwich, Mass., where Rev. Francis Worcester, great-grandson of the Rev. William, was born.

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He married Abigail Carleton, and there kept the family record good until 1750, when he moved with his large family to Hollis, and so became the founder of the noted family in that town.
      The house to which Rev. Francis Worcester took his family was small, but through various additions has become a very large dwelling, yet none too large for some of the generations which have flourished there. Attracted by the family record elsewhere to this old and well-kept house, I received a cordial welcome from the present occupant, Miss Lucy E. Worcester, who is of the fifth generation at that home, and of the eighth in this country.
      Said Miss Worcester, "It was Captain Noah, my great-grandfather, who was the man of affairs here when the war broke out. He was then forty years of age, was ensign of a company of militia, town clerk, committee of observation, and in other positions of trust. Having been active in all the town's meetings during the agitation, Noah Worcester was not altogether surprised when the outbreak came. It was about noon on the 19th of April when Deacon John Boynton, one of the committee of observation, and who lived in the south part of the town, came riding through the streets of Hollis at the top of his horse's speed, calling to every one as he passed, ‘The Regulars are coming, and are killing our men.' He drew rein at the door of Captain Worcester, who was chairman

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of the Committee of Safety. Captain Noah, my great-grandfather, had just finished dinner, and was standing before his looking-glass, with face well lathered, in the act of shaving. Without stopping to finish his toilet, but with one side of his face still whitened for the razor, he hurried to the stable, mounted his horse, and in that plight assisted in spreading the alarm. Other messengers were despatched to different parts of the town; and in the afternoon of that day ninety-two men met on Hollis Common with muskets and powder-horns, each man furnished with one pound of powder and twenty bullets."
      The Hollis company made choice that afternoon of Reuben Dow as captain, John Goss, first lieutenant, and John Cumings, second lieutenant. They marched off toward Concord, and went into camp at Cambridge. A part of them volunteered for eight months. The minute-men of Hollis who continued in service after the Lexington alarm went into other companies, and were mustered into the Massachusetts regiment commanded by Colonel Prescott, whose family seat, as we have seen, was very near Hollis, and who was connected with families of that town, his wife being Abigail Hale of Hollis, a sister of Colonel John Hale.
      "Another patriot who turned out from this home on the 19th was my great-uncle, Noah Worcester, Jr., who was but sixteen years of age. He

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went as fifer. Captain Noah, who had his title as a member of the State Militia, was town clerk at this time, and we are indebted to his faithfulness for many facts.
      We find that the first town meeting after the experience of April I9 was on the 23d inst. Colonel John Wentworth sent out a letter to each town on the day after the Lexington alarm. That sent to Hollis is recorded in Noah Worcester's handwriting, and is as follows:–-

      Gentlemen,– This moment melancholy intelligence has been received of hostilities being commenced between the troops under the command of General Gage, and our brethren of the Massachusetts Bay. The importance of our exerting ourselves at this critical moment has caused the provincial committee to meet at Exeter, and you are requested instantly to choose and hasten forward a delegate or delegates to join the Committee, and aid them in consulting measures necessary for our safety.

J. WENTWORTH. In behalf of the Committee of Safety.

PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE }
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, SS. }

SPECIAL TOWN MEETING.

April 23, 1775.

      Pursuant to the above notice and request, the inhabitants of the town of Hollis being met unanimously voted, that Samuel Hobart, Esq., be and hereby is appointed to represent the town at Exeter, with other delegates, that are or shall be appointed by the several towns of this Province, for the purpose above mentioned.

NOAH WORCESTER, Town Clerk.

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      To any one who studies the records of Hollis, kept by the patriot clerk Noah Worcester, it must be apparent that everything was done with system, and that their response on the 19th was serious and deliberate. The special town meeting of the twenty-eighth shows us that while in governmental affairs they were obliged to work with the Province of New Hampshire, their affiliations were with the patriots of Massachusetts. Noah Worcester records: –-

SPECIAL MEETING.

April 28, 1775.

Colonel John Hale, Moderator.
      At a meeting of the town of Holles called on a sudden emergency in the day of our public distress.
      1st. Voted, that we will pay two commissioned officers, four non-commissioned officers, and thirty-four rank and file, making in the whole forty good and able men, to join the army in Cambridge, paying said officers and men, the same wages the Massachusetts men receive, and will also victual the same till such time as the resolution of the General Court or the Congress of the Province of New Hampshire shall be known respecting the raising of a standing army the ensuing summer.

      They also made arrangements at this meeting for providing for poor families of those patriots who were in camp at Cambridge, and that the grain raised for the poor of Boston be divided between the army and the needy families of the soldiers.
      These records show that "Province of New

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Hampshire" was used in all warrants for town meetings until after the battle of Bunker Hill, from that time till July 4, 1776, the word "Colony " was used, and after the Declaration of Independence the word "State" took the place. Men absent in the army were allowed to have a written vote in town affairs, which was counted the same as if the men were present in person.
      "The most trying experience of the men of our town did not come until the 17th of June, when we had our share in good measure. Most of our men were with Colonel Prescott, but a few were with Colonel Reed; and all were present at the battle of Bunker Hill, which sent sorrow to the homes of Hollis as to no other town in the Province. The loss of Hollis in killed was fully equal to two-fifths of the killed and missing in the two New Hampshire regiments, and greater than that of any other town of New Hampshire.
      The list recorded on the memorial tablets[1] at Charlestown is as follows: –-

PRESCOTT'S REGIMENT.

      Dow's company. - Sergt.[1] Nathan Blood, Phineas Nevers,[2] Thomas Wheat, Jr., Peter Poor, Isaac Hobart, Jacob Boynton.
      Moors's company. – Ebenezer Youngman.

      These names are among the list on Soldiers Monument at Hollis.


[1] Thomas Colburn, credited to Dunstable, is claimed by Hollis.
[2] The family spelling is Nevens.

[Photo- "Bunker Hill Monument"]

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      The wounded were Captain Reuben Dow, Ephraim Blood, Francis Blood, Francis Powers, Thomas Pratt, William Wood. Caleb Eastman was killed at Cambridge two days after the battle by the bursting of his gun. James Fisk and Jeremiah Shattuck died of sickness at the Cambridge camp before the battle.
      The Hollis patriots furnished all their own equipments, and also their clothes, as did the soldiers generally during the first year of the war. Many articles were lost on the 17th of June, and subsequently each person filed a list with their estimated value. It is headed as follows: –-

CAMBRIDGE, Dec. 22, 1775.

      This may certify that we, the subscribers, in Capt. Reuben Dow's company, in Col. William Prescott's regiment, in the Continental army, that we lost the following articles, in the late engagement on Bunker Hill on the 17th of June last.

      The one meeting with the greatest loss was Nahum Powers: –-

      "1 knaps'k 1s. 4d., I tump'e 1s. 2d., hat 3s., jacket 8s., bayonet 6s."

      Noah Worcester, Jr., was one of the losers: –-

      "Knapsack 1s. 8d., 1 tumline[1] 1s. 2d."


[1] "A tump-line was a strap to be placed across the forehead, to assist a man in carrying a pack on his back." - Worcester's Quarto Dictionary.

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      The inventory of lost articles perpetuates the names of twenty-eight men of Hollis who were in the battle of Bunker Hill, besides the commissioned officers. Another paper, in the handwriting of Captain Dow, shows the loss of equipments of the six men of Hollis belonging to his company killed in the battle.

CAMBRIDGE, Dec. 22, 1775.

NATHAN BLOOD, ISAAC HOBART, JACOB BOYNTON, THOMAS WHEAT, PETER POOR, PHINEAS NEVINS.

      The men whose names are above written belonged to Capt. Dow's company and Col. William Prescott's regiment, and were all killed at Bunker Hill on the 17th of June last, and were furnished each of them with a good gun, judged to be worth Eight Dollars a piece – also were furnished with other materials, viz., Cartridge Boxes, Knapsacks, and Tumplines, and were well clothed for soldiers. Also had each of them a good blanket. Nathan Blood had a good Hanger.

      Eight Hollis soldiers, who were in Colonel Reed's regiment and in service on that day, lost various articles. Phineas Hardy lost; "1 blanket, coat, shirt, breeches." As Hardy's loss must have been his extra clothing, it appears that the good people of Hollis saw that their soldier boys in camp at Cambridge were well clothed.
      Our men fought in their shirt-sleeves; the heat of the day caused them to throw aside their coats as when in the hayfield. This accounts for the loss of so many coats and other garments.

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      The Hollis patriots who served to the credit of Massachusetts had a share in the bounty of a military coat. A receipt signed by forty-seven men is their acknowledgment of the bounty. The heirs or widows of the deceased soldiers received an equivalent for the coats. In some cases it devolved upon the selectmen to decide who was the person legally entitled to the pay, as the following voucher shows: –-

      WE HEREBY CERTIFY that the widow Experience Shattuck is the proper person to receive the clothing belonging to Jeremiah Shattuck who belonged to Capt. Reuben Dow's company in Col. Wm. Prescott's regiment and is dead.

NOAH WORCESTER, } JACOB JEWETT, } OLIVER LAWRENCE, }

Selectmen.

      The selectmen also certify that Captain Dow is the person to receive the clothing due to Peter Poor, a transient person, who belonged to the Hollis company, and was killed at Bunker Hill.

      It was when Hollis's cup of sorrow was brimful that an urgent call was made for more men. It came from General Sullivan, then in command of the Continental troops at Winter Hill, to the New Hampshire Committee of Safety, and reads as follows: --

WINTER HILL, Nov. 30, 1775.

      Sirs, – Gen. Washington has sent to New Hampshire for thirty-one companies to take possession of and defend our lines in room of the Connecticut forces who most scanda-

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lously refuse to tarry till the 1st of January. I must therefore entreat your utmost exertions to forward the raising those companies, lest the enemy should take advantage of their absence and force our lines. As the Connecticut forces will at all events leave us at or before the 10th of next month, pray call upon every true friend of his country to assist with heart and hand in sending forward these companies as soon as possible.
      Sirs, I am in extreme haste,

Your Obt. Serv't.,

JOHN SULLIVAN.

To the COMMITTEE OF SAFETY at Exeter.

      The demand was met, and two thousand New Hampshire patriots were soon in service, remaining till the following March, when the British evacuated Boston. Miss Worcester continued her story; –-
      "Two-thirds of the Twenty-sixth Company volunteered from Hollis; and my great-grandfather, Noah Worcester, was captain, going from this house, leaving the cares of a large family to be shared between his wife and aged father. The young men were so fired with patriotism that they were anxious to enter the service before they were liable to do military duty, and so great was the need that many of them were accepted before they were sixteen years of age. My grandfather, Jesse Worcester, was scarcely fifteen when he entered the service; as he was too short, he put pebbles in his shoes for fear he would not pass muster."
      This boy soldier was one of twenty-five who

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went on a six-months' campaign to the northward. Daniel Emerson, Jr., was captain of the company.
      In different campaigns to the end of the war these patriots from Hollis were found doing faithful service. It is worth our while to pause at the Worcester hearth-stone, and consider the character of the patriots of 1775 as manifest in after life.

      [Photo- "Worcester Homestead, Hollis, N.H."]

Four of the sons of Captain Noah Worcester became prominent clergymen, and filled honored positions; but they never forgot this old home, and loved to return to it, and here, laying aside all restraint, live over again those days when they went out from this home to do service for their country. Thanksgiving Day was their annual jubilee. The day when these dignified ministers, fully six feet tall, roamed over the farm, and gath-

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ered around the festive board, where lay prostrate the best turkey of the flock, surrounded by pies and puddings, and every thing that culinary art could devise. After dinner they would walk the rooms, and join in singing "Coronation."
      Prominent upon the walls of the best room of this Worcester mansion are the portraits of Jesse and Sarah (Parker) Worcester. This boy soldier, Jesse, after the Revolution, obtained an education, and taught school; but failing health sent him back to the home farm, where he lived for many years. In conclusion my hostess informed me, –-
      Turned aside from a professional life, my grandfather was not discouraged, but with his amiable companion, my grandmother, made a commendable record. Fifteen children were born to them. Seven of their nine sons obtained a liberal education. Two of them

[Photo- "Jesse Worcester". Photo- "Sarah Worcester"]

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followed the legal profession (one becoming a member of Congress from Ohio during the Civil War), one was a teacher, and the others were ministers, with the exception of Joseph E., who was the author of several histories, geographies, etc., but best of all, the dictionary which bears his name." The daughters all honored homes of their own.

[Photo- "Hollis Training Field"]

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