F 44 
 .H45 
 W47 
 Copy 1 
 
 Haverhill, N. H. 
 
 in the 
 
 War of the Revolution 
 
HAVERHILL IN THE WAR OF THE 
 REVOLUTION 
 
 By William F^.^Ykitcher 
 
 Piesented at the Annual Meeting of the N. H. Society, S. A. R., in Concord May 14, 1912. 
 
 Haverhill was chartered as a town- 
 ship May 18, 1763. Its settlement 
 had been begun, under promise of this 
 charter, the previous year. It was 
 the northernmost settlement of the 
 province, and the nearest on the south, 
 \Vas Charlestown, then called Number 
 Four, on the Connecticut and Canter- 
 bury on the Merrimac. 
 
 In the ten years following the 
 charter the town had a prosperous 
 growth, and a census taken in 1773 
 gave it a population of 387, classified 
 as follows: unmarried men between 
 the ages of 16 and 60, 30: married 
 men between the ages of 16 and 60, 
 66: men over 60, one: unmarried 
 females, 112; married, 66; widows, 3; 
 negro slaves, 2. 
 
 During this period of ten years, con- 
 siderable settlements had been made 
 at Lebanon, Canaan, Cockersmouth 
 (now Groton), Hanover, Lyme, Or- 
 ford, Piermont, Bath, Landaff, Gun- 
 thwaite (now Lisbon), Lancas- 
 ter, Northumberland, Conway, 
 Went worth, Rumne}^, Thornton and 
 Plymouth in the County incorporated 
 under the name of Grafton, but 
 Haverhill was by far the most impor- 
 tant town, notwithstanding the fact 
 that Hanover had become the seat 
 of Dartmouth College, was rapidly 
 growing and was soon to lead in point 
 of population if not of influence. 
 
 The importance of Haverhill had 
 been recognized by the Royal Govern- 
 ment, by making it in January, 1773, 
 the shire town of Grafton County 
 which had been incorporated two 
 years earlier, but was not organized 
 till 1773. John Hurd, Asa Porter, 
 Moses Little and Bezaleel Woodward, 
 Esquires were on May 18, appointed 
 as Justices of His Majestys Inferior 
 Court for the County. Of these the 
 three first named w^ere of Haverhill, 
 
 but the latter declining to serve for 
 business reasons, David Hobart of 
 Plymouth was appointed in his place. 
 
 The population of the town in 
 April 1786 according to a census then 
 taken was 478. It is hardly probable 
 that the population at any one time 
 during the years 1775-1783, exceeded 
 425, and yet during that period no 
 less than 119 men and boys of the 
 town did active military service as 
 soldiers in the struggle for Independ- 
 ence. 
 
 Aside from the three men who held 
 commissions as colonels, John Hurd, 
 Timothy Bedel and Charles Johnston, 
 seven were commissioned as captains 
 and commanded companies, while 
 109 served in subordinate capacities 
 as officers or in the ranks. 
 
 In the company of Rangers autho- 
 rized by the Provincial Congress, 
 May 26, 1775, mustered June 23 under 
 Timothy Bedel as Captain, increased 
 in July to a battalion of three com- 
 panies under the same command, there 
 were 15 Haverhill men, This bat- 
 talion grew into a regiment, and was 
 under command of Col. Bedel at the 
 fall of St. Johns in November 1775, 
 its term of service expiring about that 
 time. 
 
 In the regiment authorized by the 
 House of Representatives in January, 
 1776, Timothy Bedel, Colonel, which 
 was assigned to the Northern Con- 
 tinental Army, and whose field of 
 service was in Canada at St. Johns, 
 The Cedars and elsewhere, in the 
 spring and summer of 1776, there 
 were 25 men from Haverhill. 
 
 In May, Benj. Whitcomb's Rangers, 
 Avhich some of the time acted as a 
 company of Independent Rangers, 
 some of the time served in the Con- 
 tinental service by authority of Con- 
 gress, organized a part of the time as a 
 
134 
 
 The Granite Monthly 
 
 
 company and a part as a battalion, 
 and which was in service from Oct. 
 15, 1776 to Dec. 31, 1779, there were 
 six Haverhill men. 
 
 There were sixteen Haverhill men 
 serving at various times in Col. 
 Stark's regiment at Bunker Hill, in 
 other New Hampshire regiments dur- 
 ing the siege of Boston, in Col. 
 Scammel's Continental battalion, and 
 in other New Hampshire commands 
 in the Continental line during the war. 
 
 In Col. Oilman's regiment at 
 Peekshill, N. Y. during the winter of 
 1776 and '77 were eight Haverhill 
 men. 
 
 One Haverhill man, Eleazer Dan- 
 forth, was in Arnold's fateful expedi- 
 tion to Quebec, and two in Col. 
 Warner's regiment in the Jerseys in 
 1775. 
 
 In Col. Hobart's regiment, in 
 Gen. John Stark's brigade, at Ben- 
 nington there were seven. 
 
 In Capt. Joseph Hutchihs company', 
 which served under command of Gen. 
 Jacob Bayly, in the Eastern division 
 of the Northern Army under Gen. 
 Gates from Aug. 17 to Oct. 3, 1777, 
 there were twenty, including Capt. 
 Hutchins, from Haverhill. 
 
 An expedition was planned against 
 Canada in the latter part of 1777 and 
 it was ordered by Congress to be 
 raised by Col. Timothy Bedel. This 
 regiment ^of eight companies, five of 
 which were commanded by Haverhill 
 men — Ezekiel Ladd, Timothy Barren, 
 Simeon Stevens, William Tarleton 
 and Luther Richardson— was raised 
 in December, 1777 and January and 
 February 1778, and after the aban- 
 donment of the plan of the expedition, 
 the organization was continued under 
 the same command for the defence of 
 the frontiers on and adjacent to 
 Connecticut River, until Nov. 30, 
 1779. The muster rolls of some of 
 these companies have been lost, but 
 in those which have been preserved 
 the names of sixteen Haverhill men 
 appear. 
 
 In Col. Moses Hazen's regiment 
 organized under act of Congress 
 March 15, 1779 and in Gen. Hazens 
 
 later command in 1782, there were 
 eight Haverhill men. 
 
 In order to guard the Western and 
 northern frontiers and probably also 
 to preserve peace and order in mat- 
 ters arising out of the so-called Ver- 
 mont controversy, it was voted by 
 the General Assembly Jan. 10, 1782, 
 that Col. Charles Johnston be "im- 
 powered to raise twelve men as a 
 scouting party," that the place of 
 rendezvous be Haverhill, and that he 
 be desired to call on the town of 
 Haverhill for supplies for the men. 
 In accordance with this act, James 
 Ladd, of Haverhill, raised these men 
 who went on duty in April. June 26, 
 the same year, it was voted that two 
 companies of good-able, bodied, effec- 
 tive men of fifty each, exclusive of 
 commissioned officers be raised im- 
 mediately for the same service, that 
 both companies be under the direction 
 of Col. Charles Johnston, the place of 
 rendezvous to be Haverhill, that 
 James Ladd be a lieutenant of one of 
 these companies and that the men 
 whom he had previously enlisted 
 under the act of Jan. 10 be added to 
 the same company. Ebenezer Web- 
 ster of Salisbury was captain of the 
 first company which was in service 
 till Nov. 5, 1782, and which contained 
 twenty-seven men from Haverhill. 
 
 Haverhill also furnished five men 
 for longer or shorter periods of service 
 in New York regiments and four in 
 Massachusetts regiments. 
 
 Many of these one hundred and 
 nineteen men saw service two or three 
 times as most terms of enlistment 
 were short. The number of enlist- 
 ments, as just named was 356 and 
 this, from a town the population of 
 which at no time in the period extend- 
 ing from 1775 to 1783 numbered as 
 many as 450. It maj^ be doubted if 
 any New Hampshire town can in this 
 respect show a superior if indeed an 
 equal record. Many of these men it 
 is true were never on the firing line, 
 never engaged in battle, were in no 
 long campaigns, but they rendered 
 arduous, self-sacrificing military serv- 
 ice in their countrj-'s cause. 
 
Haverhill in the War of the Revolution 
 
 135 
 
 The conditions existing in the Coos 
 country of which Haverhill was the 
 recognized political and military cen- 
 ter were peculiar. The Coos towns 
 had been chartered by His Majesty's 
 governors, were a part of New Hamp- 
 shire, but this part was largely nomi- 
 nal. Previous to the termination of the 
 Royal Government no town in the 
 Coos country, or on the Connecticut 
 river had been represented in the 
 House of Representatives except 
 Charlesto^Ti, which was first repre- 
 sented in 1771. For the House of 
 1775, members were elected for the 
 towns of Plymouth, Orford and 
 Lyme by virtue of the King's writ. 
 These members were refused seats on 
 the ground that the writ had been 
 issued without the Concurrence of 
 the other branches of the Legislature, 
 and this refusal led to an acrimonious 
 dispute between the Governor and the 
 House. The Governor stood on the 
 royal prerogative, and the House upon 
 its right to regulate its own member- 
 ship, and grant the privilege of repre- 
 sentation as it saw fit. A large 
 number of towns in the northern and 
 western section of the Province were 
 aggrieved at the denial of represen- 
 tation, and this brought about results 
 which later threatened the integrity 
 of 'the state. Many of those who had 
 settled in the Coos towns were men of 
 eulture and influence, and they natur- 
 ally paid little heed to legislative 
 enactments in which they had no 
 voice. 
 
 John Hazen, James Bailey, Ephraim 
 Wesson, Timothy Bedel had rendered 
 honorable service as officers in the 
 French and Indian wars. John Hurd, 
 Asa Porter, graduates of Harvard 
 college, Charles Johnston, John Tap- 
 lin, Ezekiel Ladd, Jonathan Elkins, 
 James Woodward, Moses Little, Tim- 
 othy Barron, Joseph Hutchins, Maxi 
 Haseltine, Jonathan Hale, Simeon 
 Goodwin, Thomas Simpson and An- 
 drew Savage Crocker were men of 
 substance, of sturdy New England 
 stock, of liberal and independent 
 views, zealous for personal rights and 
 liberty and with the exception of 
 
 Hazen, founder of the town, who died 
 in the autumn of 1774, were all prom- 
 inent in the affairs of the town during 
 the Revolutionary period. 
 
 At the outset the town was prompt 
 to take measures for defense. The 
 records of the town meetings, annual 
 and special, are scanty, but they fur- 
 nish much of significance. At a. 
 special meeting held Nov. 4, 1774, it 
 was voted to provide a town stock 
 of ammunition and to raise 20 I. 
 lawful money for that purpose. At 
 another special meeting held January 
 5, 1775, a special committee consisting 
 of James Bay ley, Capt. Ephraim 
 Weston, Capt. Charles Johnston, 
 Simeon Goodwin, Timothy Barron, 
 Lieut. Joseph Hutchins and Maxi 
 Haseltine were appointed to see that 
 the results of the Continental Con- 
 gress were duly observed in the town. 
 It will be noted that it is "the results 
 of the Continental Congress," and 
 nowhere in the town records is there 
 any reference to the Provincial Con- 
 gress or the House of Representatives 
 of New Hampshire. Moreover Hav- 
 erhill does not appear to be repre- 
 sented in any of the Provincial Con- 
 gresses held in 1775 and 1776 except 
 the Fourth and Fifth, when Ephraim 
 Wesson and John Hurd were members 
 of the Fourth, and John Hurd of the 
 Fifth in which he represented the 
 towns of Haverhill, Bath, Lyman, 
 Gunthwaite, Landaff and Morris- 
 town. Just how or when Hurd and 
 Capt. Wesson were elected as mem- 
 bers does not appear, however, from 
 the town records. At the March 
 town meeting 1776, Thomas Simpson, 
 Asa Bayley and John Page were 
 chosen a Committee of Safety, and 
 in 1778, James Woodward, James 
 Abbott, James Corliss, Jonathan Hale 
 and Maxi Hazeltine were chosen to 
 act in the same capacity. At a 
 special meeting January 6, 1778, it was 
 voted to supply the families of those 
 who were in the Continental service. 
 In 1780 Timothy Bedel, John Rich 
 James Woodward were appointed a 
 committee to prevent the transporta- 
 tion of any grain from town. 
 
136 
 
 The Granite Monthly 
 
 May 2, 1775. at the house of 
 Joseph Hutchins, mnholder in Ha- 
 verhill, committees from the towns 
 of Lyme, Orford, Piermont, Bath, 
 Gunthwaite, Lancaster, Northumber- 
 land and Haverhill met in joint ses- 
 sion and signed the following pledge: 
 
 "We, the subscribers, do solemnly 
 declare by all the sacred ties of honor 
 and religion that we will act at all 
 times against all illegal and unconsti- 
 tutional impositions and acts of Par- 
 liament made and enacted against 
 the New England governments, and 
 the continent of English North Amer- 
 ica." And we do engage to stand in 
 opposition to all force come, or coming 
 against us, by order of the present 
 ministry, for supporting of flie present 
 measures, while our lives and fortunes 
 last, or until all these notorious un- 
 constitutional acts are repealed and 
 the American colonies re-established 
 in the privileges due to them as 
 American subjects." 
 
 This pledge w^as signed on behalf 
 of Haverhill by Charles Johnston, 
 Timothy Barron, Simeon Goodwin 
 and James Bayley. It was voted 
 that a copy of the proceedings of 
 the meeting be transmitted by the 
 clerk to the Provincial Congress 
 which was to meet at Exeter May 17, 
 and Ezekiel Ladd was appointed a 
 delegate to represent these commit- 
 tees in that Congress. The clerk, 
 Charles Johnston, accompanied his 
 report with a letter which shows the 
 danger which Haverhill and the other 
 towns believed threatened them and 
 from which they sought relief. 
 
 After mentioning the reports that 
 men were being invited by Gov. 
 Carlton of Quebec, and that Lidians 
 were being engaged for the purpose 
 of invasion of Coos, he wrote: "How 
 near the borders of the enemj^ w^e are, 
 every one knows who is acquainted 
 with the boundaries of our Province. 
 As to the position of defence, we are 
 in difficult circumstances; we are in 
 want of both arms and ammunition. 
 There is very little or none worth 
 mentioning, perhaps one pound of 
 powder to twenty men, and not one 
 
 half of our men have arms. Now, 
 gentlemen, we have all reason to 
 suspect, and really look upon our- 
 selves in imminent danger of the 
 enemy, and at this time in no ca- 
 pacity for a defence for want of arras 
 and ammunition . . . We refer 
 the matter to your mature consider- 
 ation, whether it is not necessary to 
 give us assistance, that we may be 
 ready in case of invasion. We have 
 a number of men in these parts of 
 the country who have not any real 
 estate, who will certainly leave us 
 unless some assistance be given; and 
 who are ready to assist and stand by 
 our cause with their lives, provided 
 encouragement is given them. If you 
 shall think it necessary to raise forces 
 to defend this our Province, if you 
 will give orders in what manner as- 
 sistance can be procured, please to 
 inform us as expeditiously as the 
 nature of things will allow. There is 
 no doubt of enlisting numbers without 
 distressing or much interfering with 
 towns near the seacoasts, provided we 
 have the platform to act on." What 
 was wanted was some color of author- 
 ity on which to act. 
 
 In response to this appeal the 
 Provincial Congress voted June 3, 
 "that a company of sixty men be 
 raised of the inhabitants of the 
 western frontiers to be commissioned 
 by the Committee of Safety, and 
 that these and two companies out 
 of the two thousand men raised in 
 this colony be stationed, as soon as 
 the Committee of Supplies procure 
 stores for them by the Committee of 
 Safety, on said frontiers and remain 
 until further orders." Timothy Bedel 
 was appointed to the command of 
 these companies. July 7 he was 
 commissioned Captain, and later in 
 the month mustered his men at 
 Haverhill, which was made the place 
 of rendezvous. In September he 
 marched with a greatly enlarged 
 force to join the army of Maj.-Gen. 
 Schuyler, who Avas investing St. 
 Johns, Canada. This command, with 
 which he rendered brilliant service, 
 numbered, at the fall of St. Johns, 
 
Haverhill in the War of the Revolution 
 
 137 
 
 November 2, about 1,200 men, en- 
 listed from the towns in the Coos 
 comitry and the western frontiers, 
 with some Green Momitain boys and 
 Indians. What Haverhill wished for, 
 in common with the other Coos 
 towns, was authority, and, though 
 the men authorized to be raised for- 
 defence were used for aggressive pur- 
 poses, it was little more than au- 
 thority that was given. So seemingly 
 neglectful were the Exeter authorities 
 in making provision for Col. Bedel's 
 troops, that, down to the fall of St. 
 Johns, it was uncertain whether his 
 command belonged to the military 
 establishment of the province or that 
 of the Continental government, the 
 result being that both governments 
 neglected to pay his men. This 
 neglect was probably partly clue to 
 lack of ability. Thus at the begin- 
 ning and indeed all through the 
 struggle for independence Haverhill 
 and her sister towns felt that they 
 had little to expect in the way of 
 material aid from the Exeter govern- 
 ment. 
 
 In the Fourth Provincial Congress 
 which met May 17, 1775 and was fi- 
 nally dissolved November 15, Ephraim 
 Wesson was in attendance fifty-nine 
 days and John Hurd six days. This 
 Congress had provided for a census 
 to be taken of the province and, 
 based on this census, for another 
 Congress to be elected to meet at 
 Exeter December 21, 1775. This 
 latter Congress was to consist of 
 eighty-nine members, apportioned ac- 
 cording to population, and Grafton 
 County, which embraced the present 
 counties of Grafton and Coos and 
 part of Carroll, was to be restricted 
 to six members. Bath, Lyman, 
 Gunthwaite, Landaff and Morristown 
 were classed with Haverhill, and 
 Col. John Hurd of Haverhill was 
 chosen the member from these towns, 
 though no record of his election is 
 found in any of the towns. It was 
 provided that in case the Continental 
 Congress should recommend this col- 
 ony to assume government in any 
 way that would require a House of 
 
 Representatives, the Congress might 
 resolve itself into such a House for 
 the term of one year. Col. Hurd was 
 beyond question one of the most 
 prominent and useful members of 
 this body. He was a man of marked 
 personality and exerted a dominating 
 influence in Haverhill and Grafton 
 County during the early years of the 
 Revolutionary period. He had re- 
 ceived a liberal education, graduating 
 at Harvard in the Class of 1747. 
 Removing to Portsmouth some time 
 after 1760, he became one of the 
 coterie of friends and advisors of 
 John Went worth, when he came to 
 the governorship in 1767, who gave 
 him large grants of land in various 
 towns in the northern part of the 
 State. He came to Haverhill in the 
 latter part of 1772, and at once took 
 a leading part in the affairs of the 
 town. He had a large acquaintance 
 in Rockingham County, was prob- 
 ably more familiar with the general 
 affairs of the province and had more 
 influence with His Majesty's govern- 
 ment at Portsmouth than any other 
 resident of Coos. When, however, it 
 came to a choice between the cause 
 of the Colony and the King, he did 
 not for a moment hesitate, and took 
 at once a pronounced position. When 
 the Provincial Congress in June 1775 
 determined that John Fenton was no 
 longer to be trusted with the records 
 of the Grafton Courts, they were 
 placed in the custody of Col. Hurd 
 for safekeeping, and he was con- 
 tinued as colonel of the militia 
 which had been enrolled in Coos 
 for purposes of defence. When the 
 Congress met in December 1775, he 
 at once took a prominent part in its 
 proceedings. He was a member of 
 the committee appointed to draw up 
 a plan of government, a committee 
 which framed the first civil compact 
 or constitution for New Hampshire. 
 He was chairman of the committee 
 to draft a form of oath to be entered 
 into by members of the new govern- 
 ment, and also of a committee to 
 audit accounts against the colony. 
 The temporary constitution which 
 
138 
 
 The Granite Monthly 
 
 went into effect January 5, 1776, 
 provided that after resolving itself 
 into a House of Representatives, the 
 said House should choose twelve per- 
 sons to be a distinct and separate 
 branch of the Legislature, by the 
 name of a Council. Under this pro- 
 vision Col. Hurd was chosen on the 
 councillor to which the County of 
 Grafton was entitled and he there- 
 upon vacated his seat in the House. 
 The old county offices were held to 
 be abolished and the Legislature pro- 
 ceeded to establish others. Col. Hurd 
 was continued in his office as first 
 justice of the inferior Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas, his associates being Beza- 
 leel Woodward, Israel Morey and 
 Samuel Emerson. He was also chosen 
 county treasurer and recorder of 
 deeds and conveyances. In the 
 Council he took a leading position, 
 serving on its most important com- 
 mittees; among others, first on the 
 committee appointed June 11, 1776, 
 to draft the declaration of the gen- 
 eral assembly for the independence 
 of the United Colonies. He was also 
 given pretty much the entire control 
 of the military operations in Coos. 
 Haverhill was made the place of ren- 
 dezvous for soldiers intended for 
 service in Canada, and Col. Hurd 
 with Col. Morey was to enlist the 
 companies, muster and form the men, 
 give orders to the companies of 
 rangers raised to protect the frontiers 
 and deliver commissions to those 
 whom the soldiers had chosen as their 
 officers. 
 
 The Legislature adjourned July 6, 
 and Col. Hurd founcl affairs in Ha- 
 verhill in anj-thing but a satisfactory 
 state on his arrival home. The 
 American soldiers in Canada were 
 retreating before the superior force 
 of Gen. BurgojTie. Col. Bedel who 
 had in the previous January-, return- 
 ing from Canada to Haverhill, raised 
 in the Coos County a second regiment 
 and taken it through the woods on 
 snowshoes to "the Cedars" near 
 Montreal, was under arrest, and 
 shortly to be dismissed from the 
 service. A great state of alarm ex- 
 
 isted. Haverhill had been fortified 
 to some extent, the towns to the 
 north, Bath and Gunthwaite were 
 practically deserted, and many had 
 left Haverhill for their own homes. 
 Among those who had left was Mrs. 
 Hurd, whom her husband met at 
 Concord on his way home, and from 
 which place he sent back to Exeter 
 urgent' appeals for help. 
 
 Aside from this, he found that the 
 new government of which he was so 
 important a member was held in 
 anything but high esteem by his 
 constituents. Representation in the 
 House of Representatives was based 
 on population and Grafton Countj^ 
 had but six members in a total of 
 eighty-nine. The towns in that 
 county and in the western part of 
 the State had been settled by men 
 who believed the town to be the un^t 
 of government and entitled to repre- 
 sentation as a to"\vn, in any legislative 
 assembly. Hanover and the five 
 Grafton County towns classed with 
 it had refused to send a member 
 and Hanover men led by Col. John 
 Wheelock and Bezaleel Woodward 
 had been active during the summer 
 in stirring up disaffection with the 
 Exeter government in the towns to 
 the north, Haverhill among others. 
 Col. Hurd had hardlj^ arrived home 
 before the famous convention of rep- 
 resentatives from Coos towms met in 
 College Hall at (Dresden) Hanover to 
 protest against the authority assumed 
 to be exercised over them by the gov- 
 ernment at Exeter. 
 
 Col. Hurd also discovered, or at 
 least thought he discovered that his 
 neighbor and former associate on the 
 Grafton County bench. Col. Asa Por- 
 ter, was among those who were be- 
 lieved to be plotting to throw Coos 
 under the protection of Gen. Bur- 
 goyne. Col. Hurd himself was an 
 ardent revolutionist, but his associa- 
 tion for years with the exclusive set 
 that had been in control of the 
 province, naturally made him a strong 
 partisan of the government at Exeter 
 in the organization of which he had 
 so actively participated, and caused 
 
Haverhill in the War of the Revolution 
 
 139 
 
 him to look upon disloyalty to that 
 government as little less than treason 
 to the country. Col. Porter was a 
 marked personality and wielded large 
 influence in the early history of 
 Haverhill. A graduate of Harvard 
 in the Class of 1742, he had engaged 
 in mercantile pursuits at Newbury- 
 port for a time, till he acquired large 
 landed property in Coos, and came to 
 Haverhill about 1770, where he at 
 once took a leading position in affairs. 
 A man of large means, aristocratic in 
 his tendencies and habits, he un- 
 doubtedly had little sympathy with 
 the revolutionary acts of his neigh- 
 bors — Johnston, Hurd, Bedel, Wes- 
 son, Barron and others. 
 
 He certainly had little sympathy 
 with the Exeter government. Human 
 nature was much the same in 1775 
 and 1776 as now. He had been 
 dropped from his office of justice of 
 the Comity Court on its re-organiza- 
 tion, while Hurd had not only been 
 retained, but had also been made 
 Councillor for the County, recorder 
 of deeds, county treasurer, and had 
 returned home a kind of military 
 dictator. It is just possible that 
 Col. Hurd may have shown signs of 
 consciousness of his own importance, 
 which might have made his reception 
 by his neighbor and former judicial 
 colleague less enthusiastic than 
 he wished. This much is certain: 
 Col. Porter was a positive man and 
 was beyond question outspoken in 
 his criticism of the Exeter govern- 
 ment for its neglect to send aid to the 
 seriously threatened people of Coos, 
 and under the circumstances he 
 naturally became an object of sus- 
 picion to Col. Hurd who became 
 convinced that Porter was "prac- 
 tising things inimical to his country. 
 Col. Porter's arrest followed and, 
 after examination by the Committees 
 of Safety of Haverhill and Bath he 
 was sent to Exeter, where he was 
 tried by the Committee of Safety, 
 placed under bonds to remain on his 
 father's farm in Boxford, Mass., and 
 only permitted to return to Haver- 
 hill in November, 1777, where he re- 
 
 sided until his death in 1818, loyal to 
 his government, influential with his 
 townsmen, and prominent in the af- 
 fairs of his section. 
 
 John Hurd rendered most impor- 
 tant and valuable service to the 
 patriot cause, though his influence in 
 Haverhill, because of the Porter affair, 
 and the growing disaffection of the 
 people with the Exeter government 
 was on the wane, and he ceased to 
 take an active part in affairs after 
 the former part of 1777. He returned 
 to his earlier Boston home and his 
 remains lie in the Old Granarj- bury- 
 ing ground of that city. 
 
 Haverhill and the towns classed 
 with it refused to comply Avith the 
 precepts issued in the name of the 
 Council and House of Representa- 
 tives, and at meetings called in 1776 
 for the choice of members of the 
 Council and House, chose commit- 
 tees to return the precepts with rea- 
 sons for non-compliance. The voters 
 of Haverhill presented reasons very 
 similar to those of other towns, which 
 were in brief as follows: the plan of 
 representation was inconsistent wdth 
 the liberties of a free people; the 
 classification of towns for purposes of 
 representation was in violation of un- 
 doubted rights inhering in towns as 
 units of government; none but free- 
 holders were entitled to election; no 
 bill of rights had been drawn up or 
 any form of government established 
 subsequent to the Declaration of 
 Independence ; a Council having power 
 to negative proceedings of the House 
 of Representatives was dangerous; 
 and if a Council was to be authorized 
 at all, it should be elected on a general 
 ticket by the whole people instead of 
 by districts. It may be noted in 
 passing that not all the theories of 
 government vociferously^ urged today 
 are wholly new. Haverhill was cer- 
 tainly' "Progressive" in 1776. 
 
 From 1777 on, till the close of the 
 Revolution, Haverhill acknowledged 
 but little allegiance to the Exeter 
 government. She refused representa- 
 tion in the New Hampshire Legisla- 
 ture, but remained steadfastly' loyal 
 
140 
 
 The Granite Monthly 
 
 to the revolutionary cause. She fur- 
 nished men for defence and for ag- 
 gression. She responded to calls for 
 men for any service in the patriot 
 cause, though preferring that the 
 calls and requisitions should be made 
 by the Continental Congress instead 
 of the New Hampshire Government. 
 Timothy Bedel returning to Haver- 
 hill in 1776 after an absence of three 
 or four years in Bath, again rendered 
 valuable service and probably re- 
 cruited more men for the patriot 
 cause than any other citizen of the 
 State. His grave in the old cemetery 
 at Haverhill Corner is marked by a 
 simple stone slab from which the in- 
 scription, except that of his name, has 
 been obliterated by the storms of a 
 hundred years. Charles Johnston, 
 who succeeded Col. Hurd in the work 
 of the defence of the borders, who as 
 Lieutenant-Colonel of Col. Hobart's 
 regiment in Stark's brigade at Ben- 
 nington, by personal bravery and 
 skillful handling of his men won un- 
 dying honor, rendered during all the 
 years invaluable service, and became 
 the most influential and prominent 
 citizen of the town, doing more per- 
 haps than any other to bring the 
 town and section into harmony with 
 the State government. His grave, 
 but a few feet distant from that of 
 Col. Bedel, merits a more substantial 
 monument than the crumbling stone 
 on which only this inscription is now 
 decipherable. : 
 
 "Col. Charles Johnston died March 5, 
 1813, in his 75th year." 
 
 Haverhill's prominence in the great 
 struggle of independence was due in 
 part to her geographical position. 
 The town was the doorway of en- 
 trance from the north to eastern New 
 England and was constantly in danger 
 of attack bv forces from Canada. 
 
 The inhabitants were in almost a 
 constant state of alarm from inva- 
 sion from that section. Stockades 
 were built at four different places for 
 security and at one time people from 
 Bath and Gunthwaite were gathered 
 in these, through fear of an attack by 
 Indians. After the fall of Ticonderoga 
 in 1777, and again in 1780 there was 
 special alarm. Town expenses in- 
 creased and population at one time 
 decreased, many, for the most part 
 non-land owners, removing to more 
 safe and central parts of the State; 
 but through these troublous times 
 men and supplies were furnished 
 without wavering. There was hardly 
 an able-bodied man or boy in town 
 who was not at some time under en- 
 listment for a longer or shorter period, 
 and doing duty as scout, ranger or 
 soldier of the line. 
 
 Few descendants of these men of 
 the early time are found in the 
 Haverhill of the present, and it is 
 significant of the changes that have 
 taken place in New England popula- 
 tion that the leaders in the struggles 
 of that time, Hurd, Bedel, Johnston, 
 Barron, Tarleton, Ladd, Simpson, 
 Stevens, Richardson and Hutchins 
 have no representatives in the citizen- 
 ship of the town today. They are 
 not, however, wholly forgotten. 
 
 The soldiers' monument which will 
 be erected in the town this present 
 year will happily and appropriately 
 be a memorial not only to the one 
 hundred and forty-seven men of 
 Haverhill who followed the flag from 
 1861 to 1865, to preserve liberty and 
 union, but also to the one hundred 
 and nineteen men who in an earlier 
 time, amid the hardships and priva- 
 tions of pioneer life risked lives and 
 fortunes to make liberty and union 
 possible. 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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