The Bay State Monthly. Volume 2, No. 4, January, 1885

"Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives for said State in General Assembly convened, That the Bonds of Matrimony between the said Robert and Elizabeth be and hereby are dissolved."—[New Hampshire State Papers, vol. 8, p. 776.]

I may, perhaps, here venture the irrelevant remark that "women sometimes do strange things," and cite the subsequent conduct of Mrs. Rogers in evidence of the declaration. After her divorce she married Captain John Roach, master of an English vessel in the fur trade. The tradition is that, having sailed from Quebec for London, he most unaccountably lost his reckoning and found himself in Portsmouth (New Hampshire) harbor. Here for reasons satisfactory to himself, he sold the cargo on his own account and quit sea life.17 After his marriage he lived with his wife and her son by the former marriage on the estate in Concord, previously mentioned as having been conveyed by Rogers to her father. Captain Roach is said to have been most famous for his unholy expletives and his excessive potations. The venerable Colonel William Kent, now living at Concord in his nineties, says that Captain Roach one day brought into the store where he was a clerk a friend who had offered to treat him and called for spirit. Having drawn from a barrel the usual quantity of two drinks the clerk set the measure containing it upon the counter, expecting the contents to be poured into two tumblers, as was then the custom. Without waiting for this division the thirsty Captain immediately seized the gill cup and drained it. Then, gracefully returning it to the board, he courteously remarked to his astonished friend that when one gentleman asks another to take refreshment the guest should be helped first, and should there be found lacking a sufficiency for both, the host should call for more.

Whether Mrs. Rogers gained by her exchange of husbands it would be hard to say. That in 1812 she went willing from this to a land where "they neither marry nor are given in marriage," it is easy to believe.18

In returning to Major Rogers, we must not forget that he was an author as well as soldier. He seems to have been in England in 1765, and to have there published two respectable volumes of his writings. One is entitled "Journals of Major Robert Rogers; containing an account of the several excursions he made under the Generals who commanded upon the continent of North America, during the late War," and embraces the period from September 24, 1755, to February 14, 1761. It is doubtless quite reliable and valuable as a contribution to the history of our Army of the Lakes during the old French war.19

An American edition of Roger’s Journal, ably edited by Dr. F.B. Hough, was published at Albany in 1883, by J. Munsell’s Sons. Besides a valuable introduction, it contains the whole text of the Journals, an appendix consisting largely of important official papers relating to Rogers, and a good index. It is by far the best edition of the Journals ever published.]

The other is called "a concise view of North America," and contains much interesting information relative to the country at the time of its publication.20

It is less reliable than the former, but is a readable book, and, when the author keeps within the bounds of his personal knowledge, is doubtless authentic. Both works are a credit to Major Rogers. To the charge that he was an illiterate person and that these works were written by another’s hand, it may be urged, as to the "journals," that the correspondence of their matter to the written reports of his expeditions made to his superior officers and now preserved in the New York State Library, convincingly show that this work is undoubtedly his. If revised before publication by a should not deprive him of the credit of their authorship.

Rogers laid no claims to fine writing, but his own manuscript reports, written mostly in camp and hastily, attest his possession of a fair chirography, a pretty good knowledge of grammar and spelling, together with a style of expression both lucid and simple; in short, these are such compositions as come naturally from a man, who, favored in youth with but a limited common school education, has in mature life mingled much with superiors and been often called upon to draft such writings as fall to the lot of a soldier or man of business. Mr. Parkman also attributes to Rogers a part authorship of a tragedy long forgotten, entitled "Ponteach, or the Savages in America," published in London in 1766. It is a work of little merit and very few copies of it have been preserved.21

On the tenth of June, 1766, at the King’s command, General Gage appointed Major Rogers Captain Commandant of the garrison of Michilimackinac.22 Sir William Johnson, then Superintendent of Indian Affairs, when apprized of it was filled with astonishment and disgust. He regarded Rogers as a vain man, spoiled by flattery, and inordinately ambitious, dishonest, untruthful, and incompetent to discharge properly the duties of this office.23 But as the appointment had been made and could not be revoked, it was determined to accept the inevitable and restrict his power, thereby rendering him as little capable of mismanagement as possible. He was ordered by General Gage to act in all matters pertaining to the Indians under instructions of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and to report upon all other matters to the Commandant at Detroit, to whom he was made subordinate.24

Commander Rogers probably reached Michilimackinac in August, 1766. He soon after demonstrated his entire unfitness for his position by clandestinely engaging in the Indian trade,25 and by involving the government in unnecessary expenses, which he sought to meet by drafts upon the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, which that officer was obliged to dishonor. To still further curtail his power, a Commissary was appointed to reside at the post and regulate the Indian trade. To this Rogers sullenly submitted, but quarrelled with the officer. As time went on matters grew worse. He engaged in foolish speculations; got deeply into debt to the Indian traders; chafed under his limitations; grew first discontented, and then desperate; entered into treasonable correspondence with a French officer;26 and finally conceived a plan of seeking of the home government an independent governorship of Michilimackinac, and in case of failure to rob his post and the traders thereabout, and then desert to the French on the lower Mississippi.27

His mismanagement and plottings having grown insufferable he was arrested and conveyed in irons to Montreal in September, 1768, to be there tried by court-martial for high treason.28 On some ground, probably a technical one, he escaped conviction, and at some date between May, 1769, and February, 1770, he sailed for England.

And there, strange as it may seem, the stalwart, cheeky, fine-looking, wily ex-Commandant was lionized. His acquittal had vindicated his innocence and established his claim to martyrdom. His books had advertised him as a hero. His creditors, to whom he owed considerable amounts, supported his claims in hopes thereby of getting their dues. He was gazed at by the commonalty. He was feted by the nobility. He was received by the king and allowed to kiss his hand. He claimed payment for arrears of salary and other expenses previously disallowed in England and at home, which was made. Encouraged by his successes he pushed boldly on and asked to be made an English Baronet, with £600 a year, and in addition to that, a Major in the army.29 One is in doubt which to wonder at the most, the audacity of the bold adventurer, or the stupidity of the British public. But vaulting ambition had at length overleaped itself. He failed of the coveted knighthood, and sank by degrees to his true level.

We see nothing more of Major Rogers until July, 1775, when he again appears in America as a Major of the British Army retired on half pay. The object of his visit to his native land just at the beginning of our Revolutionary war was not satisfactorily apparent. Some considered him a military adventurer, anxious to sell his services to the highest bidder. Others regarded him as a British spy. He wandered over the country all the way from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire with very little ostensible business. His improbable statements, his associations with persons hostile to the American cause, his visits to places of bad reputation, as well as his whole general conduct, rendered him a suspected person.

He was arrested on the twenty-second of September following his arrival by the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, but was afterwards paroled upon his solemn declaration and promise that "on the honor of a soldier and a gentleman he would not bear arms against the American United Colonies, in any manner whatever, during the present contest between them and Great-Britain;"30 yet, on the twenty-sixth of the next November, he makes a tender of his services to the British government, in a letter addressed to General Gage, and was encouraged to communicate more definitely his proposals.31

On the second day of December, a little more than a month later, in shabby garb he calls upon President Wheelock, at Hanover, New Hampshire. After speaking of his absence in Europe, during which, he said, he had fought two battles in Algiers, under the Dey, he officiously tendered his aid in a proposed effort to obtain a grant of land for Dartmouth College. The President distrusted him, but treated him civilly. At the close of the interview he returned to the tavern where he passed the night, and left the next morning without paying his reckoning.32

Again, on the nineteenth of the same month, at Medford, Massachusetts, he addresses a letter to General Washington, soliciting an interview, but his reputation was such that the Commander-in-Chief declined to see him.33

Even this did not discourage him. With an effrontery truly wonderful, on the twenty-fifth of June, 1776, after he had been arrested in South Amboy and brought to New York, he expressed to the Commander-in-Chief his desire to pass on to Philadelphia, that he might there make a secret tender of his services to the American Congress.34

However, by this time, his duplicity had become so manifest that a few days after this interview (July 2, 1776) the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed a formal vote recommending his arrest,35 which was supplemented two years later (November 19, 1778) by a decree of proscription.

Finding hypocrisy no longer available, sometime in August, 1776, he accepted a commission of Lieutenant Colonel Commandant, signed by General Howe and empowering him to raise a battalion of Rangers for the British Army. To this work he now applied himself and with success.36

On the twenty-first of October, 1776, Rogers fought his last battle, so far as I have been able to discover, on American soil. His Regiment was attacked at Mamaronec, New York, and routed by a body of American troops. Contemporary accounts state that he did not display his usual valor in this action and personally withdrew before it was over.

The next year he returned to England,37 where, after a disreputable life of some twenty-two or twenty-three years, of which little is known, he is said to have died in the year 1800.

Such are some of the more salient points in the career of Major Robert Rogers, the Ranger. When another century shall have buried in oblivion his frailties, the valor of the partizan commander will shine in undimmed lustre. When the historian gives place to the novelist and the poet, his desperate achievements portrayed by their pens will render as romantic the borders of Lake George, as have the daring deeds of Rob Roy McGregor, rehearsed by Walter Scott, made enchanting the Shores of Lock Lomond.

ROUSED FROM DREAMS

By ADELAIDE CILLEY WALDRONThrough the gorges leaps the pealing thunder;Lurid flashes rend the sky asunder;On my window-pane, making wild refrain,Sharply strikes the rain.Wind in furious gusts with angry railingFollows the unhappy restless wailingOf the sobbing sea, and drives ships a-leeNone to save nor see.Dreaming souls are startled from their slumbers,Though sleep still their trembling frames encumbers;Helplessly they wait, fearing portent fate,Shrieking prayers too late!

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FITCHBURG

By EBENEZER BAILEY

On the opening of the year 1764 there was in the westerly part of the town of Lunenburg, Massachusetts, a settlement of about forty families, consisting of a number of farms, located mostly on the hills surrounding a narrow valley through which flowed the north branch of the Nashua River, almost screened from view by a dense forest of pines. These people were obliged to go four or five miles to Church and town meeting, over narrow, uneven roads, travelled only on horseback or rough ox carts. Most of them were of an independent, self-reliant type of character, and had a mind to have a little town and parish of their own.

Accordingly they commenced a movement for a division of the town of Lunenburg; and the first petition to have the westerly part of that town set off was presented in town meeting in 1759. At various other town meetings a like petition was presented and always rejected, until January, 1764, when it was granted, and a committee appointed to obtain an act of incorporation from the Legislature; and at last, on the third of February, 1764, the Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay signed the Act, which made Fitchburg an incorporated town, with all the rights and privileges usually granted, except that the two towns of Lunenburg and Fitchburg were to have but one representative to the General Court.

A portion of the territory of Fitchburg was set off a few years later to form a part of the new town of Ashby.

The first town meeting in Fitchburg was held in the tavern of Captain Samuel Hunt, on the fifth of March, 1764, when selectmen were chosen, and other business necessary to the organization of a town government transacted. The next business after the necessary civil affairs were put in order was to provide for "Sabbath days’ preaching," and the Rev. Peter Whitney was hired to preach in the house of Thomas Cowdin for a time. It was also voted to build a meeting-house, which was completed sufficiently for occupancy in the autumn of 1766, and was located between Blossom and Mount Vernon Streets, near Crescent Street. The land was presented to the town by Thomas Cowdin, a new resident, who had purchased the tavern of Captain Samuel Hunt.

In those days the tavern keeper was a man of great importance by virtue of his calling, but Thomas Cowdin was in himself a remarkable man. Energetic and commanding by nature, his varied experience had been of a kind to call out his peculiar characteristics. A soldier in the Provincial army, he served actively in the French and Indian wars, and rose from the ranks to the office of captain. During the war of 1755 he was employed in returning convalescent soldiers to the army and in arresting deserters. At one time he was set on the track of a deserter, whom he found was making his way to New York. He followed him with characteristic celerity and promptness, and at length found him one Sabbath morning attending divine service in a Dutch meeting-house. Cowdin did not hesitate, but entered and seized the culprit at once, much to the surprise and consternation of the congregation. A severe struggle ensued, in which he barely escaped with his life, but he finally overpowered and secured his prisoner. He then took him to Boston, where he received orders to deliver him at Crown Point. So alone through the woods for that long distance he journeyed with his prisoner, who well knew the fate which awaited him; threading each day the lonely forest, and lying down each night to sleep by the side of the doomed man. He delivered his prisoner safely at Crown Point, from whence he was taken to Montreal, and shot. For many years Cowdin was one of the most influential and prominent men in Fitchburg, and enjoyed to a great degree the confidence of his fellow citizens. He was the first Representative to the General Court under the new State Constitution, and held many town offices. A handsome monument has recently been erected to his memory by his grandson, Honorable John Cowdin, of Boston.

Preaching being provided for, it was also voted to keep two schools, and to appropriate the sum of £8 for that purpose. And now the town of Fitchburg was fairly started out in life. From the towns to the East energetic young men began to come in with their families, to make new homes for themselves, so that in 1771 there were from seventy-five to eighty families, with a total valuation of £2,508,105. The highest tax payer was taxed on a valuation of £121, and the rate was over ten per cent.

There were now, from time to time, numerous town meetings and many matters, both grave and trivial, to discuss and settle. Matters civil and matters ecclesiastical were inextricably blended. There was no separation of Church and State, but a community firmly believing in a personal Divine Providence, whose hand interposed daily in all the affairs of life. We may instance an article in the warrant for town meeting, January, 1770, which read as follows: "To see if the town will relieve Widow Mary Upton for Distress occasioned by frowns of Divine Providence, and abate her husband’s rates on Isaac Gibson’s and Ebenezer Bridge’s tax lists." The result of the article was that Mr. Upton’s poll tax was abated, and the frowns of Divine Providence were doubtless changed to smiles.

Time passed on, the town gaining in wealth and numbers, and a comfortable, prosperous future was the reasonable hope of the inhabitants; but other scenes than those of peace and quiet were preparing; the opening scenes of the Revolution were just at hand, and the curtain was about to rise on the drama of seven long years, so frought with great results, but so wearisome, painful, and discouraging to the actors, from whom the future was withheld.

As early as September, 1768, the selectmen of Fitchburg received from the selectmen of Boston a letter requesting them to call a town meeting to take into consideration the critical condition of public affairs, and to choose an agent to meet them in Boston and show there the "views, wishes and determinations of the people of Fitchburg upon the subject." A town meeting was accordingly called, and the Honorable Edward Hartwell was sent jointly by Fitchburg and Lunenburg to be their agent in Boston.

In December, 1773 the selectmen received another letter from the town of Boston, requesting them to meet and pass such resolves concerning their rights and privileges, as they were willing to die in maintaining, and send them to the Committee of Correspondence. A town meeting was held accordingly, and a committee appointed to draft resolutions. The report presented by this committee at an adjourned meeting, after expressing full sympathy in all efforts to resist any encroachments on the rights and liberties of the American people, concluded as follows:

"And with respect to the East India tea, forasmuch as we are now informed that the town of Boston and the neighboring towns have made such noble opposition to said teas being brought into Boston, subject to a duty so directly tending to the enslaving of America, it is our opinion that your opposition is just and equitable, and the people of this town are ready to afford all the assistance in their power to keep off all such infringement."

The time had now come when the talk at the tavern, the town meeting, the Church, and at the daily meeting of neighbor with neighbor, was of the rights of the colonies, and of the tyranny of the English Government. The fires of Liberty were already kindled from the North to the South and from the seaports to the frontier. Fitchburg was not behind in preparation for the coming storm. In the store building of Ephraim Kimball, which was near the corner of Main and Laurel Streets, was the armory of the minute men, about forty of whom were enrolled and regularly drilled; while by vote of the town fifty dollars was appropriated for powder, lead and flints.

The eventful nineteenth of April, 1775, at last arrived and found the little town ready for action. So rapidly did the news spread that at nine o’clock in the morning the alarm was fired in front of the store of Deacon Kimball. The company had spent the previous day in drill, and at the summons the members promptly assembled, and being joined by a few volunteers, about fifty men took up their line of march for Concord, under the command of Captain Ebenezer Bridge, who afterwards became Colonel, and whose regiment, in the battle of Bunker Hill, was engaged in the fiercest of the contest. With the minute men was sent a large wagon loaded with provisions, which followed them to Concord, where they arrived in the evening, too late to take any part in the fight.

It was now necessary to organize a permanent army to defend the towns around Boston; and Fitchburg and Leominster enlisted a company of volunteers to serve for eighteen months. At the battle of Bunker Hill John Gibson of Fitchburg was killed while fighting bravely in the intrenchments.

When the Continental Congress asked the support of the Colonies to the contemplated Declaration of Independence, the Massachusetts General Court sent circulars, asking the opinion of the several towns in regard to the measure. The answer of Fitchburg was as follows:

"Voted in town meeting, that if the Honorable Continental Congress should for the safety of these United Colonies declare them independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, that we, the inhabitants of the town of Fitchburg, will, with our lives and fortunes, support them in the measure."

In February, 1776, the warrant for town meeting ran thus: "In his Majesty’s name." In May the warrant ran as follows: "In the name of the writ to us directed, these are in the name of the Governor and people of Massachusetts Bay." After the declaration of independence the warrant ran thus: "In the name of the State of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay."

For seven long years the little town of Fitchburg bore bravely and unflinchingly the hardships of the war. The burden to the inhabitants of furnishing their quota of men, money, and provisions, was a heavy one, the depreciation of the currency was ruinous; and they, in common with the rest of the people, found themselves in serious financial difficulties at the close of the war. Taxes were high and money scarce, and the efforts of the authorities to collect the sums levied on the inhabitants finally led to organized resistance, which has come down to us under the name of Shay’s Rebellion. With it the people of Fitchburg deeply sympathized, and in the initiatory proceedings they took an active, though a prudent part. In June, 1786, the town sent Elijah Willard as a delegate to a convention at Worcester to discuss the grievances of the people, and voted to defend his property if he should be taken in person for his attendance, "provided he behaves himself in an orderly and peaceable manner; otherwise he is to risk it himself." Deeply sympathizing with the Shayites, the people of Fitchburg did everything in their power to prevent the collection of taxes by the authorities, short of armed resistance; and the consequence was that a military company was quartered among them, much to their indignation; and had they not soon been prudently withdrawn, bloodshed might have followed.

The population of Fitchburg had not remained stationary during the war, but had increased from 650 to about 1,000. At its close there was the nucleus of a village scattered along the road near the river, now Main Street. One might see Cowdin’s tavern, Kimball’s saw and grist mill, Fox’s store, a baker’s shop, and half a dozen houses between the American house and the upper Common. The meeting-house upon the hill back of Main street was a small, shabby, yellow structure; the red store of Joseph Fox was below, and in the rear of his store his house with large projecting eaves. The mill and residence of Deacon Ephraim Kimball were near by. Up the road, and near the present residence of Ebenezer Torrey, was a bakery and a dwelling-house, and beyond, towards the west, were two or three houses and a blacksmith shop. Pine stumps, hard-hack, and grape vines were plentiful by the side of the road. Such was the village of Fitchburg in 1786.

In addition, however, to this little centre of population there was in the westerly part of the town, in the neighborhood of Dean Hill, a village which boasted a tavern, a store, and a blacksmith shop, and boldly sat up a claim of rivalship, and even superiority, to the little cluster of houses in the sandy valley. Its people petitioned to the General Court, to be set off, with a part of Ashburnham and Westminster, into a new town. However, a vigorous opposition from the inhabitants of the remainder of the town prevented its being granted. But, defeated in one point, the Dean Hill people turned to another. The time had now come when a new Church was needed, the little old meeting-house on the hill being too small to accommodate the increased population. So they determined to have the new Church in their vicinity, and this determination was the beginning of a protracted struggle to fix upon its location. A vote was passed in town meeting that the new Church should be located "on the nearest convenientest spot to the centre," but the words nearest, convenientest, were a cause of furious contention. Town meeting after town meeting was held—now victory rested with one faction, now with the other. Finally, after ninety-nine town meetings, extending through a period of ten years, the great question was settled, and the spot was chosen near the location of the present Unitarian Church.