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 Summary:
Eight Bristol County patriots, including at least two Minutemen who had answered the April 19, 1775 Lexington alarm, enlist “into the Service of The United Colonies of America” to assist at the siege of Boston. This recruitment notice was issued in response to an urgent request from George Washington for a temporary reinforcement of 5,000 men. Six months after the formation of the Continental Army, Washington was still desperately trying to raise troops to force the British evacuation of Boston. The stop-gap nature of the measure is evident by the enlistment length – just 45 days.
The left-hand side of this broadsheet prints a December 1, 1775 resolution by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress mustering the militia “without Delay…to serve in the American Army.” Five columns of enlistment quotas, broken down by county and town, follow. The right-hand side prints an enlistment agreement, followed by the signatures of the eight enlistees. Only one copy of this broadsheet is recorded in major auction records over the past three decades. [Siege of Boston]. Broadsheet. Resolution for recruitment of militia with enlistment form, signed by eight Massachusetts militiamen. Watertown: printed by Benjamin Edes. 1775. 11 ¼” x 17 ¾”. Inventory# 20631 $18,000
Partial Transcript:
“In Council, December 1, 1775. Whereas it is of the utmost Importance to the Inhabitants of this Colony, as well as the American Army, that the Fortifications at Cambridge and Roxbury be effectually defended: and his Excellency General Washington has applied for a temporary Reinforcement from New Hampshire and this Colony, of Five Thousand Men, to be at the places aforesaid, by the Tenth of December Instant....” “Resolved, That the commanding Officer of the Militia...in each Town hereafter mentioned, be and he hereby is directed, to cause the Militia in such Town to be mustered, without Delay, and the Number of Men affixed to his Town respectively to be inlisted, to serve in the American Army from the Time of his Inlistment until the 15th of January next.” [The resolve is followed by a list, in five columns, of 138 Massachusetts towns with their assigned number of recruits. The levies range from the ninety-eight required of Dartmouth to just three due from Hubbardston. Because of addition errors in the totals for Hampshire and Worcester counties, the resolve calls for 3,089 new enlistees, although the accurate cumulative total of the town apportionments is 4,010 militiamen.] “...each one of us do engage to furnish Ourselves with a good effective Fire-Arm, a Blanket and at least Ten Rounds of Ball and Ammunition, (also with a good Bayonet and Cartridge-Box if possible) ... to be marched to Head-Quarters, with the utmost Expedition … and when there arrived, to be under the Command of such Field-Officer or Officers as his Excellency General Washington, or other General Officer shall direct.” [Eight volunteers, most likely from the Raynham, MA area, signed this enlistment:] Job Dean, Stephen Williams, Luther Hall, Samuel Wilbor, Micah Turner, Zadock Turner, Elias Knap, and William Hall. Historical Background:
Additional troops were desperately needed during the Siege of Boston. Following the battles at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, the effort to drive the British out of Boston had reached something of an impasse. The Americans effectively controlled and defended the land routes around the city, but the British had control of the harbor, allowing them to receive provisions and military stores without interruption. On November 29, 1775, George Washington wrote to the Massachusetts General Court requesting an emergency conference to address a severe shortage of troops. Connecticut troops had reneged on an agreement to stay beyond their original term of service, and many new recruits had been promised furloughs “by way of Incouragement, & to afford opportunity of providing necesaries for themselves and Families.” The “Considerable diminution of our force, at a time when so capitol a change is taking Place in the face of an Enemy, Increasing in Strength,” warned Washington, “cannot but be attended with extreme hazard…I think our Situation Critical, and delays dangerous.” The Massachusetts legislators did not hesitate, passing the resolution just two days later. (A copy of the resolution was sent to General Washington on December 7, 1775; it survives in the Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, along with the general’s November 29th letter.) Washington was satisfied with the response. “The Militia are comeing fast,” he told John Hancock on December 11th. “I am much pleased, with the Alacrity which the good people of this Province [Massachusetts]…have Shewn upon this occasion” As this form indicates, however, these very short-term enlistments were only intended to temporarily fill gaps in the line. By January 1, 1776, less than half of the anticipated yearly enlistments had materialized. Washington summed up the dire situation to Hancock: "It is not in the pages of History perhaps, to furnish a case like ours; to maintain a post within Musket Shot of the Enemy for Six months…and at the same time to disband one Army and recruit another, within that distance, of Twenty odd British regiments, is more probably than ever was attempted; But if we succeed as well in the last, as we have heretofore in the first, I shall think it the most fortunate event of my whole life (GW to JH, January 4, 1776)." Under these circumstances, an American assault on the well-trained British troops embedded in Boston had little chance of success. Fortunately, a daring overnight coup allowed Washington to avoid that option. On March 4, 1776 the Americans seized Dorchester Heights, which overlooked Boston, arming it with captured artillery dragged down from Fort Ticonderoga by Henry Knox and his men. The British, under General William Howe, were forced to evacuate, and the fleet sailed to Nova Scotia later that month. As members of Captain James Williams, Jr.’s company of minutemen, Eliab Knap and Job Dean had marched from Taunton to Roxbury on April 20, 1775 in response to the Lexington alarm. Dean served throughout the war; he fought at Trenton and suffered through the brutal 1777-1778 winter at Valley Forge. References:
The American Revolution: A History, 2006. http://www.americanrevolution.com/history.html Anderson, Fred W. “The Hinge of the Revolution: Washington Confronts a People’s Army, July
3, 1775.” Massachusetts Historical Review, 1999.
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/mhr/1/anderson.html Crackel, Theodore J., editor-in-chief. The Papers of George Washington, Digital Edition,
http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu:8080/pgwde/dflt.xqy?mode=menu&keys=menu-info- home-public Daughters of the American Revolution. Lineage Book (DAR, 1898).
The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press: 1987. 2:455–56. Taunton, Massachusetts City Government. Quarter Millennial Celebration of the City of
Taunton, Massachusetts (Taunton, MA: Taunton City Government, 1889).
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