The Revolutionary services of John Greenwood of Boston and New York, 1775-1783

Front matter

TH:E REVOLUTIONARY SERVICES OF

JOHN GREENWOOD

DDDDD5S757E %

Chapter I

His youth ; enlistment in Captain Theodore T. Bliss's (Boston) company as a fifer; company joined to Colonel J. Patterson's Massachusetts regiment; battle of Bunker Hill; his mother permitted to return to Boston 3

Chapter H

Siege and evacuation of Boston; regiment ordered TO Canada; part taken prisoners at the Cedars; General Arnold signs a cartel and gives hostages TO the enemy 20

Chapter HI

Retreat from Canada to Ticonderoga; regiment JOINS General Washington in New Jersey; battle OF Trenton ; Greenwood leaves the army 34

Chapter IV

Sails with Captain Manley in the Cumberland; A prisoner in the Barbadoes; release and return home 48

Chapter V

Sails with Captain D. Porter in the Tartar; many prizes taken; vessel sinks at Port-au-Prince;

RETURNS IN THE GENERAL LINCOLN, CaPTAIN J.

Carnes; is captured and taken to New York;

ELUDES imprisonment AND AGAIN REACHES BoSTON . . 63

CONTENTS— Continued

PAGE

Chapter VI

Again sails with Captain Porter, on the Aurora, AND later on the Race H orse, Captain N. Thayer; carries a prize brig into Tobago; buys A schooner, trades on the Chesapeake, and is TAKEN by Joe Walen's galley Revenge; recovers his schooner and reaches Baltimore with the prize-crew 72

Chapter VII

Makes two voyages to Saint Eustatius in the Baltimore armed schooner Resolution ; on second trip, when captain, is taken by the frigate Santa Margaretta, prisoner the fourth time at Kingston, Jamaica ; hostilities ceasing, he reaches New York on an English cutter and thence returns home 84

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES

The North Writing School, Boston, and master, John Tileston 91

William H. Montague, of Boston ; a talk in 1847 with Dr. W. p. Greenwood and Mr. Isaac Cazneau 92

Samuel Maverick; a victim of the Boston Massacre 93

Captain Martin Gay of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, and of the Boston Artillery Company 93

Lieutenant John Greenwood of Falmouth ( NOW Portland) , Maine 94

The attack on Falmouth, Maine, by the Canso 95

Corporal Hardy Pierce, of Captain T. T. Bliss's company; afterward lieutenant of Captain E. Stevens's artillery company 96

Rev. Winwood Serjeant, of Christ Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts, afterward of Bristol, England 96

CONTENTS— Continued

PAGE

9 Elizabeth (Clarke) Hale, of Beverly, widow

OF Colonel Robert Hale 97

ID Mary (Fans) Greenwood, of Boston (with portrait); her erother-in-law. Colonel Thomas Walker, of Montreal and Boston . . 97

11 General Ward's reserve forces, June 17, 1775,

TIME of the Bunker Hill fight 98

12 Colonel John Patterson, of Lenox, Massachu-

setts 99

13 Captain Theodore Thomas Bliss, of Boston. . . 100

14 Position of Patterson's regiment after the

battle, etc 105

15 Isaac Greenwood, of Boston; extract from his

"Revolutionary Memoir" 106

16 Lieutenant-Colonel George Clark's (of the

43D Regiment of Foot) foraging party on Lechmere's Point, and its repulse 112

17 Sniping with powder from the British shells. . 113

18 Draft from Patterson's regiment for Colonel

Arnold's expedition 113

19 Houses left in Charlestown fired by the

Americans 114

20 Troops sent to New York; regiments ordered

to Canada 115

21 Change of Command in Canada 116

22 Americans fall into an ambuscade planned by

Captain George Forster and Brant 118

23 Colonel Henry Sherburne, of Newport, Rhode

Island, former major of Colonel Patterson's (Massachusetts) regiment 120

24 Arnold's retreat from Montreal 124

25 Regiments ordered to join Washington 125

26 Battle of Trenton 125

27 Captain John Manley's flag on the Cumber-

land privateer 126

28 The Cumberland captured by the Pomona

frigate 127

29 Thomas Pratt, of Chelsea, Massachusetts, a

survivor of the Cumberland, 181 i 128

30 Favorite songs of John Greenwood 128

31 Captain David Porter, of Boston, privateers-

man, father of Commander D. Porter, U.S.N. 130

32 Prizes of Captain D. Porter 130

C^i]

CONTENTS— Co«/i««^^

PAGE

33 Captain John (or Jonathan) Carnes, of Salem,

privateersman i3i

34 David Sproat, commissary for naval prisoners

IN New York 132

35 Edward Watkeys, soap and candle maker, New

York 132

36 Captain Nathaniel Thayer, of the Race

Horse, privateer 133

37 Movements of Cornwallis and Washington in

Virginia 133

sS Joseph Whayland, Jr., a British privateersman ON THE Chesapeake; Lord Dunmore's former pilot 133

39 Armed schooner Resolution, former tender

of the Maryland state ship Defence, Captain James Nicholson 137

40 British frigate Santa Margaretta, Captain

E. Salter 138

41 Henry Nicholls, captain of the English cutter

Barracouta, fourteen guns; afterward commanded THE Royal Sovereign, no guns 138

42 Later voyages and events in life of John

Greenwood 139

Appendix A

Colonel John Patterson's Massachusetts regiment; its field, staff^ and commissioned officers, 1775 and 1776 142

Appendix B

Colonel Thomas Walker, of Montreal and Boston; his children and grandchildren 151

ILLUSTRATIONS

John Greenwood, about 1795, after portrait by William

Lovett Frontispiece

Facing page

House of Lieutenant John Greenwood on Middle Street, Falmouth (Portland), Maine, 1 770-1856 6

Facsimile from the "Revolutionary Memoir" 50

Mrs. Mary (Fans) Greenwood, of Boston, mother of John, after portrait by William Lovett 97

No. 199 Water Street, northeast corner of Wall Street, where John Greenwood first lived in New York, in 1873. 139

Colonel Thomas Walker's house on Notre Dame Street, Montreal, 1720- 1890, where the Congressional Commissioners lived 151

Introduction

The following record of events, written by John Greenwood during the year 1809, at such leisure moments as the arduous duties of a professional life permitted, presents In plain and simple style, but bright and clear as when first Impressed upon the brain of youth, the varied scenes which he had beheld, and the hardships which he had encountered, in the service of his country throughout the War of the Revolution. Twenty-five to thirty-five years had passed since their occurrence, yet though in his statements he depended wholly upon memory, there is scarce an Incident related which the annotator. In the course of an extensive historical reading, has not found corroborated. Precise dates alone appear to have been forgotten, and these, so far as possible, are now supplied. If the notes introduced add but little to the text. It Is hoped that they may prove of some value to the student of history.

As a voucher for the truth of whatever pertains to Colonel Patterson's regiment, there was formerly attached to the original manuscript an autograph letter of Major Henry Sherburne, but repeated search among family papers has failed to bring the document to light. All we know about it is from a penciled memorandum on the cover by John Greenwood himself, which reads as follows; "Col. Sherburne, who wrote the introductory letter, was Treasurer of the State of Rhode Island; he Is now living, Sept., 18 10."

Much of stirring adventure was undoubtedly left unrecounted, and his son, Dr. I. J. Greenwood, often expressed regret that he had not foregone the pleasures of youth a little and, acting as amanuensis, made record from time to time of the abundant flow of humor and anecdote with which his father was wont to amuse his friends and children.

In the manuscript a period of two entire years, 1777 and 1778, is passed over inadvertently, without a word. It would appear, however, that about the year 1777 Greenwood was engaged in the codfisheries off the coast, for he would relate how that, being a green hand and employed in stowing the fish, he was advised to pour warm tar in his boots to protect his feet from the brine, and that the boots had to be worn until split off on his arrival home. We know also from the Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls^ that he was on a three months' service, from February 13, 1778, as fifer in the company of Captain John Hinckley's Boston Light Infantry, Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Symmes's Detachment of Guards, on duty in the town under Major-General William Heath at a period when the forces of Burgoyne's army were encamped, as prisoners, in the vicinity.

Many opportunities were enjoyed also by Dr. Greenwood of meeting persons who, having known his father in earlier years, could furnish him with amusing anecdotes in connection with his father's life. A pleasing incident, related in October, 1823, by an old lady whose name has not been preserved, seems to show that Greenwood was again called out on service during the year 1778, when the American army was forming "a cordon about Manhattan Island, from Danbury in Connecticut to Elizabethtown in New Jersey." General Washington had crossed with his forces to the easterly side of the Hudson River, and about July

1 Vol. XX, p. i.

I XVI 2

20 his headquarters was established at White Plains. The Independent Company of Colonel Hitchborn and the Light Infantry Company of Captain Hinckley set out from Boston on Friday, August 7, for "headquarters." Unfortunately the i^oston correspondent of the Pennsylvania Packet of August 25 does not indicate whether he refers to White Plains, New York, or Tiverton, Rhode Island.

I give the story as I find it.

The company to which Greenwood belonged was encamped near White Plains upon the grounds of a wealthy Englishman, a neutral who resided in the neighborhood. This gentleman on one occasion, while out driving with his daughter (who tells the story), saw our young fifer sick and suffering from fever and ague, and brought him to his own house, where through kindness and woman's care he soon recovered. The good-natured boy, always cheerful and willing to lend a hand about the premises, soon won the regard of every member of the family; the eldest son would take him out for a drive in fine weather, and the old lady of the house never failed to remember him when making up a batch of pies.

About this time a band of Skinners, anxious for plunder, made up their minds to burn and sack the place, on the plea that its occupant, though professedly a neutral, was virtually attached to the loyalist cause. The house was accordingly surrounded and its inmates called upon to surrender. The captain of the neighboring militia company, informed of this proceeding but aware of the old gentleman's neutrality, was undecided how to act, and determined to leave it altogether to his men. He therefore paraded them and ordered all in favor of defending the premises to raise their hats upon their muskets, and about half immediately responded to the appeal. The rest remaining irresolute, little John the fifer, together with the drummer of the company, was unremitting in his endeavors to persuade them, and soon, every man feeling convinced of his duty, the marauders were driven off.

While in the marine service and a prisoner, Greenwood received a severe scald, the marks of which he bore through life on one of his limbs. He said a person named Mumford, carrying a vessel of soup one day, and not observing him lying at length upon the ground, had stumbled over his body and deluged him with the hot and greasy liquid. This story was confirmed in July, 1837, by a gentleman named Mountfort, who said the party above alluded to was his own father; doubtless Joseph Mountfort,^ of Boston, who had served under Commodore John Manley.

Again, while in the West Indies, the precise time and locality not given, Mr. Greenwood on one occasion saw an aged negro fishing from the end of a wharf who professed to have been a cabin-boy to the notorious pirate John Teach, or "Black Beard," who was captured and killed in November, 17 17. Michael Scott, in his "Tom Cringle's Log," mentions this character as still living in 18 12, at New Providence, aged about 1 10 years.

The earliest incident connected with John Greenwood's life is that, when quite young, he was taken out one day for a walk, escorted by a negro boy belonging to the family; when, attracted by the music and brilliant show of some passing soldiers, they followed along until the tired child was told to wait awhile and rest in a neighboring shop. Oblivious as to where he had left his charge, the negro finally returned home empty-handed, and Johnny had to be recovered by the aid of the town-crier.

2"N. E. Hist. Geneal. Reg.," Vol. XL, p. 116. Born February 3, 1750.

This incident evidently refers to the landing, on Saturday, October i, 1768, of some regular troops,^ "the Hancock Regiments," as the people called them, which marched from Long Wharf to the common "with muskets charged, bayonets fixed, colours flying, drums beating, some of the drummers being negroes, and fifes playing."* As late as 1770 Bailey's English Dictionary gives the word "fife or fififaro, Ital.," as a pipe or wind-instrument, "used by the Germans, with a drum, in the army." Grose, however, in his "Military Antiquities," 1786, says that fifes were revived in the English army about 1745 by the Duke of Cumberland, who first "introduced them into the Guards." They were a novelty, evidently, to the Bostonians, and in March, 1769, an announcement can be read in the daily papers of a musical entertainment in the Concert Hall on Queen Street, for the benefit of the fife-major of the 29th Regiment. We may depend upon it that the "Yankee Doodle Song" of Surgeon Shuckburgh was much played by the British fifers. It was stirring music and had its effect, a very lasting one, upon little John, who, with indefatigable zeal and perseverance, as we learn from the memoir, was soon playing upon a fife of his own, with a militia company of his fellow-townsmen, commanded by Captain Martin Gay, marching at his heels.

In the winter of 182 1-2 John W. Greenwood, then a pupil of Phillips Academy, Andover, was fastening his skates in the cabin of an old gray-headed negro at the edge of a frozen pond, when, glancing up, he observed a framed copy of his family arms over the chimneypiece, which, said old ebony, had belonged to his master, Mr. Greenwood, of Boston. Quite likely he was the same house-servant who had taken such

^ The 14th, 29th, a detachment of the 59th, and a company of the Artillery Train with two cannons.

* Gentleman's Magazine, 1768, pp. 511 and 512.

indifferent care of the boy's father fifty years previous.

No relic in connection with his services, over which the stirring events which marked the Revolution might have cast a halo, has come down to the present generation save the blade of the sword which he took, as he relates, from the body of a Hessian artilleryman at Trenton, and a manuscript music-book upon which he set great store as having been given him by an English fifer. The tunes are all English, but the water-mark^ of the paper being foreign, I am led to suppose this also is a memento of the battle of Trenton. Greenwood's regiment was appointed to guard the Hessian prisoners across the river, and among them was their band of nine musicians, who participated next year in the celebration of July 4 at Philadelphia. The fife which had cheered "the 15th" onward through many a weary march was thoughtlessly given away*' by Dr. I. J. Greenwood about 1 830, and has long since, we may presume, passed into oblivion.

A few words relative to the parentage of John Greenwood may not be amiss. His father, Isaac Greenwood, of Boston, resided previously and for some time subsequent to the war on the east side of Salem Street, the garden of his house adjoining the Second Episcopal, or Christ, Church. Here he carried on the business of ivory-turning and, as an adjunct of the same, the profession of dentistry, much after the manner of his friend Paul Revere, the goldsmith,^ who was located at the

^ Within a circular band, surmounted by a crown, and inscribed "Pro Patria Ejusque Libertate"; standing erect on a low square pedestal, bearing the word "Vryheit," a crowned lion carrying over his left shoulder a long staff surmounted by a liberty-cap.

•^ To his agent, Mr. William K. Newton.

^ They both "learnt the method from Mr. John Baker," a London surgeon dentist who visited Boston and New York in 1768.

head of Clarke's Wharf. To the above occupations was added the manufacture of "kitisols, umbrelloes," and mathematical instruments, and he is said to have constructed the first electrical machine made for Franklin in Boston. His ingenuity in the arrangement of scientific apparatus was probably inherited from his father, of the same name, who had filled the first HoUisian professorship of mathematics and natural philosophy in Harvard College, Cambridge. Professor Isaac Greenwood was the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Bronsdon) Greenwood, and the grandson of Nathaniel, a young shipwright who came to Boston about 1654. The latter was the eldest child of Miles Greenwood, worsted weaver of Norwich, England, and, according to family tradition, a lieutenant and preacher under Oliver Cromwell. Miles's father, also named Miles, was married in 1599, in the church of St. Peter's of Mancroft, to Ann Scath, of Barnham Brome.

John Greenwood, after the war, settled in New York, and there died November 16, 18 19, in his sixtieth year. A few days after this event a hale, hearty old gentleman called at the family residence. No. 13 Park Row, having come, he said, to once more grasp the hand of his old comrade and companion-in-arms before he left this world; he had been the drum major^ of the 15th Massachusetts Regiment.

One who had evidently known John Greenwood personally writes : "He was a venerable man of great originality and shrewdness of mind on all subjects, a great

^ This was probably Jonathan Kinney, of Boston, who enlisted May 3, 1775, as the drummer of Captain Theo. T. Bliss's company. He served from May 8 to July 8, 1777, as a matross of Captain Jonathan Stoddort's company, Colonel Th. Craft's artillery regiment, and as corporal, February 3 to May 2, 1779, with the Guards at and about Boston, under Major-General Gates, in Captain Caleb Champney's company. Greenwood alludes to him under date of January 8, 1776.

reader and deep thinker, generous and chivalrous in disposition, of ready wit and full of the anecdote and lore of the past. In his profession his expert and adroit workmanship, bold ingenuity and resources under all difficulties, acquired him a reputation that left him without a competitor.""

I. J. G.

^ "Wealth and Pedigree of the Citizens of New York," 1842. The portraits of John Greenwood and his mother, which are introduced, are after originals painted by William Lovett, of Boston, about 1790.

THE REVOLUTIONARY SERVICES OF

JOHN GREENWOOD

OF BOSTON AND NEW YORK 1775-1783

Written from memory in New York, February 14, 1809, by a person who was in the Revolutionary War between Great Britain and America; relating naught but facts, so strongly imprinted upon the mind as never to be forgotten.

CHAPTER I

His youth ; enlistment in Captain Theodore T. Bliss's (Boston) company as a fifer; company joined to Colonel J. Patterson's Massachusetts regiment; battle of Bunker Hill; his mother permitted to return to Boston

I WAS born in Boston, America, May 17, in the year 1760, and educated in the North School (i) until thirteen years of age; but as children were not at that time taught what is called grammar, or even correct spelling, it must not be expected to find them in this relation. All that we learned was acquired by the mere dint of having it thumped in, for the two masters, who had to overlook and manage some 300 or 400 boys, could pay little attention to us except so far as flogging went, which right was rather freely indulged in.

While I was at school the troubles commenced, and I recollect very well of hearing the superstitious accounts which were circulated around: people were certain a war was about to take place, for a great blazing comet had appeared and armies of soldiery had been seen fighting in the clouds overhead; and it was said that the day of judgment was at hand, when the moon would turn into blood and the world be set on fire. These dismal stories became so often repeated that the boys thought nothing of them, considering that such events must come in the course of nature. For my part, all I wished was that a church which stood by the side of my father's garden (2) would fall on me at the time these terrible things happened, and crush me to death at once, so as to be out of pain quick.

It must not be expected that I can give day or date in my relation, as I cannot remember them.

I remember what is called the "Boston Massacre," when the British troops fired upon the inhabitants and killed seven^ of them, one of whom was my father's apprentice, a lad eighteen years of age, named Samuel Maverick (3). I was his bedfellow, and after his death I used to go to bed in the dark on purpose to see his spirit, for I was so fond of him and he of me that I was sure it would not hurt me. The people of New England at that time pretty generally believed in hobgoblins and spirits, that is the children at least did.

About this period I commenced learning to play upon the fife, and, trifling as it may seem to mention the circumstance, it was, I believe, the sole cause of my travels and disasters. I was so fond of hearing the fife and drum played by the British that somehow or other I got possession of an old split fife, and having made it sound by puttying up the crack, learned to play several tunes upon it sufliciently well to be fifer in the militia company of Captain Gay (4). This was before the war some years, for I think I must have been about nine or ten years old. The flag of the company was English; so were they all then.

I saw the tea when it was destroyed at Boston, which began the disturbance, and likewise beheld several persons tarred and feathered and carried through the town; they were tide-waiters, custom-house officers — I think they called them informers.

^ Three were killed and eight wounded, two of them mortally.

L4l

At the age of thirteen I was sent eastward to a place called Falmouth (Portland), 150 miles from Boston, to live with my father's only brother (5), whom I was named after. He was a cabinet-maker by trade but had concerns in the shipping business likewise, and was looked upon to be an able, or rich, man. His wife was dead, he had no children, and I was his favorite. The whole country at this time was in commotion and nothing was talked of but war, liberty, or death; persons of all descriptions were embodying themselves into military companies, and every old drunken fellow they found who had been a soldier, or understood what is called the manual exercise, was employed of evenings to drill them. My uncle was lieutenant of an inde- X pendent company (the Cadets), and of course I was engaged to play the fife while they were learning to march, a pistareen an evening for my services keeping me in pocket-money. Being thus early thrown into the society of men and having, as it were, imbibed the ardor of a military spirit; being moreover the only boy who knew how to play the fife in the place, I was much caressed by them.

I stayed with my uncle two years, until the time arrived when we had an account that the British troops had marched out of Boston, attacked the country people at a place called Lexington, and killed a number of them (6). I had frequently been inclined to return to Boston that I might see my father, mother, sister, and brothers, but as I was not permitted to do so, I took it into my head, saying nothing to any one about it, to go alone on foot in the beginning of May, 1775. The distance was 150 miles and the country so thinly inhabited that I had to traverse, at times, woods seven miles in length, and I had never traveled before more than three or four miles by land into the country. I concluded to set out on a Sunday, for then they would not be so apt to miss me, and not having mentioned my

1:53 determination of going, they would not think it possible so young a boy would, without any manner of cause, attempt such a journey. My reason for going was I wished to see my parents, who, I was afraid, would all be killed by the British, for, as I observed before, nothing was talked of but murder and war.

Sunday morning, when in New England all is still and no persons are in the streets, having eaten my breakfast, I took a handkerchief and tied up in it two or three shirts and a pair or two of stockings, and with what clothes I had on my back and four and a half pistareens in my pocket, jumped over the fence in the back yard and set off. I walked rapidly through the town without meeting any one I knew, as it was breakfast-time, and when once beyond the outskirts, being a very strong-constitutioned boy, off I went with a light heart and a good pair of heels; sometimes I ran and sometimes trotted like a horse, and I really believe I accomplished forty miles the first day. I do not recollect that I was the least tired during my whole journey. As I traveled through the different towns the people were preparing to march toward Boston to fight, and as I had my fife with me — yes, and I was armed likewise with my sword — I was greatly caressed by them. Stopping at the taverns where there was a muster, out came my fife and I played them a tune or two; they used to ask me where I came from and where I was going to, and when I told them I was going to fight for my country, they were astonished such a little boy, and alone, should have such courage. Thus by the help of my fife I lived, as it were, on what is usually called free-quarters nearly upon the entire route. ^

- On Lexington Day, April 19, 1775, Captain William H. Ballard (later of Colonel James Frye's regiment) started his company with a few men in Amesbury, Essex County, Massachusetts, and then drummed up a number more, during the month of May, along the New Hampshire coast. It does seem as if the recruiting sergeant

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As nigh as I can remember It took me four days and a half to reach Charlestown, opposite Boston; but on Charlestown Neck there stood a Yankee soldier or sentry who stopped me, telling me that I must not go past him. I attempted, however, to get by him and run, when another fellow caught me and carried me to the guard-house, which was a barn standing not far off. Here I was kept all night, when they let me go, informing me that In order to go down to Charlestown ferry a pass must be obtained from General Ward, at Cambridge; but by no means would I be permitted to go into Boston to see my parents, as all communication was cut off between the British and the country people. The war had begun, they told me; the British had marched out into the country to Lexington, to thetune of "Yankee Doodle," but they had made them dance it back again.

I immediately set off for Cambridge after my pass, got it, and traveled back for Charlestown ferry; but I was not allowed, after two years' absence from home, to go over and see my parents. Everything on the opposite shore was familiar to me, and I was well acquainted with the person who kept the ferry, Mr. Enoch Hopkins, whose son used to go to school with me. There I stood alone, without a friend or a house to shelter me for the night, surrounded by women and children, some crying and others in different situations of distress, for the Boston people were flocking out of town over the ferry In crowds, with what little furniture they were permitted to take with them. The British governor, or, more properly calling him,

came across John Greenwood tramping his way down from Falmouth, for on his roll was entered: "John Greenwood of Boston, May 14, Fifer, age 16." But, as John says, a light pair of heels evidently carried the young fifer onward to his destination, and a company roll, dated Cambridge, June 13, marks Greenwood "absent." ("N. E. Hist. Geneal. Reg.," Vol. LX, p. 44.)

1:73

"Granny Gage," gave permission to the inhabitants, before the battle of Bunker Hill, to leave the town, but placed a fellow by the name Cunningham-^ (the notorious master of the New York provost during the war) at the ferry stairs, to search their trunks and little bundles and take from the women and children their pins, needles, and scissors, in short anything he pleased, which, with his noted cruelty, he would throw into the river while the poor helpless creatures were weeping. O British magnanimity ! Brave fellows !

This, however, is nothing to their boasted valor. They dared not show their faces to us over their breastworks after Bunker Hill frolic. They then found out to their sorrow what kind of stuff Yankees were made of; they lost In killed and wounded in that battle upward of iioo of their best troops, and we lost about 200. The British had ten men to our one, as history will inform you, and I was an eye-witness.