Sudbury Town (part 1 of 2)

Sudbury Town

LL authorities agree that the first settlers of Sudbury were drawn to this locality chiefly by the rich meadow-lands on either side of the river bearing the same name as the town through wliicli it flowed, as also by the abundance of woodland and the strength of the soil when once subdued. Johnson, in his Hidory of Xew England, 16o4, page 141, says: -

" The early settlers found broad meadows wherein grew neither slirub nor tree, but as mucJi grass as may be thrown out with a scythe, thick and strong, and as high as a man's middle ; some as high as a man's shoulders, so tiiat a man may cut river were heavy pine forests, from which tar was manufactured." Johnson speaks of this town " as well watered and having store of plow land," but "little broke up" on account of "the oaken roots"; and of its great distance " from the mart towns " as making " it burdensome to the inhabitants to bring tlieir corn so far by land " ; and adds, " some gentlemen here have laid out part of their estates in procuring farms, by reason of the store of meadow.^'

The first movement towards the formation of a plantation here, of which a record has been found, was made in 1637. Under date of November 20, of this year, the colony records say : " Whereas a great part of the inhabitants of Watertovvn have petitioned this court, that in regard to their straitiiess of accommodation, and want of meadow, they might have leave to remove, and settle a plantation upon the river which runs to Concord, this Court, having respect to their necessity, doth grant their petition."

the place, upon the said river, and shall set out a place for them by marks and bounds sufficient for fifty or sixty families," who were required to remove thither witiiin one year ; and " if tliere be not thirty families at least settled before said time limited, then this court shall dispose of the said plantation to any other."

September 6, 1638, the petitioners, Wx. Brian Pendleton, Mr. Peter Noyes, Mr. Edmund Browne, and company, are allowed to go on in their plantation, and such as are associated to them . . . . " and the petitioners are to take care that in their allotments of lands they have jespect as well to men's estates and abilities to improve their land, as to their number of persons."

The plantation was laid out five miles square. And under the court's order last quoted the houselots and planting fields were assigned to the inhabitants.

The order of the court for the division of the meadows was passed September 4, 1639, under which order a first division was made and recorded ; a second division is recorded April 20, 1640; the third division is recorded November 18, 1640.

May 13, 1640, the court granted to the town " the addition of a mile in length upon the southeast and southwest sides of this plantation " ; and May 2, 1649, " Sudbury is granted two miles westward, next adjoining to them for their further enlargement."

As several of the settlers here were from the old town of Sudbury in England, the town was christened, in honor of the place so dear to them in the mother country.

Sudbury, five miles square, originally was bounded by Watertown on the east, - which then included what is now Weston, - Concord on the north, and by the wilderness on the south and west. The boundary on the soutli is the same today as it was in the beginning, only instead of the wilderness, we now write Framiiigham. So on the west, - oil which side tlie town is two miles square larger than it was at first, - instead of the wilderness we write Marlborough, which is an offshoot of Sudbury, and was at the outset largely settled by Sudbury men.

Our fathers purchased this extent of land, five miles square, of an Indian called Cato, for the sum of £5. The original name of this Indian is not known. In addition to his name, Cato, he was called Goodman, and the hill a little south of the Congregational Meeting-house at Sudbury Centre, as it is in 1879, on the left side of the road as you go south, is designated Goodman's Hill. It is where Cato (Goodman) had his wigwam.

" Bee it known vnto all men by these presents that I Cato otherwise Goodman for & in consideration of fyve pounds w'''^ I have received in commodities & wompumpeage of Walter Hayne & Hugh Griffin of Sudbury in behalf of themselves & the rest of the planters of Sudbury ; doe this my write in give & grant bargain & sell vnto the said Walter Hayne - (Haine) - & Hugh Griffin & the said planters of the town of Sudbury so much land southward & so much land westward next adjoining to a tract of land w'='' I said Cato formerly souled unto George Munnings & the rest of the planters of Sudbury as may make the bounds of the said town to be full fyve miles square w* all meadows, brooks, liberties priviledges & appertenances thereto belonging w"' all the said tract of laud granted. And I grant vnto them for me & mine heirs & brethren that I & they shall & will at any tyme make any further assurance in writing for the more p'fct assuring of the s'd land & all tlie premises w"* the appertenances vnto the s'd Walter Haine & Hugh Griffin & the s*! planters & their successors forever as they shall require.

In Book IX., pages 344 to 352 inclusive, in. the Registry of Deeds at East Cambridge, is a record in full of the original deed given by the Indian proprietors to Sudbury, of two miles square on the west. This deed is very lengthy, - too much so to be inserted here in full, interesting as it is, - and consequently only an abstract of it will be given.

"Forasmuch as the Gen' Court of the Massachusetts Colony in New England hath formerly granted to the Town of Sudbury in the County of Middlesex in the same Colony, an addition of land of two miles westward of their former grant of five miles, which is also layd out & joynetli to it : and whereas the English occupiers, proprietors and possessors thereof, have chosen Capt. Edraond Goodenow, Leifi Josiali Haynes, John Goodenow, John Brigham & Joseph Freeman to be a comittee for themselves & for all the rest of the English proprietors thereof, giving them their full power to treat with & to ])urchase the same of the Indian proprietors of the s'' tract of land & to satisfy & pay them for their native, ancient & hereditary right title & interest thereunto.

" Know all Peoi)le by these presents That Wee, Jehojakim, John Magus, John Muskqua & his two daughters Esther & Rachel, Benjamin Bohue, John Speen & Sarah his wife, James Speen, Dorothy Wennetoo & Humphry Bohue her son, Mary IVeppamun, Abagail the daughter of Josiah Harding, Peter Jethro, Peter Muskquamogh, John Boman, David Munnoan & Betty who are the ancient native & hereditary Indian proprietors of the afores'' two miles of land (for k in consideration of the just & full sum of twelve pounds of current money of New England to them in hand well & truly paid at or before the ensealing & delivery hereof by the said Capt. Edmond Goodenow, Leift the rest of the English possessors, occupiers, proprietors & fellow-purchasers) the recipt whereof tliey do hereby acknowledge & therewith to be fully satisfied, contented & paid &: thereof & of every part & parcell thereof they do hereby for themselves & their heyrs Executors Administrators & Assigns clearly fully & absolutely release, acquit, exonerate & discharge them & all the English possessors . . . . & all & every one of their heyrs ....

bounded on the East by the old part of the s'' Towue of Sudbury .... & is butted & bounded northerly by the line or bounds of the Towne of Concord, westerly by the line or bounds of the Towne of Stow & is bounded southerly & partly westerly by the lands of Mr. Thomas Danforth.

" In Witness whereof the above named Indian grantors have hereunto each for themselves &: altogether sett their hands & seals, dated 11"' day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred eighty & four. Annoqe Itegni Regis Caroli Secundi. XXXVI. [Then follow the names of the grantors with their marks and seals.]

"Cambridge 15 Octo'' 1681. All the persons that have signed & sealed this instrument appeared before me this day & year above written & freely acknowledged this writing to be their Act & deed. "Daniel Gookin Sen" Assist." Indorsemenf. - " All the Grantors of the instrument within written beginning with Jehojakim & ending with Peter Muskquamog did sign seale & deliver s"* instrument in presence of us

"John Gueene, James Barnard." " Moreover we underwritten did see Benjamin Bohen, Dorothy Wauneto & Mary & Betty A"e))amun signe seal &: deliver this instrument the IS"" day of Oct" 1681.

" RoxBURY, April 16, '85. "Charls Josias, Sachem of the Massachusetts, having read and considered the within written deed with the Consent of his guardians & Councellors underwritten doth for himself & his heyrs allow of, ratify k confirm the within written sale to the inhabitants of Sudbury & their heyrs forever, the lands therein bargained & sold. To have & to hold to the s'* Inhabitants of Sudbury their heyrs & assigns forever & hath hereunto set his hand & seal the day above written.

" CuARLS X JosiAS his mark & seal " Allowed by us William Stouguton ( G""r<1i(nis ) -Robert U. Montague Joseph Dudley | Suclem ( WilliamW.Ahonton. "Recorded 19, 3. 1685

While among the early settlers of Sudbury were families from Cambridge and Watertown, it is believed that a large proportion of them came directly here from England. It is quite evident that these families were in good circumstances, as well as intelligent and decidedly religious, so that tiiey were prepared to plant the town, build schoolhouses and churches, and help lay the foundations of the state and the nation.

In the New Erif/land Historical ami Genealogical Register for January, 1818, there is a valuable paper headed " Passengers for New England, 1638." The editor of the Register gives this explanation : -

"The following list of early emigrants or passengers was obtained for the New England Historic Genealogical Society, by Henry Stevens, Esq., one of its members lately resident in London.

'The list of the names of the Passengers intended for New England, in the good shipp, the Confidence of London, of C C tonnes. John Jobson M' and thus by vertue of Lord warr' of the xj"" of Aprill 1638.' "

This list gives us the number of " passengers, great and little " as one hundred and ten. Their names, residence, occupation, and ages are specified. Of this number a considerable proportion came to Sudbury, the names of some of Avhom are quite prominent in the early records of the place.

Among the first settlers of this ancient town are names very famiHar now, - names, some of which are represented in families still resident here, and who delight to trace their descent back through so many generations to those wlio came to this place not twenty years after the landing of the grand old Puritans on Plymouth Rock. We mention Edmund Browne, Robert Fordham, clergyman, Edmund Rice (Rise), Robert Bent, Thomas and AVilliam Browne, Thomas Buckmaster, Thomas and Antieut Cakbread, Henry Curties, Robert Darnell, Edmond Goodenow, John Goodenough, Thomas Goodnow, Hugh Griffin (ancestor of the famous President Griffin of Williams College), John Howe, Wyddon Hunt, Theodore Islyn, Jolin Maynard, George Munning, Richard Newton, AVilliam Parker, John Parmenter, Sr. and Jr. Many other names miglit be mentioned as amo?ig the early settlers of Sudbury, did our space permit.

Tlie town was chartered in 1639, and in May, ICIS, the inhabitants made a contract witii Ambrose Leach to build a cart-bridge over the river, to be raised " three feet above high-water mark, to be twelve feet wide," and completed by the last day of August following. This contract, on the part of Leach, was not met, and in November, 1643, another contract was made witii Timothy Hawkins of Watertown, to build a bridge at tlie same place, five rods long, fourteen feet wide, and one foot above high-water mark. " Tlie inhabitants agreed to give the said Timothy, for his work, £13, to be paid in corn and cattle at the price as two men shall judge them worth."

November 26, l&Vi, it was " ordered that the Marshall levy a rate for pay for the bridge," which appears by subsequent records to have been finished according to contract.

This bridge was probably one of the first regular framed bridges built in tlie country. The bridge at Watertown was not built till four years after, and only for foot-passengers. This is an indication of thrift, energy, and intelligence of which iSudbury may well be ])roud.

Tiiere is no account of tlic rn;iking df tlie causeway lialf a inilc long now to be found, wliru wcirks of smaller importance are minutely given. ]( is su])posed that the building of the causcw;iy was commenced in 161'3, tliough it was not liiiislicd till some years later. In March, IT.'JS, the (icueral Court gave the town iierniission to have a

Four years after the incorporation of the town a ferry was established, which was kept by Tliomas Noyes for one year, and he was allowed to take twopence for a single passenger, and a penny a head for a greater number. Tiiis ferry was from side to side of the river, not far from the upper causeway of to-day.

June 15, 161-5, the town of Lancaster joined with other towns in petitioning the General Court for a grant to finish the bridge and causeway in Sudbury. £20 were granted.

Says Dr. Stearns : " The copy of tlie record of Lancaster road is so much worn that it cannot be given entire, yet so much remains that tlie principal bounds can be ascertained : ' Beginning at the great River Meadow at tiie gravel pitt - by tiie causeway, on the AVest side - and run to the Northwest side of Thomas Plymptoii's house - & thence to timber swamp, & so on to heart pond,' leaving the rock on the North side, and so on to Sudbury bounds to be tiie common highway toward Lancaster, througii Sudbury, therefore wee have hereunto sett our hands the 22^^ day of this present vear, no other date 1654.

As early as 1636 the inhabitants of Concord applied to the court to aid them in draining the meadows by deepening tiie ciiannel at the falls. In 1644 Herbert Peliiam of Cambridge, Thomas Flint and Lieutenant Simon AA'illard of Concord, and Air. Peter Noyes of Sudbury were appointed a commission by the court to devise some means " for draining and improving the meadows." Jolinson says : " Several times they assayed to cut througii tlie rocky falls, but cannot, yet it may be turned aiiotiier way by a liundred pound charge, by cutting a channel to Cliarles River."

Tlie meadow-lands were the standard of valuation. At that time everything necessary to the welfare of the town was attended to promptly and with marked striMgcncy. This is seen by the following : -

"20 day last Mo. 16-39. It was ordered that for neglecting to come forth to the mending of the highway, when lawfidly summoned thereto, the penalty shall be five shillings."

"On the ig"" day of Nov. the following rule was agreed upon for working on the higliway : 1. The poorest man shall work one day; 2. For every six acres of meadow land a man hath, he shall work one day ; 3. Every man who shall neglect to make all fences ap])ertaining to his fields by the Si of April shall forfeit 5 shillings."

About this time a great cliange took place in the price of cattle. The ruling price, which before this year had been enormous, now, in consequence of the cessation of importation of settlers, fell to about one third of the former value. Milch cows, which had bronght from £25 to £30, now fell to £5 or £6.

In 1639, to prevent abuses on the part of both employers and employees, as also on the part of borrowers and lenders of money, the prices of labor and the rates of interest were established by law.

Dr. Stearns says : " Very soon after the incorporation of the town a road was made on either side of the river, from north to south, the length of the town. These roads were on the east side four rods wide, and on the west side six rods wide.

"In 1648 a highway was laid out between Sudbury and Concord by men appointed by their respective towns : as the year before a committee was appointed to lay out the line with Watertown men, between Watertown and Sudbury."

December 7, 161'7, ten years after Sudbury began to be settled, as looking towards its incorporation as a town, a cow common was laid out on the west side of the river. This common included nearly all the upland not laid out in house-lots, between the river meadow on the east. Hop Meadow (or Washbrook Meadow) on the west, and Pantry Brook and Gulf Meadow on the north and northeast. The inhabitants were allowed to pasture in this common cattle, horses, sheep, etc., according to their valuation as proprietors of meadow-lands. There was an equally valuable cow common for the convenience of the inhabitants | on the east side of the river, in the southeast part of the town.

Especial pains were taken to prevent idleness, and to promote the highest tone of morality among the rising generation. Schools were early established, - reading schools and a grammar school; the latter kept by a man capable of fitting pupils for college, and this school was movable from district to district.

"While from year to year the town made provision for the poor, at quite an early date they raised the question of providing a workliouse for idle ^ - in the records it reads iilul - people, for the purpose of preventing the multiplication of tramps; and such a house was built in Lanum district, but after the trial of a few years it was given up.

June 16, 164-7, " Ordered, That the surveyors of the Town land shall lay out 50 acres of upland about Hop Brook meadow, near the cart path that goes over the brook, to be reserved for the use of the town when they shall set a mill upon the brook."

January 1, 1659, " Granted unto Mr. Thomas N'oyes and to Mr. Peter Noyes for and in consideration of a mill at Hop Brook, lying and being on the west side of Sudbury great River, below the cart way that leads to Ridge meadow, viz. fifty acres of upland and fifteen acres of meadow, without Commonadge to the said meadow, four acres of the said fifteen acres of meadow lying and being within the demised tract of uplands. Also granted to the above named parties, timbers of any of the Sudbury common land, to build and maintain the said mill.

" Also the said Thomas and Peter Noyes do covenant with the town for the foregoing considerations to build a sufficient mill to grind the town of Sudbury's corn, the mill to be built below tlie cart way that now is leading to Ridge meadow, the said grantees their heirs and successors are to have nothing to do with the stream above, four rods above the aforementioned cart way of said mill; to be ready to grind tlie corn by the first of December next ensuing, and if the said grantees, their heirs and assigns, shall damage the highway over the brook, by building the said mill, they are to make the way as good as it now is, from time to time, that is to say, the above specified way over the mill brook, and said Thomas Noyes and Peter Noyes are also to leave a highway six rods wide joining to the brook, from the cart way that now is to the widow Loker's meadow."

March 26, 1677, " Ordere/J, That Peter King, Thomas Reed Sen, John Goodnow, Jos. Freeman, Jo° Smith have liberty granted to build a saw-mill on Upper Hop Brook above Mr. Peter Noyes' corn mill, at a place viewed by a committee of the town, which if they doe they are to have 20 tons of timber and earth for the dam." This mill was built, probably, on the site of Moore's and Perry's sawmill.

Tlie first settlement in Sudbury was on the east side of the river, where were the first buryingground and meeting-house, the parsonage, the scliool-house, and tlie blacksmith-shop.

The town was divided into East and West Sudbury, by the river in part, in 1780. The land was more extended on the west than on the east side. The population, before the division, was larger on the west side than on the east, and long before the division of the town took place the church had been divided, - the church on the west side taking the name of the First Church of Sudbury. For a long time before the division the annual townmeetings were held alternately on the east and west side, and the town officers were selected from each side in about equal jjroportion.

The division of the town became a necessity for the accommodation of the people. From year to year, for some years before it took place, the division of the town was discussed both in a private way and in town-meeting ; but the step of dividing the town was not taken till 1780, four years after the Declaration of Independence, and about in the middle of the Eevolutionary "War.

We do not desire to introduce matter into tliis sketch of Sudbury that properly belongs to the history of Wayland, as that history will have a place in this volume.

1648 [Winthrop's Journal, Tol. II. p. 333]. "About the midst of tliis summer there arose a fly out of tlie ground, about the bigness of the top of a man's little finger, of brown color. They filled tlie wood from f'onnccticiit to Sudbury wifh a great noise, and cat up the young sprouts of the trees i)ut meddled not with t!ie corn. If the Lord liad not stopped them they had spoiled all our nirliurds, for they did some few ."

King Philip's War, tliough sliort, was exceedingly disastrous both to the Englisii and tlie Indians, resulting, however, in the almost ixTmanent subjugation of the latter, and a better understanding, in all respects, between the two races. The great; fight, near the close of the war, one of the most bloody on record, was on Green Hill, Sudbury, the Indians gaining the victory, though at too great a cost to be of any value to them, as it left them too much reduced, every way, to prosecute the struggle with any degree of courage.

Green Hill is about one mile south of Goodman's Hill, already spoken of, and the precise locality of the fight is not much southwest of the monument that marks the exact spot where moulder the bones of Captains AVadsworth and Brocklebank and their noble men. Green Hill and Goodman's Hill are really but one hill, Green Hill being at the southern extremity and Goodman's Hill at the northern, with a slight depression between the two summits.

The terrible figiit came to pass in this way : The Indians were concealed in great force, - som^ say to the number of 1,500 ; but this is a conjecture, and most likely an extravagant one On the approach of the English, a few of the Indians came out from their hiding-place, crossed the course of Captain Wadsworth, and as soon as they were discovered pretended fright and fled, only, however, as a matter of strategy. This plot succeeded, when they instantly made a furious assault on the English. Captain Wadsworth and his men received the attack in good order, and falling back to an adjacent hill, maintained their ground for some four hours, losing only a few of their number, but inflicting a very severe loss on their assailants. The Indians, in their emergency, resorted to another stratagem, and set fire to the woods to the windward of the English, which spread with great rapidity, as the wind was strong and the grass very dry. The raging flames caused Captain Wadsworth and his men to abandon their favorable position, when the savages poured in upon them from every side, and so by superior numbers overcame them. All the English but about twenty were killed, or fell into the hands of the enemy. A portion of those who escaped took shelter in the mill near by, and were rescued by Captain Prentice, witii about fifty horse, and Cajjtain Cowell, who was on his way from Brookfield with about thirty men. Both Captain Prentice and Cowell barely escaped the fate of Wadsworth and l^nieklebank. Captains Wadsworth and Brocklebank, by all the historians of this battle, are s])oken of as men of high standing as captains, and as greatly esteemed for tiieir noble moral and Christian character.

"The IStli of April, 1876, was observed as the tvo hundredth anniversary of this remarkable figlit. The day was celebrated in a becoming manner, with a procession, and an address by Hon. T. P. Hurlbut at the monument, historical of the cause and method of its erection, a prayer at the Unitarian Church by Rev. G. A. Oviatt, and an oration by Professor E. J. Young of Harvard College, followed by several addresses in response to sentiments given by J. S. Hunt, Esq., all under the direction of the committee of arrangements, Messrs. J. P. Fairbanks, T. P. Hurlbut, and T. J. Sanderson, Homer Rogers acting as marshal of the day.

"The tirst monument [quoting from Mr. Hurlbut's Address] on this spot, erected about 1730, was placed here by President Wadsworth of Harvard College, son of Captain Samuel Wadswortii." This monument, a simple, plain slate slab, was falling away, when many felt that something should be done to preserve it. November 10, 1851, the town appointed a committee of twenty-five, with Colonel Drury Fairbank as chairman, "' to investigate the subject and report at a future meeting. The 26th of January, 18u'2, this committee made a partial report, and were instructed to petition the legislature for aid in the erection of the monument." As the result of this movement the legislature made an appropriation of §500 to be expended under the direction of Governor Boutwell. What was needed in addition to this appropriation by the state was given by the town. The monument, togetiier with a road leading to tlie spot, was completed at an expense of nearly §52,000. The monument was dedicated November 23, 1852, the dedicatory address being delivered by Governor Boutwell.

" Tlie remains of the ancient dead were taken from their former graves and placed in boxes. Portions of twenty-nine skeletons, corresponding to the number recorded as buried tiiere, were found. The bones were in a remarkable state of preservation, some of them bearing marks of blows that were given two hundred years ago. The boxes containing the remains were placed in the vault beneath the monument, tlie aperture was closed, and the ancient slab erected by President Wadsworth placed in front."

on Green Hill, in which Wadswortli was slain, led the writer to make independent and careful investigation of the testimony favoring the ISth of April and that supporting the 21st of April, 1676, as the true date. The result confirms the belief that the date recorded on the monument is an error, and that this memorable conflict took place on the afternoon of Friday, April 21, 1676.

There exist not less than five distinct sources of evidence, all contemporary, all made by men who were personally or officially connected with the events described, or who were in a ])ositioii to le cessful in enlisting men to serve under him, and in June, 1775, an order was passed by the Committee of Safety, recommending Congress to promote himto the rank of colonel, which recommendation was at once complied with, as their records show that he was appointed the next day, and that the five commissions were appointed to his officers " agreeably to the list by him made out " ; thus he went into the service with both officers and men of his own selection, all, as a regiment, having full confidence in each other.

In the battle of Bunker Hill Colonel Nixon's regiment was on the Jlystic side, and was conspicuous for its good conduct, having the honor of being directly under the eye of General Warren. In this engagement Colonel Nixon received a severe wound, from which he never wholly recovered, and was borne off the field but a few moments before General Warren fell.

November 4-, 1775, Colonel Nixon was in camp in Cambridge, in command of four regiments. Early in 1776 Washington, as commander-in-chief, addressed a letter to Congress in reference to the appointment of general officers, and with it a list of all the colonels in the army from New Hampshire to Pemisylvania, stating that Colonel Nixon's military talents, and his bravery on the 17th of June, entitled him to promotion ; and consequently he was one of the six who, at that date, were commissioned as brigadier generals.

In December, 1776, General Nixon was with his brigade on the Delaware. July 1, 1777, Washington wrote to General Putnam that it was almost certain that Generals Howe and Burgoyne would, if possible, " unite their attacks and form a junction' of their two armies," and, he continued,' "I approve much of your conduct in ordering Nixon's brigade to be in readiness ; and I desire it may be embarked immediately with their baggage, to go to Albany as soon as General Varnum's and General Parson's brigades are so near Peeks-Kill that they arrive to supply their place."

In June, 1779, Washington made his headquarters at New Windsor, that he might better personally have his army on both sides of the Hudson, under his eye. The main body he left under the command of General Putnam. The object of Washington was to guard against an assault on West Point. Three brigades were stationed on the east side of the river, one of which was General Nixon's.

This closes the account of General Nixon during the Eevolutionary War. He resigned in 1780. His residence in Sudbury was on the northern slope of Nobscott. He was twice married, and had eleven children ; only one grandchild survives, Christopher Gore Cutler, who lives in the south part of the town. Esquire Cutler is now iu the eighty-ninth year of his age, and remembers very distinctly his grandfather Nixon as a man of medium size, of a pleasant countenance, and a very white head. He used to delight iu the society of his grandchildren, and often amused them by relating .'tories and sincing a song of the w^ar. General Nixon inoved to lliddlebury, Vermont, where he died at the advanced age of ninety years.

The next jirominent military man as a representative of Sudbury in the Pievolutionary War was Colonel Ezekiel Howe. He was a native of this town, and one of the proprietors and keepers of the Red-horse Tavern, or, more poetically, The Wayside-Inn.

" Two companies from Sudbury under Howe, : Nixon, and Haynes came to Concord, and having j received orders from a person stationed at the entrance of the town for the purpose of a guide, to proceed to the west instead of south bridge, arrived near Colonel Barrett's just before the British soldiers retreated. They halted in sight of Colonel Barrett, and Colonel Howe observed, ' If any blood has been shed, not one of the rascals shall eseajje,' and disguising himself, rode on to ascertain the truth. Before proceeding far, firing began at the bridge, and the Sudbury companies pursued the retreating British."

In the Concord and Lexington battle, April 10, 1775, - only one battle, in fact, - three of our men were killed, namely. Deacon Josiah Haynes (of the alarm company), Mr. Asahel Read, and Mr. Joshua

Ilayiies. Exclaimed George W. Curtis in his centennial oration, April 19, 1S75 : "The minuteman of the Eevolution ! He was Deacon Josiah Haynes of Sudbury, eighty years old, who marched with his company to the South Bridge at Concord, then joined in the hot pursuit to Lexington, and fell as gloriously as Warren at Bunker Hill."

Of Colonel Nixon's regiment in the battle at Bunker Hill, one company was from Sudbury, and of this company tiiis minute is found : " Killed on the 17'" of June, at Battle of Bunker Hill, Mr. Joshua Haynes jr. of Capt. Aaron Haynes' company."

The following, dated Sudbury, March 21, 1775, is authentic, and siiows the feelings and condition of the town before the first gun was fired in the war, in anticipation of the worst that migiit come : -

"The return of the several companys of militia and minute men, in Said Town, viz - Ci/pt. Moses Stone's Company - 93 men, of thcna IS no guns, at least one third p.irt firelocks unfit for sarvis, and otherways unaquipt.

"Cap. Aaron Haynes company 60 men, well provided with arms, the most of them provided with Bagonits or hatchits, about one Quarter part with cartridge Boxes.

"Cap. Joseph Smith's company consisting of 75 able bodied men, forty well aquipt, twenty Promise to find and aquip themselves emedately, fifteen no guns, and otherwise unaquipt.

And so all through tiie war Sudbury was ready to respond to every call from the government for men and treasure, and the course of tiie town in that gh)ri(]iis stniggK: was most lionoral)h'. Her sons were scattered, in tiu; army, all over tiie country, and many of tiiem laid down their lives in attestation of their dee]) and burning patriotism. This ehiipler of Sudhiirv's roiuhiel in the War of lii,iep,.ndeMee might h,-' extende.l to ahnost any length, and as lluis exteniled would be as brillianl and lliriliing as the record of any town in ^lassa- (linsells (hiring that sirnggle for civil and ivligioiis libertv against the oppressive deiiiauds !,( the I her eouiitry.

Ill Shiitlliek's //;.v^,r// of (page ll'.l) is the Inllowiiig: "Oh -IW Mairh I 7 75, a report was (nrenlated that British troops uere coiniim to Concord, which created great excitement. The Provincial committee of safety met in Concord 14 and 17 April, and gave orders for the removal of some of the stores from Concord. These were ordered to 9 different towns. 5 barrels beef, 100 of flour, 20 casks of rice, 15 hogsheads of molasses, 10 hogsheads of rum, 500 pounds of candles are ordered to Sudbury." The government powderhouse or storehouse in Sudbury was near the gravelpit on the west side of the river. This storehouse was under guard of a small comjjany of soldiers.

" Agreeable to an order of court directing me to enlist 1 corp' and 6 privates to serve as guard to the stores belonging to the state deposited at Sudbury, I have enlisted Corp' Robert Eames Silas Goodnow jr. Pliilemon Brown Elisha Harrington Joii^ (! raves Lemuel Goodnow Jon" Clark

Guards as above were returned January 1, 1778, of the same number of men, though not all the same men ; also, January 1, 1779, of eleven men.

In the War of Rebellion of 1861 Sudbury's record was highly honorable. The following is taken from ./ Uhlarii of MassacJinsclls in the Ciril Jl'ar, by William Schouler, late Adjutant- General of the Commonwealth, published in 1871. It should be premised that during this war a part of what is now Maynard belonged to Sudbury, which accounts for tjie dillereiiee iielueeii tile population and valuation of 8iidl)ury, as returned by (ieiieral Schouler in 1S71, and as returned by tiie census taken about two years ago.

"The towii-,lerk (luring all the years of' the war was J. S. limit. The town-treasurer during the years is6l, iMeJ, and 1863 Was Edwin Harriiii^'tou ; ill ISO I iiiid 1S65, S. A. Jones.

" 1861. Tlie first legal town-meeting to act upon matters relating to the war was held on the 29th of April, and it being expected that the Wadsworth Rifle Guards, - the same being Company B of the Second Battalion Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, - belonging to Sudbury, would be called into active service, it was voted to furnish a new uniform and a revolver to each private and noncommissioned officer, and a sword to each of the commissioned officers ; also to pay each member while in active service an amount which, added to government pay, would make twenty dollars a month ; also ' that the families of those who may leave shall be furnished with all necessary assistance at the expense of the town, and their business shall be cared for by the town, and not allowed to sutler by their absence.'

" 18G:2. July 38, VoIpJ to ])ay each volunteer who shall enlist in the military service for three years, and be credited to the quota of the town, a bounty of $125." The number required was fourteen, iind tlie selectmen were instructed to eidist the men, and to provide, at the ex])ense of the town, for any sick or wounded volunteer belonging to Sudbury. August 19, the bounty to volunteers for nine months' service was fixed at §100. 1863, December 7, tlie selectmen were authorized "to use all legal and proper means to fill the town's quota, in compliance with tlie call of the President, dated Oct. 17, 186:}, for three hundred thousand men." 1861, June 4, it was voted to raise a sufficient amount of money to pay a bounty of §125 to each volunteer who shall enlist and be credited to the quota of Sudbury, in anticipation of any subsequent call of the President for more men. This amount of bounty was continued to be paid until the close of the war.

" Sudbury furnished one Iiundred and sixty-eight men for tlie war, which was a surplus of eleven over and above all demands. Four were commissioned officers. Tiie whole amount of money aj)- propriated and expended by the town on account of tlie war, exclusive of state aid, was seventeen thousand five hundred and seventy-five dollars. The amount of money raised and expended by the town during tlie war for state aid to soldiers' families and repaid by the commonwealth, was §6,199.18." Ecclesiastical Wsiori/. - The First Church was organized in 1640, but four years after the planting of the First Church in Cambridge, which is tlie oldest Congregational Church in Middlesex County, the First Church in Sudburv being the next. Eev. Edmund Brown was the first pastor, being inducted into office at the time the church was organized. Mr. Brown was a man of rare excellence, able, discreet, and a sound preacher. The first meeting-house was erected in 1642, and was located on the east side of the river, in tlie old burying-ground. It was a rude structure, and was built by Sergeant John Rutter for the sum of £6, to be paid in articles of produce. It was 30 X 20 feet, and 6 feet high, having four windows with three lights apiece, and two windows with four lights each. It was without floor or seats for two or three years. The second meeting-house was built on the site of the first, was 40 X 25 feet, and 12 feet high, - a framed house designed for galleries. This meetinghouse served not only as the place of public worship, but as a town-house and arsenal. In front of it was an arrangement for punishing criminals, and in the time of King Philip's War it was surmounted with a stockade, and so answered the purpose of a fortification. This building remained thirty-four years, when it was sold, except the seats, for £6.

Mr. Brown died January 22, 1678, and was succeeded by Mr. James Sherman. The third pastor was Rev. Israel Loring, a man eminent in all the region as a powerful preacher. Mr. Loring died in the ninetieth year of his age, and the sixtysixth of his ministry. lie died on Tuesday, and would have preached on the Sabbath immediately preceding, but for the ])rovidential arrival on Saturday of a brother. On Monday, the day before his death, he opened town-meeting with prayer.

This story of him is well authenticated : He had refused to baptize children born on Sunday. At length Mrs. Loring gave birth to twins on the Lord's Day, when Mr. Loring publicly confessed his error, and in due time administered the ordinance to his own Sabbath-born children.

In 1722, eighty-two years after its organization, the church was divided, when Mr. Loring took charge of the new church on the west side of the river, which, with the consent of those who remained on the east side, was designated the First Church, and the parish, the First Parish in Sudbury.

There are now three places of public worship in Sudbury, located in the centre of the town, belonging, in order, to the old First Society, which is Unitarian, to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and to the Orthodox, designated as the Union Evangelical Church.

shelves nearly seven tiiousand volumes, and furnishes a. great variety of reading matter, of which the citizens very generally avail themselves. The library building has recently been enlarged, and in the course of a few years it will be necessary to enlarge it again ; when, undoubtedly, it will be made an imjwsing and beautiful structure. On the first page of the catalogue is the following : -

" John Gooduow, son of John Goodnow, Jr., and Persis Goodnow, his wife, was born at Sudbury, September 6, 1791, and died in Boston, December 24-, 1861. By the first two clauses in tlie last will and testament of the above-named John Goodnow was founded a public library for the benefit of the iidiabitants of the town of Sudbury, a true copy of said clauses being hereby recorded as follows, viz. :

" First : I give, devise, and bequeath unto my native town of Sudbury, in the County of Middlesex, the sum of Twenty Thousand Dollars, to be appropriated for tlie purpose of purchasing and keeping in order a Public Library for the benefit of the inhabitants of that town.

" Second : I also give, devise, and berpieath three acres of land, in the northerly part of the Sudbury Tavern Estate, adjoining the land of Howe Brown, beginning at the meeting-house road, and ruiming witii equal width with Brown's line to the brook, for tiie purpose of erecting thereon a suitable building for a Library, and the further sum of Twenty-live Hundred Do]lar.s for the erection of said building: and whatever portion of said land shall not be needed for the purposes of said Library Buihling, the said Town of Sudbury shall have full power and authority to apply to other town purposes, but without any power of alienation.

" At a legal town -meeting held at Sudbury, on the 7th day of April, lS(];i, tlie town voted to ac- (M-pl the !)."'(|iiest i-oul;iinc(l in the lirst and second eiausrs of the hi>t will and lestiinicut .if .John Goodnow, late of Boston. And Messrs. James Moore, John IL Dakin, and George ParTnenter, scli'ctmen of tlie town, were ap|)ointrd and authorized to receive aii<i receipt for the saiil lii'(pusls."

Wash-Brook rises in Marlborough, and after flowing very circuitously through Sudbury, empties into Sudbury River near the lower causeway. On this stream are C. I. Howe's tack-factory and gristmill, Pratt's and Willis' grist and saw mills, and the factory of S. B. Rogers and Company. Tiiere used to be a grist and saw mill on this stream near the Dutton place.

The large woollen factory and the paper-mill in Maynard, before that town was organized, were on the Sudbury side of the Assabet River, by the water of which those mills are carried, and which unites with the Sudbury River in Concord.

Li 1871 about 1,900 acres of land were set off from Sudbury for the purpose of forming, witli land set off from Stow, what is now the busy and flourishing town of Mavnard.

The New Bedford and Lowell Railroad, lately leased for ninety-nine years to tlie Old Colony corporation, jiasses through South Sudbury, Sudbury Centre, and North Sudbury, having a depot at each of these places.

T/ie IFai/siile Inn. - This famous resting-place for man and beast, so long associated with the name of Howe, was built and opened as a tavern in the year 1700 or 1701, by David Howe. It was first known as "The Howe Tavern in Sudbury," to distinguish it from the tavern of John Howe, two miles west in Marlborough. As early as 174G Colonel Ezekiel Howe, son of David, took the house and put up the sign whicii gave it the name of the " Red Horse Tavern," which it continued to hold. It was the common halting-place for soldiers in the French and Indian wars as they ))assed from the B>av to Crown Point. Colonel Ezekiel llowedi.d n'l 179i;, wlieii the house passed into tiie hands of his .son, Adam Howe, who kept it for forty years. At his decease ids son, Lyman Howe, took it, and kept it till his own decease in IsCII, when it jiassfd out of the family and ceased lo bean inn.

The Wayside Inn is one of the historic ])laces not only of Sudbury, but of Middlesex County and the state. The jioet Longfellow has made the world ac([uainted with it by his T<ili:s of a Wayside inn, one of his most fascinating poems. Most of the characters in this poem are n'al, and the story told by (aeh will be read 1)\ thousands with deliglit for ages lo come.

Source changes here: from History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, by Drake, Samuel Adams, published 1880; 10,205 words in this source stream.

Geo. A. Otiatt

^LL sathorities agree that the first settlera of Sudhury were dravn to this locality chiefly by the rich meadow-lands on dtber side of the river bearing the same name as the town through which it flowed, as also by the abundance of woodland and the strength of the soil when once subdued. Johnson, in his Hittorjf of New England, 1654, page 141, says : -

"The eariy settlers found broad meadows wherein grew neither shrub nor tree, but as much grass as may be thrown out with a scythe, thick and strong, and as high as a man's middle ; some as h^h as a man's siioalders, so tliat a man may cut river were heavy pine forests, from which tar was manufactured." Johnson spealcs of this town " as well watered and having store of plow land," but "little broke up" on account of "the oaken roots"; mkd of its great distance "from the mart towns" as making " it burdensome to the inhabitants to bring tlieir com so far by land " ; and adds, " some gentlemen liere liave laid out part of their estates in procuring farms, by reason of the store of meadow."

The first movement towards the formation of a pUntation here, of which a record has been found, was made in 1637. Under date of November 20, of this year, the colony records say; " Wl»ereas a great part of the inliabitants of Watertown have petitioned this court, tliat in regard to their straituess of accommodation, atid want of meadow, they might have leave to remove, and settle a plantation ijpon the river which runs to Concord, this Court, having respect to their necessity, doth grant their petiUon."

the place, npon the said river, and shall set out a place for them by marks and bounds sufBcient for fifty or sixty families," who were required to »- move thither within one year; and "if tliere be not thirty families at least settled before said time limited, then this court shall dispose of the aaid plantation to any other.''

September 6, 1638, the petitioners, Mr. Brian Pendleton, Mr. Peter Noyes, Mr. Edmund Browne, and company, are allowed to go on in their planta* tioD, and such as are associated to tliem .-. . . "and the petitioners are to take care tliat in their allotments of lands they have respect as well tomeo'i estates and abilities to improve their land, aa to their number of persons."

The plantation was laid out five miles square. And under the court's order last quoted the houselots and phuitiiig fields were assigned to the inhalatants.

The order of the court for the division of the meadows was passed September 4, 1639, under which order a first division was made and recorded; a second division is recorded April 20, 1640; the third division is recorded November 18, 1640.

May 13, 1640, the court granted to the town " the addition of a mile in length upon the southeast and southwest sides of this plantation"; and May 2, 1649, " Sudbury is granted two miles westward, next adjoining to tltem for their further eniargemeiit."

As several of the settlers here were from the old (own of Sudbury in England, the town was christened in honor of tlie place so dear to them in the mother conntiy.

Sudbun', five miles square, originally waa bounded by Watertown on the east, - which thea included what is now Weston, - Concord on the north, and by the wilderness on the south and west. ITie boundary on the south is the same today as it was in tlie banning, only instead of the wilderness, we now write Framrhgham. So on the west, - on which siile the town is two miles square larger than it was at first, - instead of the wilderness we write Marlborough, which is an offshoot of Sadburj, and was at the outset largely settled bjr Sudbury* men.

Our fathers purchased this extent of land, five miles Sl^uare, of an Lidian called Cato, for the sum of £5. The original nam^ bf this Indian is not known. In addition to his name, Cato, he was called Goodman, and 'the hill a* little south of the Congt«gational Meeting-house at Sudbury Centre, as it is in 1879, on the left side of the rond as you go south, is designated Goodman's HilL It is where C!ato (Goodman) had his wigwam.

^ Bee it known vnto all men by these presents that K>atO'Otherwise Goodman for & in consideration of fyve pounds w*^ I have received in commodities ' & wompumpeage of Walter Hayne & Hugh Griffin <of Sudbury in behalf of themselves & the rest of the planters 6f Sudbury ; doe this my write, in give & grant bargain & sell vnto the said Walter Hayne - (Haine) - & Hugh Griffin & the said planters of the town of Sudbury so .much land aoatbward & so much land westward next adjoining to a tract of land w®^ I said Cato formerly iouled unto George Munnings & the rest of the planters of Sudbury as may make the bounds of the said town to be full fyve miles square w^ all meadows, brooks, liberties priviledges & appertenances thereto belonging w'^ all the said tract of land granted. And I grant vnto them for me & mine heirs & brethren that I & they sliall & will i|t any tyme make any further assurance in writing for the more p'fct assuriifg of the s'd land & all the premises w*** tlie appertenances vnto the sM Walter Haine & Hugh Griffin & the s"^ phmters k their successors forever as they shall require.

In Book IX., pages 344 to 352 inclusive, in the Registry of Deeds at East Cambridge, is a record in full of the original deed given by the Indian proprktors to Sudbury, of two miles square on th^ west. This deed is very lengthy, - too much so to be inserted here in full, interesting as it is, - and consequently only an abstmct of it will be given.

*' Forasmuch as the Gen^ Court of the Massachusetts Colony: in New England hath formeriy gmnted to the Town of Sudbury in the County of Middlesex in the same Colony, an addition of land of two miles westward of their former grant of five miles, which is also kyd out & joyneth to it : and whereas the English occupiers, proprietors and possessors thereof, have chosen Capt. Edmond Goodenow, Ze!/t Josiali Haynes, John Goodenow, John Brigham & Joseph Freeman to be a comittee for themselves & for all the rest of the English proprietors thereof, giving tliem their full power to treat with & to purcliase the same of the Indian proprietors of the s^ tract of land & to satisfy & pay theni for their native, ancient & hereditary right title & interest thereunto. .

*' Know all People by these presents Tliat Wee, Jehojakim, John Magus, Jolm Muskqua & his two daughters Esther & Rachel, Benjamin Bohue^ John Speen & Sarah his wife, James Speen, Dorothy Wennetoo ,& Humpliry Bohue her son, Mary Neppamun, Abagail the daughter of Josiah Harding, Peter Jethro, Peter Muskquamogh, Jolm Boman, David Munnoau & Betty who are the ancient native & hereditary Indian proprietors of the aforcii'' two miles of land (for & in consideration of the just & full sum of twelve pounds of current money of New England to tliem in hand well & truly paid at or before the ensealing & delivery hereof by the said Capt. Edmond Goodenow, Leift Josiah Haines .... in behalf of themselves & of the rest of the English possessors, occupiers, proprietors & fellow-purchasers) the recipt whereof they do hereby acknowledge & therewith to be fully satisfied, contented & paid & thereof & of every part & parcell thereof they do hereby for themselves & their heyrs Executors Administrators k Assigns cleariy fully & absolutely release, acquit, exonerate & discliai^ them & all tlic English possessors . - - . & all & every one of their heyrs ....

forever. - - . . The same is limited^ butted & bounded on the East by the old part of the. s^ Towne of Sudbury .... & is butted & bounded northerly by the line or bounds of the Towne of Concord, westerly by the line or bounds of the Towne of Stow & is bounded southerly & partly westerly by the lands of Mr. Thomas Danfortli.

** In Witness whereof the above named Indian granton have hereunto each for themselves & altogether sett their hands & seals, dated 11^ day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred eighty & four. Aunoqe Regni RegU Caroli Seeundi. XXXFL [Then follow the names of the grantors with their marks and seals.]

''Cambridge 15 Octo^ \6U. All the persons that have signed & sealed this instrument ap])eared before me this day & year above written & freely acknowledged this writing to be their Act & deed.

InHonemenf, - " All the Grantors of the instruinent within written beginning with Jehojakim & ending with Peter Muskquamog did sign scale & deliver s^ instrument in presence of us

" Moreover we underwritten did see Benjamin Bohen, Dorothy Wauneto & Mary & Betty Nepamun signe seal & deliver this instrument the 15*** day of Oct'* 1684.

"RoxBURT, Aprjllfi, '85. "Charls Josias, Sachem of the Massachusetts, having read and considered the \rithiii written deed with the Consent of his guardians & Councellors underwritten doth for liimself k his heyrs allow of, ratify & confirm the ^rithin written sale to the inhabitants of Sudbury & their heyrs forever, the lands tlierein bargained & sold. To have & to hold to the s^ Inhabitants of Sudbury their heyrs & assigns forever & hath hereunto set his hand & seal tlie day above written.

While among the early settlers of Sudbuiy were families from Cambridge and Watertown, it is believed that a large, proportion of them -^came directly here from England. It is quite evident that these families were in good circumstances, as well as intelligent and decidedly religious, so that they were prepared to plant the town, build schoolhouses and churches, and help lay the fouadatioiis of the state and tlie nation.

In the New England Historical and Genealogir eal Register for Januafy, 1848, there is a Tainable paper headed " Passengers for New EngUiidt 1638." The editor of the Begister gives this explanation: - .

" The following list of early emigrants or pas^ sengers was obtained for the New Engknd Historic Genealogical Society, by Henry Stevens, Esq., one of its members lately resident in London.

'The list of the names of the Passengers intended for New England, in the good shipp, the Confidence of London, of C C tonnes. John Jobson M' and thus by vertue of Lord Treas^ warr* of the xj"* of Aprill 1688.' ''

This list gives us :the number of " passengen, great and little " as one hundred and ten. Their names, residence, occupation, and ages are specified. Of this number a considerable proportion came to Sudbury, the names of some of whom are quite prominent in the early records of the place.

Among the first settlers qf this ancient town are names very familiar/iiow^ - names, some of which are represented in families still resident here, and who delight to trace their descent back through so many generations to those who came to this place not twenty years after the landing of the grand old Puritans on Plymouth Bock. We mention Edmund Browne, Bobert Fordham, clergyman, Edmund Bice (Bise), Bobert Bent, Tliomas and William Bro^me, Tliomas Buckmaster, Thomas and Antient Cakbread, Henry Curties, Bqbert Darnell, Edmond Goodenow, John Goodenough, Thomas Goodnow, Hugh Griffin (ancestor of the fiimous President Griffin of Williams College), John Howe, Wyddon Hunt, Tlieodore Islyn, John Haynard, George Munnin^, Bichard Newton, William Parker, John Parmenter, Sr. and Jr. Many other names might be mentioned as among the early settlers of Sudbury, did our siiace permit. ^ The townr had. great prosperity in its early history, growing in population and in wealth.

1642, the inhabitants made a contract with Ambrose Leach to build a cart-bridge over the river, to be raided '' three feet above high-water mark, to be twe^e feet wide,'' and completed by the last day of August following. This contract, on the part of Leach, was not met, and in November,

1643, another contract was made with Timothy Hawkins of Watertown, to build a bridge at the same place, five rods long, fourteen feet wide, and one foot above Irigh- water mark. ''Tlie inhabitants agreed to give the said Timothy, for his work, 413, to be paid in com and cattle at the price as two men shall judge them worth.''

November 26, 1643, it was '^ ordered that the Marshall levy a rate for pay for the bridge," which appears by subsequent records to have been finished according to contract.

This bridge was probably one of the first regular framed bridges built in the country. The bridge at Watertoiin was not built till four years after, and only for foot-passengers. This is an indication of thrift, enei^y, and intelligence of which Sudbury may well be proud.

There is no account of the making of the causeway half a mile long now to be found, when works of smaller importance are minutely given. It is supposed that the building of the causeway was commenced in 1643, though it was not finished till some years later. In March, 1758, the General Court gave the town permission to have a

Four years after the incorporation of the town a ferry was established, which was kept by Thomas Noyes for one year, and he- was allowed to take twopence for a single passenger, an^ a penny a head for a greater number. This ferry was from side to side of the river, not far from the upper causeway of to-day.

June 15, 1645, the town of Lancaster joined with other toirns in petitioning the General Court for a grant tp finish the bridge and causeway in Sudbury. £ 20 were granted.

Says Dr. Steams : " The copy of the record of Lancaster road is so much worn tliat it cannot be given enti^, yet so much remains that the principal bounds can be asceirtained : * Beginning at the great Biver Meadow at the gravel pitt - by tlie causeway, on the West side - and run to the Northwest side of Thomas Plympton's house - & thence to timber swamp, & so on to heart pond,^ leaving the rock on the North side, and so on to Sudbury bounds to be the common highway toward Lancaster, through Sudbury, therefore wee liave hereunto sett our hands the 22^ day of this present vear, no other date 1654.

As early as 1636 the inhabitants of Concord applied to the court to aid them in draining the meadows by deepening the channel at the falls. In 1644 Herbert Pelham of Cambridge, Tliomas Flint and Lieutenant Simon Willard of Concord, and Mr. Peter Noyes of Sudbury were appointed a commission by the court to devise some means '' for draining and improving the meadows." Johnson says : ^' Several tiroes they assayed to cut through the rocky falls, but cannot, yet it nmy be turned another way by a hundred pound charge, by cutthig a channel to Charles Biver.''

The meadow-lands were the standard of valuation. At that time everything necessary to the welfare of the town was attended to promptly and with marked stringency. This is seen by the following : -

''20 day last Mo. 1639. It was ordered that for neglecting to come forth to the mending of the highway, when lawfully summoned thereto, the penalty shall be five shillings.''

"On the 19*** day of Nov. the following rule was agreed upon for working on the highway: 1. The poorest man shall work one day; 2. For every six acres of meadow hind a man liath, he shall w6rk one diay ; 3. Every man who shall neglect to make all fences appertaining to his fields by the 24 of April shall forfeit 5 shillings.^'

About this time a great cliange took place in the price of cattle. The ruling price, which before this year had been enormous, now, in consequence of the cessation of importation of settlers, fell to about one third of the former value. Milch cows, which had brought from £25 to £30, now fell to £5 or £6.

In 1639, to prevent abuses on the part of both employers and employees, as also on the part of borrowers and lenders of money, the prices of labor and the rates of interest were established by law.

Dr. Sterns says : " Very soon after the incorporation of the town a road was made on either side of the river, from north to south, the length of the town. These roads were on the east side four rods nide, and on the west side six rods wide.

"In 1648 a highway was laid out between Sudbury and Concord by men appointed by their respective towns : as the year before a committee was appointed to lay out the line with Watertown men, between Watertown and Sudbury .''

December 7, 1647, ten years after Sudbury began to be settled, as looking towards its incorporation as a town, a cow common was laid out on the west side of the river. This common included nearly all the. upland not laid out in house-lots, between the river meadow on the east. Hop Meadow- (or Washbrook Meadow) on the west, and Pantry Brook and Gulf Meadow on the north and northeast. The inliabitants were allowed to pasture in this common cattle, horses, 3hecp, etc., according to their valuation as proprietors of meadow-lands. Tliere mrs an equally valuable eow common.for the convenience of the inhabitants on the east side of the river, in tlie southeast part of the town.

Especial pains were taken to prevent idleness, and to promote the highest tone of morality among the rising generation. Schools were early established, - reading schools and a grammar school; the latter kept by a man capable of fitting piipils for coUqre, and this school was movable from district to district.

While from year to year the toi^-n made proTision for the poor, at quite an early date they laiaed the question of providing a workhouse for idle - in the records it reads ulol - people, for the parpose of preventing the multiplication of tramps; and such a house was built in Lanum district, but after the trial of a few years it was given up.

June 16, 16*7, ''Ordered, That the snrvejron of the Town land shall lay out 50 acres of upland about Hop Brook meadow, near the cart path that goes over the brook, to be reserved for the use of the town when they shall set a mill upon the brook.''

January 1, 1659, ''Granted unto Mr. Tiiomas Noyes and to Mr. Peter Noyes for and in consideration of a mill at Hop Brook, lying and being on the west side of Sudbury great Biver, belo>ir the cart way that leads to Bidge meadow, viz. fifty acres of upland and fifteen acres of meadow, without Commonadge to the said meadow, ibur acres of the said fifteen acres of meadow lying and being within the demised tract of uplands. Also granted to the above named parties, timbers of any of the Sudbury common land, to build and maintain the said mill. x-

''Also the said Thomas and Peter Noyes do covenant with the town for the forgoing consideralions to build a sufficient mill to grind the towa of Sudbury's com, the mill to be built bel6% the cart way tliat now is leading to Bidge meadow, the said grantees their heirs and successors are \,6 have nothing * to do with the stream above, four rods above the aforementioned cart way of said milt'; to be ready to grind the com by the first of December next ensuing, and if the said grantees, their faein and assigns, sliall damage the highway over the brook, by building the said mill, they are to make the way as good as it now is, from time to time, tlint is to say, the above specified way over the mill brook, and said Tliomas Noyes and Peter Noyes are also to leave a highway six rods wide joining to the brook, from the cart way that now is to tlie widow Loker's meadow.'*

March 26, 1677, " Ordered, That Peter Kiiig, Thomas Beed $en, John Go<ldnow, Jos. Freeman, Jo* Smith have liberty granted to^biild a saw-mill on Upper Hop JBrook above Mr. Peter Noyes' com mill, at a plaboe viewed by a committee of the town, which if they doe they are to have 20 ^ns of timber and earth for the diim.'^ This mill ;ras built, probably, pix the site of Moore's and Perry's sawmill.

The first settlement in Sud^buty was^on the east side of the river, where were' the first burying** ground and mpting-heuse, the parsoiiage, the school-house, and tl^e blacksmith-ihop. ' ' '

The town ulras divided into Ei^t and West Spdbury, by th& river in pilrt, in ITSO. The land was more extended on tte irest than on the east side. The populatiqn, before the division,^ was larger on the west si4e<than on the east, and long before tli^^ .r division of.^^e towvi took place the church had -' been divicH^, - ^he^cHurch on the west side takiffg' the name^f the First Church of Sudbury.. For a long time before the division the annual townmeetings were 'held alternately on the east and west side, and the town officers were selected from each side in about equal proportion.

gation of the latter, and a better nnderstandrng, in all respects, between 4he tw(v niqes^ The great fight, near the cloiiie of the war, one of the most bloody on record, was on Gtttn Hill, Sudbury, the Indians, gaining th6 victory, ^though at, too great a cost to Jbe of any vftlue to, them, as it lelt tttem too much reduced, evory way, to prosectrtip'tfo'itniggle with aiyr degree of cpiira^ ^ . ' ;;.'-

Green Hill is about one mile^utVo^OModnn's Hill, already spoken of, and jiheiprecise lo^ilky of tl)e fight is not much southwest of tKe mannment that marks the exact spot where! mmldertltr bones of Captains AYadsworth and Brockfebank and their noble men. Green Hill and Gim(luiaii'a 'Hili are really but one hill, Gre^n Hill beimritt tlm* southv^m extremity and Goodnfiaq^a H91 a( the^northem, with a slight depression betve^ iMt two fuH^its.

The terrible fight calQC to pass in this way ^ The Indians were concealeS. in great forcci, - son^ say to the number^ of lj^SOO^.*j)i^fe thktia^ conjecture, and most Hke^ an extravagant one^ On tlM^ approach of t^e Eiiglisfijfa jfemLof the Indians ipame ^)ut fnpm tlieir hiding-place^,, crossed Ae course of Captain TFadi^ortR, and as ^n as they w|Je^ discovered,pretended fright and fled> only,*nowever, as a matter of strategy. This plot succeeded^ Irhen they instantly made it furious assault on the Englisli. Captain Wadsworth and his. men inec^ved

The division of the town became a necessity for ^the attack in good order, and falling lMU^k/t6 ah the accommodation of the people. From year to ; adjacent hill, maintained their groun^'for ^niie four i # -i. i.__i_ XL. hours, losing only a few of their jiiimbery but inflicting Vkr very severe loss on, tlieir assailants. Tlie Indians, in their emergency,^ resorfedl to'amther stratagem, and set fire to ,the woo48 to the windward of the^ English, which spread with grei^ rapidity, ffl thife wind was strong. and. th^^graai very dry. Thy raging fiames caused iCaptain Wadsiforth and his men to abandon their favotrable position, when the savages poured in upon them fvom ^ly side, and so by superior numl)ers overctme* them. All the English but about tweniy 'wer6 Ifillea, or fell into the hands of the enemy. A portion of those who escaped took shelter in the mill.iiear by, and wc^re rescued by Gt^taifi Prentice, with about iifty horse, and Captain Coiii:ell, who wias on his way from Brookfield with about thirty m^. Both Captain Prentice and Cowell barely escaped the fate of Wadsworth and Brocklebank. Captains Wadsworth and Brocklebank, by all the historians of this battle, are spoken of as men ofi high standing as Captains, and as greatly esteemed for their noble moral and 'Christian character.

"1 year, for some years before it took place, the division of the town was discussed both in a private way and in town-meeting ; 4)ut the step of dividing the town was not taken till 17S0, fon^r years' after the Declaration of Independence, and aboi^t in the middle of the Bevolutionary War.

We do not desire to introduce matter into this sketch of Sudbury that properly belongs to the history of Wayland, as that history will have a place in this volume. *

1648 [^Vinthrop's Journal, Vol. 11. p. 332]. ''About the midst of this summer there arose a fly out of the ground, about the bignesaf of the top of a man's little finger, of brown color. They filled the wood from Connecticut ti^ Sudbury with a' great noise, and eat up the young sprouts of the- trees but meddled not with the com. If the Lord had not stopped them they had spoiled all our orchards, for they did some few.*'

King Philip's War, though short, was exceedingly disastrous both to the English and the Indians, resulting, however, in the almost permanent subju-

- "The 18th of April, 1876, was observed as the two handredth anniversary of this remarkable fight. The day was celebrated in a becoming manner, with a procession, and an address by Hon. T. y. Hurlbut at the monument, historical of the cause and method of its erection, a prayer at the Unitarian Church by Rev. G. A. Oviatt, and an oration by Professor E. J. Young of Harvard College, followed by several addresses in response to sentiments given by J. S. Hunt, Esq., all under thedirection of the committee of arrangements, Messrs. J. P. Fairbanks, T. P. Hurlbut, and T. J. Sanderson. Homer Sogers acting as marshal of the day.

*'The first monument [quoting from Mr. Hurlbut's Address] on this spot, erected about 1730, was placed here by President Wadsworth of Harvard College, son of Captain Samuel Wadsworth.'' Tliis monument, a simple, plain slate slab, was falling away, when many felt that something should be done to preserve it. November 10, 1851, the town appointed a committee of twenty-five, with Colonel Drury Fairbank as chairman, '' to investigate the subject and report at a future meeting. The 26th of January, 1852, this committee made a partial report, and were instructed to petition the Ic^slature for aid in the erection of the monument." As the result of this movement the legislature made an appropriation of §500 to be expended under the direction of Governor Bout well. What was needed in addition to this appropriation by the state was given by the town. The monument, together with a road leading to tlie spot, was completed at an expense of nearly §2,000. The monument was dedicated November 23, 1852, the dedicatory address being delivered by Governor Boutwell.

" The remains of the ancient dead were taken from their former graves and placed in boxes. Portions of twenty-nine skeletons, corresponding to the number recorded as buried there, were found. The bones were in a remarkable state of preservation, some of them bearing marks of blows that were given two hundred years ago. Tlie boxes containing the remains were placed in the vault beneath the monument, the aperture was closed, and the ancient slab erected by President W^adsworth placed in front."

on Green Hill, in which Wadsworth was slain, led the writer to make independent and careful invest!* gation'of the testimony favoring the 18th of April and that supporting the 21st of April, 1676, as the true date. The result confirms the belief that the date recorded on the monument is an error, and that, this^ memorable conflict took place cftf the afternoon of Friday, April 21, -1676.

There exist not less than five distinct sources of evidence, all contemporary, all' made by men who were personally or officially connected with the events described, or who were iii a ]K>sition to. learn the facts as they occurred, and who had no motive for recording anytliing but the truth.

To understand the exact force of the records, it needs to be noted that the Indians attacked Marlborough on Tuesday or Wednesday, and burnt the houses ; they assaulted Sudbury Town, which was on the east side of the river, during Thursday night or early in the morning of Friday ; and the fight with Captain Wadsworth took place late in the afternoon of Friday. News of the night or early morning attack reached Concord in season for their men to come to the relief and take part in the conflict, and it was news of this attack which induced Captain Wadsworth to retrace his steps from Marlborough. It was news of this attack on the east-side inhabitants which reached Major Gookin and the authorities at Boston early in the afternoon.

1. Major Gookin's History. He had command of the friendly Indians who were used as scouts, and a company of whom were with him that afternoon. His account is : '^ Upon April 21, about midday, tidings came by many messengers that a great body of the enemy had assaulted a town called Sudbury that morning. Indeed (through God's favor) some small assistance was already sent from Watertown by Ca|)t. Hugh Mason. Tliese, with some of the inhabitants, joined, and with some others that came to their help there was a vigorous resistance made, and a check given to the enemy. But these particulars were not known when the tidings came to Charlestown, where the Indian companies were ready. Just at the beginning of the lecture there, as these tidings came. Major Gookin and Mr. Thomas Danforth .... gave orders for a ply of horses .... and the Indian company under Capt. Hunting forthwith to ptsied over tbe bridge to the vest side of the river .... made a thorough ducoveiy .... saw so nan; £nglish He dead .... some they knew, nsmetr Capt. Broclclebonk of Bovlev and CnpL Wadswotth orMilton, who with about thirty-two private soldiers were slain the day before."

2. Judge Sewall's Diary. "Nota bene. Friday about 3 in the afternoon, April 21, 1676, Capt. Wsdsworth and Capt. Brocldebank fall, almost one hundred, since I hear about fifty men slain 3 miles off Sudbury, the said Towji burned, garrison bouse Bxcept." [The place of the fight on Green Hill is about three ^iles from the middle of the town of Waytand, then Sudbury.]

3. Military papers in the -state archives. In YoL LXVIU.. page 220, in the council's letter to, Qovemor Winslow is this statement : " Tliis day we have intelligence in the general that Sudbury was this morning assaulted, and many houses burnt down; particoiars of the sorrowful certainty of things is not vet come to hand. £, JEL Sec*.

I Zn the same volume, page 220, is the following "Letter to Left, Jacob": "The Council having lately leceired information of God's further power upon OS in depriving the country both of your Captain and Capt. Wadsvorth with several otliers by permitting the enemy to destroy them yesterday .... we do order you to take the charge of the said Company. Sow. Eawsoh Set^.

5. The Middlesex' County Probate Records. Here are preserved the following papers: "The bumble petition of Esther Curry of Concord, show> elh tliat her late husband David was slain by the Indians at Sudbury and left me a poor widow with six small children " ; and in connection " the Inventory of the estate of David Curry of Concord, who deceased the one-aiid-twentieth day of April 1676."

Papers of precisdy the same import, relating to the estates of Josiah AYheeler of Concord, and William Heywood of Sudbury, are on file. And it should be stated in thi? connection, that a paper in thestate archives [Vol. LXVUI., page 224], signed by two of Captain Mason's men, gives these particulars : " On tbe next day in the morning, we went to look for Concord men wlio were slain in the river meadow, where we found five, and brought in canoes to the Bridge foot, and buried tliem there."

I^e Indians of Sudbury were nota distinct tribe, nor did they belong to any of the neighboring tribes, but were a mixture very likely from families who came here for some special purpose, and finding such fine hunting and fishing, took possession of the locality. They were not very numerous. From time to time they greatly annoyed the English, ond the records show that our fitthers feared, ever; now and then, an Indian war, so tltat they were obliged, on all occasions, to be well armed, while it was contiary to law for any of them to change their place of residence without permission. The English evidently treated the Indians they fonnd here in a friendly and Christian way ; and with some success - small indeed - endeavored to bless them with Christian civiliiation.

In connection with the battles 'on th^ ^st side of the river the 20th, and on Green Hill the 21st of April, 1676, much property was destroyed and many houses burnt.'

The Indians, after the battle with Wadsworth, invested the Hayiies garrison-house, near the river, on the west side, in the northern part of the town, and used various expedients to destroy it. " At first they attempted to set it on fiie with pitchpine arrows lighted at the ends, but as they were obliged to approach quite near, they were reaclted by the arms of the besieged, and so were nnsuccessfuL Tliey then loaded a cart with unbroken flax, set fire to it, and trundled it towards the garrison, but the cart was upset and consmned without doing any damage to the besi^ed.

" Twelve men coming from Concord for the relief of tlie garrison might have reached it, but for a number of squaws who decoyed them into the meadow, where all but one fell into the hands of tbe enemy."

Tpith Captain 'Wedsn-ortli in his desperate struggle with thfl savnges on the 2l5t of April, as they must have been the chief bodv that fought the'Indians the day before. On the side of liie Indians were tiieir bravest and most trusted warriors, under their most powerful braves, led eitlier by Oiie-Eyed John or Sagamore Sam. In all coming time the Green Hill .fight will he referred to as one of the most despente and ^ell-couducted battles ever waged between civilizt^ and savage soldiers.

Having spoki^n of tlie Haynes garrison-house, it should be said that there were three noted houses of this sort on the west side of the river: the Walker house in the southwest part of the town, cnlled I'eekbam ; the ILiynes liouse on \Vater Row, north of the npper causeway ; and another ou tlie road to Framingham in the south part of the town, where ilr. Luther Cutting now resides. These garrison-liouses wen usually very massive, aiid bullet-proof. Professor Youtig, having personally examined it, describes the \Valter house tlius: - Tliis house, " now owned by the venerable Willard Walker, was built by his great-grandfather two hundred years ngo, and has been in the possession of the family ever since. There is one beam in this house measuring twelve by fourt<^n inches. The building is covered on all sides with four-inch plank of piich-pine, which is set up endvise and readies to the mof, and is held on the inside by wooden pins. The cliimnry, likewise, is immense, and lias sevenl enormous flues ; while tlie fireplace was laT^ enough to contain logs thnt were eight feet long. The windows were originally of diamond-sluiped glass set in lead ; but these have been removed. It is a most unique cnriositj and an invaluable relic which should never be.destroyed." This is the only one of the three ffjmson-houses still remaining, the Hajnet house having been demolished quite recently.

In the Revolutionary War, in 1776, when the Decbration of Independence was made, and the war formally begun, Sudbury was the most populous, and in many resi)ects one of the most impoi^ taut towns in Middlesex County. At tliat date the population was 2,160, while that of WaHham was 870; of Watertown, 1,057; of Cambridge, 1,586; of Qiarlestown, 360; of Concord, 1,541; of Lexington, 1,088; and of Marlborough, 1,5M. The reconls show that Sudbury was in advance of almost all the towns round about in furnishing men, horses, cattle, hay, and many other supplier for the army. As in these respects Sudbury was such a leading town, the action of the voters on any measures of public moment was sought, as canyiug great weight with it.

It is evident that Sudbury at that time had aereral men of great ability, while the whole people wpre loyal to thp core, and ready to bear their ]iort in the prosecution of the struggle. For a long time before the war broke out tlKre were in the town two companies of minut«-men, - one on the east and one op the west side of the river, - and an alarm-comp»ny com|wsed of old men exempt by age from ser^'ice, and of those too young to enter the regular militia ser^'ice. Tliese compniics met frequently for drill, often icthe evening, and in the meeting-houses, and frcijuenlly by the light of pine-knot torches. The town used to pay a small

Patriotic instructions^ prepared by a committee, by a vote of the town, were given to Peter Noyes, i^., representative of Sudbury to the General Court, as vigorously setting forth the sentiments pf the people in relation to the Stamp Act.

March, 1770, the town by vote " manifested their hearty approbation of the generous agreement of merchants in Boston to put a stop to the imjiorfation of British goods, and engaged for themselves, and all within their influence, to countenance and encourage the same.''

It also voted to discountenance the importers who advertised in the public prints, " who presume to counteract the Patriotic scheme of the body of merchants in Boston and throughout North America, by withdrawing all commercial connection from them and their abettors, and by frowning upon those who hold any commerce with them.''

February 1, 1773, the town adopted the report of a special co'mmittee chosen at a previous meeting, with instructions to their representative to the Oeneral Court. The report is able, spirited, full of the matter; but for the want of space we here give only the instructions to the tepresentative. '' Iiiiirnctioni fo John NoyeSy E%q,

''Sir, - You being chosen by the inhabitants of this town to represent them in the Great and General Court or Assembly of this Province, we think proper at this critical Day, when our invaluable rights and privileges are so openly invaded, to give you the following instructions : -

''Tliat you invariably adhere to and steadfastly maintain (so far as you are able) all our Charter Bights and Priviliges and that you do not consent to give them, or any of them up, on any pretence whatever. That you make use of nil your influence that some effective method be devised and pursued for the restoration of our violated rights and redress of all our grievances. That you use your endeavor, that tlie Governor be prevailed upon to make a grant for the payment of an agent chosen by the Representative body of the Province,

Decem1)er, 1774, the town chose a committee to '' observe the conduct of all i)ersons touching the association agreement entered into by the Continental Congress, whose business it shall E)e to see the articles contained therein ate strictly adhered to by the inhabitants of this town,'' and cihose John Ni]ton Chairman of this Committee.

June 10, 1776, the town voted ''That in case the Honorable Congress should, for the safety of the American Colonies declare them Inde])endent of the Kingdom of Great Britain they, the inhabitants of said town, will with their lives and fortunes support them in the measure." Lieutenant Jonatliah Rice, Mr. William Rice, and Ezra Taylor, Esq., were chosen a committee to draft instructions for their representatives, and report at a future meeting. And the action of the town respecting the importation of tea, in connection with the action of Boston in throwing the tea overboard in Boston harbor, was eqtially decided and^triotic.

Sudbury's most distinguished military man before and during the Revolutionary Wa^ was General John Nixon.* He was a soldier by nature. In the French and Indian wars he displayed great ability and bravery. He was bom iti Framingham, in 1725. When only twenty years of age he served under Sir William Pcpperell in the expedition against Louisburg. Having been seven years in service, both in the army and navy, he returned to his native place, but not long to remain inactive, or in the pursuit of the peaceful avocations of life. After a short respite he agaiiu joined the army, and was honored with a captain's commission. He was in the attack on Ticonderoga, and bore a part in the defeat of Abercrombie. He was in the battle at Lake George, and subsequently in the same war with the French was led into an ambuscade, but ''cut his way out" and escajied from the enemy, but not without the sacrifice of most of his men.

As soon as the people begim to oi^nize an army to resist the arbitrarv measures of the mother country, Nixon was placed in command of one of the companies of minute-men in Sudbury, in which totiii he then resided, which company, representing the west side of the river, he led in the memorable battle at Concord and Lexington, April 19, 1775.

cessful in enlisting men to serve under him, and in June, 1775, an order was passed by the Committee of Safety, recommending Congress to promote him to the rank of colonel, which recommendation was at once icon^plied with, as their records show tliat he iras appointed the next day, and that the five commissions were appointed to his officers '^ agreeably to tlie list by him made out ** ; thus he went into the service mth both officers and men of his own selection,. all, as a regiment, having full confidence in each other.

In the battle of Bunker Hill Colonel Nixon's regiment was on the llystic side, and was conspicuous for its good conduct, having the honor of being directly under the eye of General "Warren. Ii^ this engagement Colonel Nixon received a severe wound, from which he never wholly recovered, and was borne off the field but a few moments before General Warren fell.

November 4, 1775, Colonel Nixon was in camp in Cambridge, in command of four regiments. iBarly in 1776 Washington, as commander-in-chief, addressed a lettier to Congress in reference to the appointment of general officers, and with it a list of all the colonels in the army from New Hampshire to Pennsylvania, stating that Colonel Nixon's military talents, .and his bravery on the 17th of June, entitled him to promotion ; and consequently he was one of the six who, at that date, were commissioned as brigadier generals.

In December, 1776, General Nixon was with jhis brigade on the Delaware. July 1, 1777, Washington wrote to General Putnam that it was almost certain that Generals Howe and Burgoyne would, if possible, *' unitie their attacks and form a junction of their two armies,'* and, he continued, "I approve much of your conduct in ordering Nixon's brigade to be in readiness ; and I desire it may be embarked immediately with their baggage, to go to Albany as soon as General Varnuni's and General Parson's brigades are so near Peeks-Kill that they arrive to supply their place.''

In June, 1779, Washington made his headquarters at New Windsor, that he might better ])ersonally have his anny on both sides of the Hudson,, under his eye. Tlie main body he left under the command of General Putnam. The object of Washington was to guard against an assault on West Point. Three brigades were stationed on the east side of the river, one of which was General Nixon's.

This closes the account of General Nixon during the Eeyolutionary War. He resigned in 1780. His residence in Sudbury was on the northern slope of Nobscott. He was twiqe married, and had eleven children ; only one grandchild survives, Christopher Gore Cutler, who lives in the south part of the town. Esquire Cutler is now in the eighty-ninth year of his age, and remembers very distinctly his grandfather Nixon as a man of medium size, of a pleasant countenance, and a very white he^. He used, to delight in the society of his grandchildren, and often amused them by relating stories, and singing a sung of. the war. General Nixon moved to Middlebury, Vermont, where he died at the advanced age of ninety years.

The next prominent military man as a representative of Sudbury in the Revolutionary War was Colonel Ezekiel Howe. He was a native of this town, and one of the proprietors and keepers of tlie Bed-horse Taveni, or, more poetically, The Wayside-Inn.

"There were at this time, 1775, in this viqinity, under a rather imperfect organization, a regiinent of militia and a regiment of minute-men. Officers of minute militia, Col. Ja' Barrett and Lieut. Col. Ezekiel Howe/' Again (p. 115), "The Sudbuiy Company attacked them (the British) near Hardy's Hill and below the Brooks Tavern, and on the old road north of the school-house a severe battle was fought.

"Two companies . from Sudbury under Howe, Nixon, and Havnes came to Concord, and having received orders from a person statipned at the entrance of the town JFor the purpose of a guide, to proceed to the west instead of south bridge^ arrived near Colonel Barrett's just before the British soldiers retreated. Tliey halted in sight of Colonel Barrett, and Colonel Howe obsened, ' If any blood has been shed, not one of the rascals shall escape,' and disguising himself, rode on to ascertain the truth. Before proceeding far, firing began at tlie bridge, and the Sudbury companies pursued the retreating British."

In the Concord and Lexington battle, April 19, 1775, - oidy one battle, in fact, - three of our men were killed, namely, Deacon Josiah Havnes (of the alarm comimny), Mr. Asaliel Read, and ^fr. Joshua

Hayhes. Exclahned Geoi|;e W. Curtis in his centennial oration, April 19, 1875: ''The minutenian of the Bevolution ! He was Deacon Josiah Haynes ofSiidbury, eighty years old, \dio knarched with his oompiiny to the South Bridge at Concord, then joined in* the liot pursuit to Lexington, and fell as gloriously as Warren at Bunker Hill/'

Of Colonel Nixon's regiment in the battle at Bunker Hill, one' company n'as from Sudbury, andof this company this minute is found : '' Killed on the 17^ of June, at Battle of Bunker Hill, Mr. Joshua Haynes jr. of Oipt. Aaron Haynes' com^ pany."

Tlie following, dated Sudbury, March 21, 1775, is flluthentic, and shows the feelings and condition of the town before the first gun was fired in the war, in anticipation of the worst thit might come: - '

''The return of the several company s of militia and minute men, in Said Town, viz - Capt. Moses Stone's Company - 92 men, of them 18 UQ guns, at least one third part firelocks unfit for sarvis, and otherwajs unaquipt. .

''Cap. Aaron Haynes company 60 men, well provided, with arms, the most of them provided with Bagonits or hatchits, about one Quarter part with cartridge Boxes.

"Cap. Joseph Smith's company consisting of 75 able bodied men, forty well aquipt^ twenty Promise to find and aquip themselves emedately, fifteen no guns, and otherwise unaquipt.

And so all through the war Sudbury was ready to respond to every call from the government for men and treasure, and the course of tlie town in that glorious struggle was most honorable. Her sons were scattered, in tlie army, all over the country, and many of them laid down their lives in attestation of their deep and burning patriotism. This chapter of Sudbury's conduct in the War of Independence might be extended to almost any length, and as thus extended would be as brilliant and thrilling as the record of any town in Massachusetts during that struggle for civil and religious liberty agiiinst the oppressive demands of the mother countrv.