tion to proceed immediately against the above named persons, agreeably to an act of said state, passed the present session of the general court, entitled an act for prescribing and establishing an oath of fidelity and allegiance. By order of the committee of correspondence, &c.

ANDREW CROSWELL, Clerk.

Plymouth, February 11th, 1778.'

In consequence of the foregoing representation, Thomas Mayhew, Esq. issued his warrant to the sheriff of the county, to notify the several persons therein named to appear on the 12th day of February to take the oath prescribed, which he performed accordingly. The assemblage of people on this novel occasion was very numerous, and considerable excitement and agitation were manifested. The persons arrested were tories, but highly respectable; they were treated with lenity, and having complied with the requirements of the law were liberated, and conséquently found among our most peaceable and useful citizens.

1778. December 26th and 27th. The inhabitants of this town were called to witness a catastrophe, truly appalling to humanity. The brig General Arnold, mounting 20 guns, having a crew of 105 men and boys, commanded by Captain James Magee of Boston, sailed from that port on Thursday, 24th of December, bound on a cruise. On Friday, anchored off Plymouth harbor, being destitute of a pilot. In the night a heavy gale drove her on the White Flat. She soon filled with water and it become necessary to cut away the masts. Unfortunately, a great disturbance was occasioned by intoxication among some of the seamen in the steerage, which was with difficulty quelled by the officers. A tremendous storm of wind and snow came on, and a considerable number of men died on Saturday afternoon and in the night. Three men, not of the crew, being on board, took the yawl, and passed eight or ten rods to the ice, and were taken on board a schooner that was frozen in. Had the boat been returned as promised, many lives would have been saved.

Sunday morning, the vessel was seen in a most distressful situation, enveloped in ice and snow, and the whole shore was frozen to a solid body of ice, the winds and waves raging with such dreadful violence that no possible relief could be afforded to the miserable sufferers. The inhabitants made every effort to reach the wreck in boats, but were obliged to put back, although aware that the seamen were in the arms of death, and when the miserable victims on board saw the boats returning leaving them in a condition of utter hopelessness, their spirits

were appalled, and numbers were seen to fall dead on the deck. On Monday, the inhabitants passed over the ice to the wreck. Here was presented a scene unutterably awful and distressing. It is scarcely possible for the human mind to conceive of a more appalling spectacle. The ship was sunk ten feet in the sand, the waves had been for about thirty-six hours sweeping the main deck, the men had crowded to the quarter deck, and even here they were obliged to pile together dead bodies to make room for the living. Seventy dead bodies frozen into all imaginable postures were strewed over the deck, or attached to the shrouds and spars; about thirty exhibited signs of life, but were unconscious whether in life or death. The bodies remained in the posture in which they died, the features dreadfully distorted; some were erect, some bending forward, some sitting with the head resting on the knees, and some with both arms extended, clinging to spars or some parts of the vessel. The few survivors and the dead bodies, were brought over the ice on sleds and boards, and the dead were piled on the floor of the court house, exhibiting a scene calculated to impress even the most callous heart with deep humility and sorrow. It has been said that the Rev. Mr. Robbins fainted when called to perform the religious solemnities. Those bodies that were to be deposited in coffins were first put into the town brook; a considerable number were seen floating on the water, fastened by ropes, that their form might be made to conform to the coffin. But about sixty were thrown into a large pit as they were taken from the vessel. This pit is in a hollow on the southwest side of the burial ground, and remains without a stone. The greater part of those who were found alive, expired soon after. Capt. Magee survived, and performed several profitable voyages afterwards. He abstained entirely from drinking ardent spirits, but was of opinion that he was greatly benefitted by putting rum into his boots. Those who drank rum were more immediate victims, several being found dead in the very spot where they drank it. A man named Downs, belonging to Barnstable, was apparently dead, but on being seen to move his eyelids, was put into a vessel of cold water for several hours, by which he was resuscitated, but with the most exquisite pain. He lost both of his feet, but lived many years after. Among those who perished were Dr. Mann, of Attleborough, Dr. Sears, Captain John Russell, of Barnstable, commander of the marines, and Lieutenant Daniel Hall. The two last were buried in one grave on the south side of the burial hill. Note.-It should be observed that when persons are exposed to intense cold there is always a propensity to sleep, but the moment it is indulged it becomes the sleep of death.

1779-At a meeting of the town, Resolved, as the laws enacted by our provident ancestors, with wonderful wisdom and sagacity, for the establishment and regulation of schools, have diffused an universal spirit of knowledge and inquiry, not to be met with in other states or kingdoms, and have been a great means, under Providence, of preserving this people from the shackles fabricated for them by a foreign power, and as the preservation of the freedom, health, and vigor of the state depends in a great measure, upon the strictest attention being paid to this institution: Resolved, that the school committee be ordered to provide (if such one be not already provided) an able and faithful master to keep the grammar school in this town, possessed of such qualifications as are required by law.

The town was this year subjected to extreme difficulty and expense in raising soldiers for the army, and supporting their families in their absence, having been reduced to the necessity of selling real estate and hiring money for that purpose. They retained nevertheless the true and inflexible principles of patriotism, still resolved to defend the noble fabric which our fathers reared, and that if the star of their country's glory must set, its setting should be marked with the avenging hand of the oppressed. The inhabitants were divided into classes; each class was required to furnish, one able-bodied man, to serve for a specified term in the continental army. The demand for such service, besides the common bounty allowed by congress, was very exorbitant, and on some occasions it was stipulated that the compensation should be paid in silver money, as the paper currency. Had become so depreciated that no confidence could be placed in its value. At one period, a silver dollar would purchase one hundred in paper. A farmer in a neighboring town sold a cow in the spring for forty dollars, and in the next autumn he paid the whole sum for a goose for a thanksgiving dinner.

The whole Plymouth Bay and harbor were almost constantly infested with small picaroons, called shaving mills. One of these approached the shore at Manomet Ponds, on a Sunday, by which the town was so much alarmed that a company of militia, with a piece of cannon, marched to that place for the protection, of the inhabitants, and on this occasion, as well as on several others, the people in that. parish, that they might be prepared for defence, carried their fire-arms into the meeting house on the sabbath, and were firmly determined to resist to the uttermost every attack.

*The bounty given to the soldiers raised by the town of Plymouth, up to July 11, 1783, amounted to £3056.7.3. all in hard money.

1781. The town was reduced to the necessity of remonstrating to the general court, that, from the many peculiar difficulties, which they labored under by reason of the war, they were unable to pay the taxes, and procure the soldiers the clothing and provisions required of them, and praying for an abatement or remission of the same. The town voted to instruct their representative, Major Joshua Thomas, to use his influence that the general court make application to the congress, that our commissioners for negotiating a peace make it an article of indispensable necessity, that the fishery be restored to us, as being of the greatest importance to the town, having hitherto depended on it for support.

1792.-Captain Horatio Nelson, afterwards Lord Nelson, commander of the British ship, Albermarle, took a small schooner of 35 tons, in the bay, belonging to Plymouth. After she had been used as a tender for some days, Captain Thomas Davis, of this town, owner of the vessel, encouraged by the representations given by Nathaniel Carver, master of the vessel, (who with the crew had been liberated,) of the character and deportment of Captain Nelson, went on board, Captain Carver accompanying him. Some vegetables and fruit, which had been hastily collected after the frigate appeared in view of the town, were presented, and the vessel was generously restored, and a certificate was given by Captain Nelson that she was released. We honor the noble spirited hero who displays the qualities of humanity and benevolence.

1783. This year is remarkable for a happy termination of the horrors of war, which had for eight years been an awful scourge to our country.

Through the goodness of Divine Providence, liberty and independence were obtained. From this era, the United States of America claim existence among the nations of the world, and no people have ever advanced with more rapid strides to pre-eminence in national glory and importance.

On the first of January this year, the author having terminated his services of seven and a half years in the American army, became a private citizen, and in March following commenced his professional career in the town of Plymouth. After having suffered the ravages and privations incident to a war of eight years continuance, the inhabitants of this town, in common with the general community, welcomed the return of with emotions of unfeigned gratitude and joy. Not a few had to lament the loss of friends; all were sufferers in their pecuniary interests, but the mighty boon obtained was deemed more

peace

than sufficient remuneration for every sacrifice and privation. The town was reduced to a state of destitution, its navigation almost annihilated, a renewal of the former means of support was very precarious, and the taxes now were very heavy.

1785. The town has been called to deplore the death of an estimable fellow-citizen, Capt. Thomas Davis, who died March 7th, aged 63 years. He was the head of the respectable firm of Davis & Spooner, for many years noted for probity and correctness in their mercantile transactions, and for integrity and benevolence of character. Captain Davis left six sons and one daughter; the latter, Sarah, married Le Baron Bradford, son of Lieut. Governor Bradford, of Bristol, R. I. Her only son Le Baron, still lives. The sons of Capt. Davis were Thomas, (see page 219;) William, John, now Judge of the District Court in Boston, and President of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Samuel, Isaac and Wendell; the latter was by profession a lawyer, and was Sheriff of the county of Barnstable, and died at Sandwich, 1831. His remains are deposited among his relatives in our burial ground,

In town-meeting December 26, 1785. Then voted, and directed the town treasurer to discount the debt due from the heirs of Mr. Thomas Davis, deceased, by paying the said estates, dues from the town, when the circumstances of the treasury will admit the same, taking into consideration the original gift of money by John Murdock, Esq., deceased, viz: the design of that gift.

1786. This year is memorable for an alarming insurrection, instigated by Daniel Shays, which occasioned the greatest commotion throughout the New England States. There were, in almost every town, some who encouraged the insurgents; but in Plymouth, not an individual' appeared openly to advocate their vile proceedings. The town instructed its representative to the general court, to use his influence to have suitable measures adopted for the removal of all grievances, and to quiet the minds of the people. That he oppose the emission of paper money, and discourage the importation of foreign' superfluities, and articles of British manufacture, &c.

A detachment of the militia of this town' was ordered to march to Taunton, to oppose the insurgents in their audacious purpose of préventing the sitting of the court of common pleas in that place. Gen. Nathaniel Goodwin marched at the head of a large detachment of militia from this and other towns. The writer of this article accompanied the expedition in the capacity of surgeon. A very formidable collection of insurgents made