Monday the second day of April next at ten of the clock before noon, then and there to act on the following particulars, viz.: "I ly to choose a Moderator for the regulating said meet. "2 ly to consult and agree upon some effectual method to raise the proportion of men required by authority to be raised by said town, for carrying on the present war in which we are engaged, &c, &c. March the 31th day, 1777. "Benjamin Crombie, Derryfield, April the 2d day, 1777. Then meet agreeable to the above notification and voted Col. John Stark Moderator of said Meeting. then voted to pay men that engages into the Conteneentel Services for sd Town as a Bounty fifty dollars per man. Afterwards voted eighty dollars per man in lue of fifty. "Voted the present Selectmen collect the above money of the free holders in said Town or borrow the above money if demanded before it can be collected. "Recorded this 3d day of April, 1777. "David Starrett, "Town Clerk." At a special meeting June 2, 1777, a movement "failed to settle and give credit to those persons that has done duty and advanced some money towards carrying on this unnatural war since beginning of Hostilities to this, so that the whole costs of said ware may be squarely proportioned according to pols and Estates." At this meeting it was voted Col. John Stark, Captain William Perham, John Harvey, David Starret and James Pierce a committee to regulate and state the prices of things. not mentioned in the Regulation Act. Agreeable to vote we find that a tax was levied upon the male polls amounting to 1321lbs. 13s. 4d. "to discharge the bounty of five men who enlisted in the Continental Army for three years." Again it was voted at a special meeting "to care for the family of Robert McKnight," who was a three years' soldier. May 26, 1778, it was voted "to have the one-half of fifty two Pounds of Powder from David Starrett for a Town Stock of Powder which the said Starrett purchased on his own cost in Exeter at nine shillings per pound." In the stress of obtaining recruits in the closing years of the war we find it voted, May 22, 1780, that "the Militia Officers together with the Selectmen shall provide or git by hier sutch Soldiers as shall frum time to time be called for as our cota towards carrying on the war. as cheap and in the best manner they can and the charge of said hier. if they cannot be got by Enlistment to be paid by a rate that shall be levied on the polls and estates of the inhabitants of the Town." "Feb. 13, 1781, voted that the expense of the war shall be defrayed by a town tax levied on the polls and Estates. "Voted that a committee consisting of Samuel Moore, John Hall, Joseph Sanders to hire such men to serve in the Continental army for 3 years as called for and secure them for such pay as they may engage as soldiers. "Voted all who engage in the public Survice be cleared from paing aney poll tax for the space of one year after there return. March 22 1781. "Voted on 3d article in the warrant to allow six hard dollars per Month, for three months that they sent a Soldier into the service the year past or the value thereof in paper money. "Voted on 5th article in the warrant not to have any Scouting this year." The value of money for this year is illustrated in the allowance of $1000. to John Hall for "extraordinay services as constable." In the warrant for a special meeting called for July 12, 1781, the second article runs : In as mutch as there hath bin a very suden and unexpected revelution respecting the old Continantal money sence the Rates were made. and the money raised to purchas Beef for the Army doth not answare the eand desired, there fore to see what we the Town will vote to make of said money raised to purchas Beef and also to see what method the town will take to purchas said Beef for the Army, which is wanted immediately. Voted upon this article that the three Selectmen shall divide the Town into three classes in order to provide the Beef for the Army, and that eatch class shall furnish there equiel proportion of said Beef and each person shall be equielly assed according to Pole and estate, and that said Beef shall be delivered to the Selectmen who is head of his class. Voted that eatch man that hath paid this Beef tax to Mr, Joseph Farmer Constable may have leave to take his money back again when demanded, providing this was done within 7 days. The weight of the beef purchased for the army for this year. 1781, is recorded as 3105 pounds, and the cost of purchasing said beef 108 pounds. The amount bought for 1780 was 3720 pounds and the cost paid Jonathan Russ for buying same was 294 pounds. The rates for 1782 were as follows: Soldier rate 89lbs. 10s. 4d., which was doubled before the year ended, town rate, 491lbs. 2s. 11d., continental and state rate, 249lbs. 2s. 3d., minister rate, 16lbs. os. 3d., Silver rate for interest, 5lbs. os. 11d., New Emission rate, 92lbs. 8s. 3d., a burden of taxation the inhabitants bore with commendable fortitude. There was still a backwardness in paying the soldiers the money due them and on March 16, 1784, we find it voted to pay them "the money they have not received." December 8, 1794, it is recorded that the bounty of the Minute Men "be $1. when enlisted, $1. when passed muster, $1 when they march and $8. per month with cong. amt." Once more and for the last time the records refer to the matter, when, October 13, 1807, it was voted to raise one hundred dollars if the soldiers be called for as bounty. Voted the town give the Soldiers two Gallons of West India Rum who turned out in defense of the country." It goes without saying that through all the vicissitudes of the long and sanguinary struggle for the country's independence, whether with the men whom she sent to the brunt of battle or those who met the arduous duties at home, old Derryfield was never for a moment faithless to her trust. Major John Webster. WRITTEN BY THE LATE SEBASTIAN S. GRIFFIN, AUBURN, N. H., AND REPRINTED FROM THE MANCHESTER DAILY UNION, DECEMBER 11, 1888. "Then marched the brave from rocky steep, From mountain river, swift and cold; The borders of the stormy deep, The vale where gathered waters sleep, Among many obscure individuals whose names are not inscribed on marble tablets, or placed conspicuously in the archives of state, the name of Major John Webster should occupy a prominent position. Israel Webster, the father of John, came to this country from England and settled in the town of Atkinson, where John was born, in the year 1736. Inured to the privations and hardships of a pioneer life, in his early manhood having seen service in the French and Indian wars, he was well fitted for those arduous duties which devolved upon him afterwards, during the American revolution. As it would be impossible in the brief space allotted me to give an extended account of our hero, however, if I should succeed in calling the attention of any person to a more complete explanation of a character so full of the love of liberty, or should refresh the memory of a generation who have almost passed away, and who was personally conversant with Mr. Webster, then, indeed, this slight epitome may not prove wholly in vain. When the news reached Atkinson of the advance of the British to Concord, Mr. Webster was at work in his field plowing. Unlike the noble Roman Cincinnatus, who left his plow at rest in the furrow, he said to his eldest son, a youth of thirteen years, "Israel, you take the handles of the plow," and to the next youngest son, "David, you take the goad and drive the oxen. I must go, for my country calls for me." Mr. Webster went to the house and informed his wife of the resolution, who immediately furnished him with a knapsack, and filled it with provision, and other articles he would want, and then he started for Boston with some of his townsmen, and reported for duty. Many outrages were committed by the British soldiers upon the defenseless inhabitants, which he witnessed, and years afterwards he would relate to his friends and those about him, how his blood boiled in his veins for vengeance against such atrocious acts of the enemy. Mr. Webster continued for a short period near Boston, when he returned home to enlist men for the American army. He was a lieutenant in a company of militia in his native town, commanded by Captain Poor, who was a tory and would not call his company together. But Lieutenant Webster took the responsibility upon himself and enlisted many soldiers for the war He was in the Battle of Bunker Hill, under General Stark, and occupied a prominent position. He was on terms of intimacy with the general, who put much confidence in him and entrusted him with many important commissions. He was also at the battle of Bennington with his company in 1777, and rendered efficient service; was offered a commission by congress, but on account of his family affairs, he could not accept it. In all the campaigns against General Burgoyne he took an active part, witnessed his surrender at Saratoga, and was present when Burgoyne delivered his sword to the American general. In after years he often related the incident that the tears ran down the cheeks of the haughty Briton on that occasion. Major Webster was with our army in its encampment in New Jersey when the soldiers suffered so much from the inclemency of the weather and endured many privations, and witnessed many trying scenes which never faded from his memory. He participated in many of the battles in that region. Near the close of the war, or in 1782, Major Webster bought in Derry |