land. In September, 1776, Congress voted to raise about sixtysix thousand men-the men to be enlisted for the war. This was modified later to make the term three years or during the war. These battalions were apportioned to the several States, three being assigned to New Hampshire. Congress offered a bounty of twenty pounds, a suit of clothes, consisting of two linen hunting shirts, two pairs of overalls, a leathern or woolen waistcoat with sleeves, a pair of breeches, a hat or leathern cap, two shirts, two pairs of hose, and two

JUDGE JONATHAN SMITH.

pairs of shoes, all of the value of twenty dollars, and one hundred acres of land to each man.

The States agreed to pay twenty shillings a month, wages; the soldier was to be allowed a blanket and one penny a mile for travel. When the request for the battalions came, the Assemblies appointed appointed Commissioners to go to the armies and enlist out of the militia of their own State there serving, as many men as possible into the battalions. The State offered a bounty of twenty pounds

in addition to that of Congress, and in 1779, increased the travel to six shillings a mile, and the bounty to three hundred dollars. On March 20th, 1777, a peremptory order was issued to General Folsom, Commander of the State Militia, directing him to order the Colonels of the regiments to command the Captains of their companies to raise the required number of men for the battalions forthwith and to recruit these from both the active and alarm lists. In 1778, it was voted to appoint a suitable person in each militia regiment to enlist 700 men to fill up the three battalions on or before March 18. The cost for getting the men was to be assessed upon the towns short on their quotas and the militia officers and others of the delinquent places were admonished in the strongest terms to complete their number, and they were authorized to hire the men anywhere within the State. In November, 1779, the Council and Committees of Safety voted that the 3 battalions be filled up; that a committee of two be sent to headquarters to re-enlist the men whose terms were expiring and to offer them instead of a bounty, 100 acres of land or such sum of money as may be given by Massachusetts and other States. The men re-enlisting were also to be assured that they should be paid the same for depreciation of money as those enlisting were entitled to be paid under existing laws. In December, 1779, General Folsom was ordered to fill up three battalions immediately. On March 3rd, 1780, recruiting officers for the three battalions were allowed 30 pounds for each man they secured. On June 8th, it was voted to draft, for service until the last day of the next December, to fill up the battalions. By the act of March 19th, 1780, the State amended its militia laws providing that the Colonels

and subordinate officers neglecting or refusing to enlist or draft men called for, were to be cashiered; and the law gave the Colonels power to draft the men. If the conscript did not go he was ordered to be fined 15 pounds to be collected by a warrant of distress; in case of no goods his body was to be taken. If he failed to appear when ordered and did not furnish a reasonable excuse or furnish a substitute he was fined 150 pounds; and officers refusing or neglecting to collect fines from the delinquents were assessed 250 pounds. On June 16th, 1780, the militia officers were ordered to enlist or draft six hundred men to fill up the three battalions of the State. Every conscript was made subject to a fine of five hundred dollars for failure to march or furnish a substitute within twenty-four hours. The pay was to be forty shillings

a

a month, reckoned in corn at four shillings a bushel, sole leather at one shilling, six pence a pound and grassed beef at three pence pound. If the man served until the last day of December, 1781, he was to have one suit of clothes and if he served until the last day of December, 1782, he was to be entitled to a suit of clothes annually. In January, 1781, thirteen hundred and fifty-four men were called for to fill the State's three battalions. The terms of the men enlisting in 1776 and 1777, were expiring and these men were called to keep the battalions full. The towns were permitted to divide their inhabitants into groups, as many groups as the quota called for, each group to be responsible for one man. Towns were allowed to offer a bounty of twenty pounds, reckoned in corn, etc., at the above prices. Classes were to furnish their men for three years before February 20th. If they (the classes) refused or neglected to do so then the town was to furnish them and assess the cost upon the classes

or individuals responsible for the failure. If the towns themselves failed to make the assessments then the towns were to be penalized to double the amount it cost to hire a recruit, if the men were not furnished by March 3rd. Later in June, it was enacted that if the towns found it impracticable to raise the men under the January law, then they were to recruit them to serve till the 31st of the next December. If the towns neglected or refused to get them, the men were to be hired and the cost to be assessed on the delinquent towns. In March, 1782, the State was still short in its quota by six hundred and fifty men, and delinquent towns were peremptorily ordered to complete their quotas before the 15th of May. In 1781, the officers were ordered to hire men wherever they could be found, but these measures did not fill the quota for at the end of the war the State was still short by more than 550 men.

This recital is a suggestive description of the difficulties of the colonies in getting soldiers, particularly for the 88 battalions. The men were loth to enlist for anything but short terms. As the war went on their ardor and patriotism, so manifest in 1775 and 1776, abated, and ony by large bounties, increased pay and by threats of conscription could they be induced to enter the servce at all, and even by draft with heavy penalties upon both men and civil and military authorties for negligence or disobedience, could soldiers be obtained, and then in insufficient numbers.

The battalions suffered severely from sickness, deaths and desertion. During the last years of the struggle, as in the case of the Civil war, towns fell into the habit of hiring men to fill their quotas, paying what was necessary for the purpose. These hired recruits were younger in years than many of those serving

in the earlier part of the struggle. General Knox reported to the First Congress in 1790 all available data for the men furnished by the two States for the eighty-eight battalions. According to this report New Hampshire never had more than twelve hundred and eighty-two men in the Continental line, and in 1781 had only seven hundred. Massachusetts' highest number was seven thousand, eight hundred and sixteen in 1777, and in 1781 had only three thousand, seven hundred and fifty-two. The total number of the Continental line in Washington's army was at its highest in 1777, when, according to General Knox, it numbered thirtyfour thousand eight hundred and twenty men, which in 1781 had shrunken to thirteen thousand, eight hundred and ninety-two.

The year 1777 was one of great anxiety to the New England States. The British plan was for General Burgoyne to invade northern New York with an army of ten thousand men; General Howe to march up the Hudson river with his army from New York City and St. Leger to advance down the Mohawk valley from Fort Niagara. These forces were to unite at Albany, crush General Schuyler's troops, and then to invade, over-run and subdue the Eastern States. St. Leger's army was beaten and dispersed at Oriskany; General Howe went off on a campaign into Pennsylvania, but Burgoyne faithfully tried to carry out his part of the plan with an army of seven thousand regulars and a large force of Indians and Tories. Calls upon the militia of the two States were many and came often to resist the invasion. Burgoyne reached northern New York early in the season, and in May, on a report that Ticonderoga was in danger, the New Hampshire Assembly ordered the militia Colonels to send all the force they could muster

as soon as possible, to the point of danger. Four hundred and thirtyfour men were called, but before they reached Ticonderoga, word came that the enemy had fallen back, and the men were ordered home and discharged, after a little over a month's service. A few days later another alarm came that Ticonderoga was again in danger, and the militia were once more sent out, but after marching part way it was reported that the tort had fallen and the men returned home after a service of from four to fourteen days.

In January of this year the State enacted a law that when an order came for men to the Generals of the militia, the Captains were to call their companies together and if a sufficient number did not volunteer, to draft the balance of the quota. If the conscript failed to appear and did not pay a fine of ten pounds, afterwards increased to nfty, he was then to be held and treated as a soldier. If he failed or refused to march when ordered he was to be fined twelve pounds, which was later increased to sixty pounds.

On June 5th a regiment of 720 men was voted to be raised for service in New England for a term of SIX months. Three hundred of these men were sent to Rhode Island. As stated before the men were to be paid a bounty of thirty shillings when they enlisted and a further bounty of four pounds, ten shillings when they were accepted, with the same monthly pay as the year before. Officers were allowed six shillings for every soldier they obtained.

On July 18th, the State Assembly reorganized its militia, into two brigades of nine regiments each, and .on the same day ordered a draft of one-fourth of the militia of the second brigade and three regiments of the first for a service of two months.

Their pay was four pounds and ten shillings a month. The whole draft was placed under the command of General Stark. It was these troops, with the Massachusetts militia from Hampshire and Berkshire counties, that fought the battle of Bennington and afterwards joined General Gates at Stillwater. Their term expired on the very day of the battle of Bemis Heights and they marched home a few days later.

A contemporary has left on record a description of one company of these men that marched out of New Hampshire on the 19th day of July to join General Stark, as follows:

To a man they wore small clothes, coming down and fastening just below the knee, and long stockings with cow-hide shoes ornamented with large buckles, while not a pair of boots graced the company. The coats and waist-coats were loose and of huge dimensions with colors as various as the barks of oak, sumack and other trees of our hills and swamps could make them, and their shirts were all flax and like every other part of the dress, were homespun. On their heads was worn a large round-top and broadbrimmed hat. Their arms were as various as their costumes; here an old soldier carried a heavy King'sarm, with which he had done service at the conquest of Canada twenty years before; while at his side walked a stripling boy with a Spanish fusee not half its weight or calibre, which his grandfather may have taken at the siege of Havana, while not a few had old French pieces that dated back to the reduction of Louisburg.

Instead of a cartridge box a large powder horn was slung under the arm, and occasionally a bayonet might be seen bristling in the ranks.. Some of the swords of the officers had been made by province blacksmiths, perhaps from some farming

serviceable Such was Continentals

utensils. They looked but heavy and uncouth. the appearance of the to whom a well appointed army was soon to lay down its arms. After a little exercising on the Old Common, and performing the then popular exploit of whipping the snake, they briskly filed off on the road by the foot of Kidder Mountain and through the Spofford gap towards Peterborough; to the tune of "Over the Hills and Far Away."

Let no one smile at this description. These men were the raw material out of which the very best soldiers in the world could be made by training and discipline, and it was their descendants that eighty-seven years later crushed the charge of Pickett at Gettysburg and in 1918 cleared the Belleau Wood and the Argonne forest of the German

enemy.

Early in September the State ordered one-sixth of the militia to join General Gates at Saratoga, and it was in service for only a month or six week. On the 17th of the same month a large number of volunteers out of the militia were also called and sent forward to the army at Saratoga. How many men were furnished out of this last call does not

appear for many of the military rolls are missing. Some of them were in service six weeks, and some served as long as two months. Besides these men sent to the army in New York, the Asembly in June in response to a call from the Governor of Rhode Island, voted to raise a force of three hundred men for six months in that State A bounty of six pounds was offered them and their pay was two pounds a month. Four companies of two hundred men were also raised to guard the western and northern frontiers to serve till January 1st. They were to be paid ten dollars. a month and one month's pay in advance. advance. Besides these troops two

companies were also recruited for guards at Portsmouth,

In 1778, the attention of both States was largely directed to Rhode Island and most of the men recruited, except for local service, were sent there. Early in the year New Hampshire voted to raise two hundred men for one year, and later added one hundred more, for duty in Rhode Island or elsewhere in New England or New York. They were offered fifteen dollars a month with one month's pay in advance and a bounty of six pounds. The Committee of Safety afterwards increased that bounty to ten pounds. Enlistments for this service were slow, and on the last day of May the Assembly voted to draft the men necessary to fill the call, who were to serve until the end of the year. They were offered a bounty of six pounds; and four pounds, ten shillings a month for pay. In August the same State voted to raise a brigade of five regiments, two thousand men, for one month's service in Rhode Island. They were paid five pounds a month, and were in service less than thirty days. The State also raised a regiment for the defense of the Connecticut River and offered the men the same wages, namely six pounds a month. Besides these calls 420 men were ordered to be drafted; their wages to be thirty dollars a month, for one month's service; to guard the sea coast and different points within the State. Their terms were to expire the first of the following January. In 1779, the State voted three hundred men, for the defense of Rhode Island to serve for the term of six months. They were offered bounty of thirty dollars and twelve pounds a month. The State also raised twelve companies and one regiment for local defense.

a

In June 1780, the Assembly voted to enlist or draft nine hundred and forty-five men for the defense of the

United States for three months' duty. The soldiers were to be paid forty shillings per month, and said money to be equalled to Indian corn at four shillings a bushel, sole leather at one shilling, six pence per pound, and grassed beef at three pence per pound. If a man served until the last day of December, 1781, he was to receive in addition a suit of clothes. If he served until the last day of December, 1782, he was to receive an additional suit. Under the same Statute 180 men were called for three months' service on the frontier and at Portsmouth Harbor. This year the State also raised four companies of rangers for duty on the northern border, for a term of three months, and two companies to guard Portsmouth Harbor for nine months. In November it was enacted that all men drafted for three or six months who did not march or pay their fine should be arrested and committed to jail. The following year, 1781, two companies were raised for a term of six months for local defense. the last days of June it was agreed to raise by enlistment or draft, a regiment of six hundred and fifty men for the Continental army. The number of men each militia regiment was to furnish under this call was stated in the Act. If the drafted man refused to march at once, he was to be fined thirty pounds. In the following August the quota not being full, the towns were ordered to hire the number of men required to fill the quota, and the officers were to pay them in specie or the equivalent in produce. The pay

In

was to be forty shillings per month, and the cost of hiring the men was to be assessed proportionally on the towns deficient in their quota.

The number of militia furnished by the two States cannot be accurately stated, owing to the loss of many of the military rolls. During the first two years, up to 1777, the