Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 1Boutwell, George S. (George Sewall)
History
Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 1
Boutwell, George S. (George Sewall)
Boutwell, George S. (George Sewall), 1818-1905; United States -- Politics and government
His statement is sustained by the evidence I have gathered. Some
writers have put the loss at fifty, and others as high as seventy men,
but these numbers exceed the truth. Wadsworth had fifty men;
Brocklebank may have had as many more. We can account for about
ninety-six. On the 24th of April, Lieutenant Jacobs acknowledges the
receipt of his charge as Captain, in place of Captain Brocklebank, and
informs the Governor and his Council that his company consists of
about forty-six men, a portion of whom were left at Marlboro' by
Captain Wadsworth.
Hubbard says, that of Wadsworth's company, not above twenty escaped,
and Daniel Warren and Joseph Pierce, who buried the dead, say that
fourteen or fifteen of Captain Wadsworth's men were concealed at Mr.
Noist's mill. Taking the statements of Hubbard and Jacobs, we
account for ninety-six officers and men, viz.: forty-seven left at
Marlboro', twenty-nine killed, and twenty escaped.
Some writer has stated that the battle was fought on the 21st, instead
of the 18th of April. It may not be proved that the battle was fought
on the 18th, but it is determined that it was fought previous to the
21st.
On the 21st of April, the Massachusetts Council communicated the fact
in writing to the Plymouth Colony. It is true that Lieutenant Jacobs
does not mention the loss of Wadsworth and Brocklebank in a letter to
the Governor and Council, dated at Marlboro' on the 22nd of April; but
in his letter of the 24th, he refers to the subject as he might have
done, had he received the intelligence when he received his authority
to take the command of the fort and men at Marlboro'. And this was
probably the case. That communication between the two towns was
suspended, is apparent from Jacobs' letter of the 22nd of April, to
which I have referred. The conclusion, I think, is that, under the
circumstances, there is a reasonable amount of evidence in support of
the statement of President Wadsworth.
The loss of Wadsworth and Brocklebank was severely felt by the colony.
Hubbard says, "Wadsworth was a resolute, stout-hearted soldier, and
Brocklebank a choice, spirited man." Mather says, "but the worst part
of the story is, that Captain Wadsworth, one worthy to live in our
history under the name of a good man, coming up after a long, hard,
unwearied march with seventy men unto the relief of distressed Sudbury,
found himself in the woods on the sudden, surrounded with about five
hundred of the enemy, whereupon our men fought like men, and more than
so."
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