The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 6, June, 1884Various
History
The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 6, June, 1884
Various
Massachusetts -- Periodicals; New England -- Periodicals
[Since the paper upon Lancaster and the Acadiens was published in The
Bay State Monthly for April, I have been favored with the perusal of
Captain Abijah Willard's "Orderly Book," through the courtesy of its
possessor, Robert Willard, M.D., of Boston, who found it among the
historical collections of his father, Joseph Willard, Esq. The volume
contains, besides other interesting matter, a concise diary of
experiences during the military expedition of 1755 in Nova Scotia; from
which it appears that the Lancaster company was prominently engaged in
the capture of Forts Lawrence and Beau Séjour. Captain Willard, though
not at Grand Pré, was placed in command of a detachment which carried
desolation through the villages to the westward of the Bay of Minas; and
the diary affords evidence that this warfare against the defenceless
peasantry was revolting to that gallant officer; and that, while
obedient to his positive orders, he tempered the cruelty of military
necessity with his own humanity.
The full names of his subalterns, not given in the list from General
Winslow's Journal, are found to be
"Joshua Willard, _Lieutenant_,
Moses Haskell, "
Caleb Willard, _Ensign_."
Of the Lancaster men, Sergeant James Houghton died, and William Hudson
was killed, in Nova Scotia.
The diary is well worthy of being printed complete.
H.S.M.]
* * * * *
LOUIS ANSART.
BY CLARA CLAYTON.
One of the notable citizens of Revolutionary times was Colonel Louis
Ansart. He was a native of France, and came to America in 1776, while
our country was engaged in war with England. He brought with him
credentials from high officials in his native country, and was
immediately appointed colonel of artillery and inspector-general of the
foundries, and engaged in casting cannon in Massachusetts. Colonel
Ansart understood the art to great perfection; and it is said that some
of his cannon and mortars are still serviceable and valuable. Foundries
were then in operation in Bridgewater and Titicut, of which he had
charge until the close of the Revolutionary War.
Colonel Ansart was an educated man--a graduate of a college in
France--and of a good family. It is said that he conversed well in seven
different languages.
His father purchased him a commission of lieutenant at the age of
fourteen years; and he was employed in military service by his native
country and the United States, and held a commission until the close of
the Revolutionary War, when he purchased a farm in Dracut and resided
there until his death. He returned to France three times after he first
came to this country, and was there at the time Louis XVI was arrested,
in 1789.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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