Many a young man who enlisted in those easy-going, locally recruited and\u00a0locally led regiments that fought for the colonial cause in the American Revolution,\u00a0was mighty glad to cal I it a day when his short, six months’ enlistment\u00a0expired. Altogether too few of them tried a second tour of that precarious\u00a0duty. But Asa Redington was not of that stripe. He was the kind of which true\u00a0patriots are made, the kind of common soldier that made it possible for George\u00a0Washington to lead bedraggled armies through to final victory. It was the ex<\/em>i\u00a0stence of a sma II, but very effecti ve, body of experi enced sol di ers like Asa\u00a0Redington that brought final success to the colonial arms.<\/p>\n After his discharge at the end of his first enlistment in December, 1778,\u00a0Asa spent .the winter and spring at what the orphaned young man called his home\u00a0in Wi Iton, New Hampshi reo By June the war spirit was again tinkling in his\u00a0veins, so off he went on a second enlistment, this time for a full year. As Asa\u00a0himself told it: “I again entered the Continental establishment and with severa\u00a0I others marched to join the Army at Fishki lion the Hudson River.”<\/p>\n There Asa remained unti I November, when the Army went into winter quarters\u00a0aT Danbury, Connect i cut. The Centenn i a I History of Watervi lie says that Asa\u00a0was with Washington through the terrib Ie winter of Valley Forge, but that is a\u00a0mistake. Valley Forge was the winter of 1777-78, and Asa Redington did not enter\u00a0the army for the first time unti I the summer of 1778. The writer of the\u00a0Centennial History evidently confused the winter quarters at Valley Forge in\u00a01777-78 with those at Danbury in 1779-80. Though not so notorious .. and never\u00a0given so much publicity as Valley Forge, the Danbury winter was terrible enough\u00a0for the young men of the colonial regiments. Asa later reported that it\u00a0was a wint”er of tremendous cold and deep snow, that provisions often ran short,\u00a0and only with the greatest difficulty did the men find anything to wear on their\u00a0feet, except to wrap them in rags.<\/p>\n But spring finally came, and Asa was then transferred to Col. Mi Iler’s\u00a0regiment of infantry in the fighting lines, which Asa describes as tla tract of\u00a0country be1″ween the enemy posts on York I sland and the American army”. From the\u00a0histories of the Revolution we know that by York Island, Asa meant Manhattan Island,\u00a0the City of New York proper, divided from the mainland by the short channe\u00a0I that connects the East Ri ver with the Hudson. I n the sp ri ng of 1780 the Sriti\u00a0sh he I d a II of the downtown city at the lower end of the is I and and a I I the\u00a0rest of it except the northern end, where the colonial troops were intrenched\u00a0on the he i ghts \u2022<\/p>\n Apparently Asa was assigned to a kind of persistent raiding party, for this\u00a0is the way he descri bes hi s early act i vi tv in New York: ‘!We acted as a ki nd of \u00a0flying part-y, continually guarding and harassing a large space of country, ne~\u00a0ver camp i ng but one night ina p I ace for fear of be i ng attacked, as the enemy\u00a0were conti nua Ily on the alert, seeking whom they might devour. We were not idle\u00a0on our part”, playing the same game as theirs, cutting off and capturing small\u00a0parties of them.” Then with Yankee impartiality he adds, “Much cruelty was\u00a0p racti ced on both sides.”<\/p>\n Asa gives a vivid account of one of his company’s raids: f!About the middle\u00a0of July we marched all night in a heavy rain, surprised and cut off a whole\u00a0guard, right under the shadow of the enemy’s arti Ilery, ki lied a number aAd took\u00a0Captain Ogden and 22 other prisoners. Before the big guns struck up their music \u00a0we were off. Although we fled toward our own encampment at full speed, we were\u00a0pursued by several hundred British cavalry, who overtook us about sunrise. Our \u00a0whole party consisted of only 80 men. We immediately forded a stream and took\u00a0to the woods, keeping in close order. For the better security of our prisoners:\u00a0we tied them toge”ther. When they heard thei r friends approaching, they yelled\u00a0at us, -‘Now we sha II be freed, and you wi II be ki lied or captured.’ We solemnly\u00a0assured them “that before that should happen, we would shoot every mother’s\u00a0son of them, and “that anyone who made the slightest noise when the British came\u00a0nearer wou I d be k i I led i nstan”t Iy \u2022<\/p>\n “So we kept moving rapidly through the woods, never once coming out on to\u00a0cleared ground, never giving the Bjritish a chance for clear shots at us, though \u00a0they knew ina genera I way where we were. Fina Ily we deci ded to ri sk a few\u00a0sniping shots at “the British patrols, whereupon we surprisingly discovered that\u00a0our pursuers had no muskets, but were armed on Iy with pistols. \\\\e were thus able\u00a0to keep them at a respectfu I di stance. At length we came to a stream that\u00a0could not be forded but could be crossed only by one bridge. We were successful,\u00a0quickly crossed the bridge, and threw its planks into the river. Our\u00a0frustrated pursuers then gave up the chase. If<\/p>\n Did you notice what Asa said about throwing planks into the river? Men of\u00a0my age can remember that no longer ago than the turn of the present century\u00a0many small bridges had loose planking. It was common construction for colonial\u00a0bridges, and made it easy for Asa Redington and his 80 companions to heave a\u00a0whole bridge floor into the river.<\/p>\n Asa was made one of a sma II guard to conduct the 23 pri soners to Ameri can\u00a0headquarters at West Poi nt. Those p ri soners were not Bri ti sh regu I ar troops\u00a0sent out from England, but American Tories who had joined the British cause.<\/p>\n They had actually come from di fferent parts of that 30-mi Ie route through whi ch\u00a0Asa and his fe Ilow guardsmen were now conducting them. That exp I ai ns these\u00a0words in Asa’s memoirs: “These prisoners, who had left their friends and had\u00a0fought against their country, now began meeting old friends, as wei I as fathers,\u00a0mothers, brothers and sisters. Those folk rushed out to the road only to see\u00a0their relatives and friends wretched fugitives, tied together like felons.\u00a0Though the women di d much wa i I ing and weep i ng 1 the p ri soners themse I ves p reserved\u00a0a su I len silence.”<\/p>\n Asa says he de livered the prisoners at the headquarters of Major Genera I\u00a0Howe 1 at a p laee ca lied Robi nson ‘s Farm. That farm has become famous in American \u00a0history, for it was there in the summer of 1779, just one year before Asa\u00a0Red i ngton came there with his p ri sone rs, that Bened i ct Amo I d had he I d his\u00a0fateful meetings with Major Andre, to plan the treasonable surrender of West\u00a0Po i nt.<\/p>\n A Ii tt Ie more than a year had now elapsed s i nee Asa! s second en Ii stment ,\u00a0and he was once again el igible for discharge. He received it at West Point in\u00a0early July, and made his way home to Wi Iton, New Hampshire on foot, arriving\u00a0the re on J u I Y 1 3 \u2022<\/p>\n Whether Asa thought his war days were now ended we cannot be sure, but we\u00a0suspect the war fever was now really in hi s system. We are therefore not surpri\u00a0sed to learn that after operating fa II and winter in Wilton, he heeded the\u00a0call for a third time. This time it was in response to what, in Revolutionary\u00a0times, came as near as they could get to our idea of a draft. There was no \u00a0recognized national government. Not even the Continental Congress could draft\u00a0troops. But the individual colonies could at least make an attempt to force\u00a0quotas from the towns. So, when New Hampshi re ca lied for its town of Wi Iton\u00a0to furnish nine soldiers for the Continental Arrrt>\/ in ~4arch, 1791, the town made\u00a0inducements for men, especially young, unmarried men, to fill that quota. They\u00a0agreed to give each man 20 head of young cattle, to be three years old when the\u00a0man’s service of three years should expire. Asa points out that this stipend\u00a0was in addition to the regular soldier’s pay of 40 cents a month. This time Asa\u00a0Redington was really in for it. Here was no chance of getting home after six\u00a0months or even a year. I f he were so I ucky as to escape Bri ti sh bu I lets , he\u00a0wou I d be in the army for th ree long years. We I I, anyhow, Asa knew that was no\u00a0picnic. He had been under fire, he had seen men die, he had known the cold and\u00a0hunger of winter camp. Now he was off again on the last campaign of the long\u00a0war that made America free.<\/p>\n Asa entered on his third enlistment in a local setting just as he had done\u00a0before. He”marched off for camp in a company commanded by Captain Thompson,\u00a0another Wi Iton man. But this time Asa was to get his first taste of genuine\u00a0army discipline — something that was not readi Iy accepted by those New England\u00a0mi Iitia yeomen, accustomed to ignoring such folderol as saluting officers and\u00a0even accustomed to calling those officers by their first names. Too often they\u00a0didn’t even I ive up to their terms of enlistment, but simply walked off home\u00a0when things didn’t suit them.<\/p>\n It was Val ley Forge that put an end to such undisciplined fighting. The\u00a0one constructive product of that terrible winter was that, when it ended,\u00a0Baron Steuben had made Washington’s disorganized body of volunteer yeomanry an\u00a0organized, disciplined army. It was that sort of thing that Asa Redington encountered\u00a0when he suddenly found himself transferred to a regiment of infantry\u00a0commanded by Col. Alexander Scammel. Scammel had himself been at Valley Forge\u00a0and had there been thoroughly indoctrinated in the European disciplinary procedures\u00a0so effectively introduced by Baron Steuben. Asa Redington had not encountered\u00a0this sort of thing in his two previous enlistments, and he didn’t\u00a0like it, not a bit. He said so emphatically in his memoi rs: !’We were put under\u00a0severe discipline, maneuvering both by day and night. Scammel commanded in\u00a0person and was very severe. He was a ta II, s lim man, near Iy seven feet in\u00a0height, and being always on horseback, he could detect the least error as we\u00a0maneuvered, and he punished it with extreme severity. In fact he demanded that\u00a0every detai I be executed with the exactness of clockwork.”\u00a0Asa Redington carried his dislike of Colonel Scammel through to the end.<\/p>\n At last, when the regiment was in front of Yorktown, in the final days before\u00a0Cornwal lis’ surrender, Asa had a chance to show just how strongly he felt. Let\u00a0us see just how he worded it in his memo i rs: “One day Col one I Scamme I was out \u00a0reconnoitering’theenemy positions, accompanied by some other officers on horseback,\u00a0when a party of British cavalry rushed upon them from a growth of pines,\u00a0morta Ily wounded Scamme I and made hi m pri soner, though the rest escaped. He\u00a0was taken to Yorktown, but was soon returned to the Americans under a flag of\u00a0truce. He was then sent to Williamsburg and I was requested to go along and\u00a0assist in taking care of him. I decided did not owe him so much good wi I I,\u00a0so I dec I i ned. My mess mate Uri ah Ba II ard was se lected in my p I ace. He went to\u00a0Wi Iliamsburg with the Colonel and remained with him unti I he died. The men did\u00a0not regret hi s loss, but sai d it was a just payment for hi s extreme severity. n<\/p>\n And wiTh that caustic comment about his commanding officer.~ let us leave\u00a0Asa Redi ngton unti I next week. Then I want to te II you that rare th i ng, the\u00a0comments of a common man on a great moment of hi story. For present, when Cornwallis\u00a0surrendered his whole army to George Washington at Yorktown, was young\u00a0Asa Redington, and he put into his memoirs his vivid, detai led recollection of\u00a0that momentous event.<\/p>\n For our remaining minutes tonight, let us examine an interesting sidelight\u00a0on Colby Col lege in its early days. The information is furnished me by\u00a0Judge Wi II i am Burgess of Fa i rf i e I d, who some forty years ago was a student of\u00a0mine at Hebron Academy. Judge Burgess’ grandfather, Wi r liam E. Burgess, attended\u00a0Watervi I Ie Co liege in 1828, on Iy ten years after Jeremi ah Chap lin opened the\u00a0first classes. The entire student enrollment totaled 33; all of them men, for\u00a0women would not be admitted unti I more than forty years later. The faculty\u00a0consisted of three men: President Chaplin, Reverend Stephen Chapin in Sacred\u00a0Theology, and Professor Thomas Jefferson Conant in Latin and Greek. Not unti I\u00a0the next year, 1829, was there a professor of mathematics.<\/p>\n Reverend Oti s Sri ggs, who was the ori gi na I secretary of the co liege trustees,\u00a0served a Iso as the college treasurer unti I Ti mothy Boute lie was elected\u00a0to that office in 1831. So, when Burgess was in college in 1828, he paid his\u00a0co liege bills to OTi s Sri 9gs. Let us see what a bi I I issued to Burgess in the\u00a0spri n9 of 1828 looked like:<\/p>\n HWi I I i am E. Burgess.\u00a0To Watervi lie College, Dr.\u00a0To one term’s rent $2.30, proportion of expense of sweeping entries 17\u00a0cents, for repairs 95 cents. Total $3.42 for term beginning Apri I 7 and ending\u00a0J u I Y 1, 1 828 \u2022\u00a0Credit, by lock put on his door in No. 28 — 72 cents. Balance due $2.70.\u00a0Rece i ved payment, May 22, 1828.\u00a0o. Sri ggs, Agent.”<\/p>\n As I have often poi nted out on th is program, those were the days when\u00a0changes were sti II frequently made in shi Ilings. So the next November Burgess\u00a0rece i ved a b i I I from Watervi I Ie Co liege for th ree weeks room rent at one sh i Iling\u00a0a week, tota I 50 cents.<\/p>\n By November, 1829 Burgess considered himself ready to teach. So he proceeded\u00a0to arm hi mse If with the necessary credenti a Is. He presented hi mse I f for oral examination by David Wheeler, a member of the superintending school committee \u00a0of the town of Waterville, and received from Wheeler the following\u00a0statement: HThis certifies that I have examined Mr. \\,\/i Iliam E. Burgess and find\u00a0him wei I qualified TO instruct youth in reading, writing, English grammar:\u00a0arithmetic, and other branches usually taught in common schools according to\u00a0law. It<\/p>\n But Burgess was taking no chances. He reinforced the Wheeler statement\u00a0wi th one from the great scho I ar of Watervi lie hi mse If. I tread = nFrom the\u00a0character of the gent lemen who have recommended the bearer, Mr. Wi Iii am Bur-\u00a0gess (with some of whom I have had the pleasure of a personal acquaintance)\u00a0I feel satisfied that he is a young man of correct morals and wei I qualified\u00a0to teach the usual branches of an English education. Signed, Jeremiah Chaplin.”<\/p>\n How is it possible that Burgess could have been a student at the college,\u00a0and yet President Chaplin be able to make only a second-hand statement about\u00a0him? The answer is that in the one year when Burgess attended classes, Chaplin\u00a0had been away most of the time, trying to raise money for the infant col lege\u00a0and performing duties for the Baptist Convention. He just didn’t know the students\u00a0who were there for that one year on I v.<\/p>\n Wei I, anyhow, that is the way the grandfather of Fairfield’s present municipal\u00a0judge got a job teaching school in Watervi lie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #340, Broadcast June 2, 1957<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[761,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7742\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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