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250 years ago, on January 9th, 1776, several Sudbury men signed the payroll acknowledging that they had received one pound and one schilling from Capt. Asahel Wheeler. This scrap of paper is one of a couple dozen papers we have in the Town Records relating to the Siege of Boston. (Full Image)
The siege began after the running battle the started in Concord had chased the British back into Boston. The siege ended when the cannon, which passed through Sudbury, were mounted on Dorchester Heights. This is not the story of the siege, which changed be found on Wikipedia’s Siege of Boston page, and the Park Service’s Siege of Boston Map, and many other sources.
The scraps of paper in our are almost exclusively payrolls, enlistments, acknowledgments of enlistments, and loans of blankets by the Town. Blankets? Yes, blankets. This note says July 4th 1775, Recd of the Selectmen of Sudbury a Blanket apriz at Ten Shilling for .. in the Service of the Province, Daniel Putman. (Full Image)
Blankets were required to enlist along with a Fire Arm, (also a good Bayonet and Cartridge Pouch, if possible.)
See the enlistment image below (Full Image)
The only contemporary narrative I know of is from the Diary of Experience Wight Richardson:
April 25 1775 Our enemies are got into Boston & are shut up their & multituds of our solders come down to help us from all parts almost My only child went with the rest & fitt & was preserved & is now come home upon a fourlow but he must Go again I suppose we are afraid that Boston people a great many will Starve to death
April 25 1775 Our enemies are got into Boston & are shut up their & multituds of our solders come down to help us from all parts almost My only child went with the rest & fitt & was preserved & is now come home upon a fourlow but he must Go again I suppose we are afraid that Boston people a great many will Starve to death
Hudson’s History of Sudbury only adds a few tidbits. He notes that the Soldiers at Bunker Hill, “nearly all having enlisted for eight months, were engaged in this siege. During the summer, Colonel Brewer’s regiment was stationed at Prospect Hill, and General Nixon had quarters at Winter Hill.”
Mark your calendars, on January 25th, the story of Knox’s artillery will be told and an actual cannon firing will happen at 4PM at the Martha Mary Chapel. More on that in the January 23rd issue.
