Doubtless the earliest and most pleasing recollections of our youth, in
connection with American history, are associated with the “Minute Men,”
as they were termed, of New England. These men are pictured to us as
ever ready to turn out in force to repel the advance of British troops,
at any personal sacrifice, and to serve without pay. It is sad indeed to
be instrumental in dispelling so fair a delusion, but there seems to be
sufficient evidence to prove that this whole story is but a romance. The
New England men did turn out when it was necessary and they made a
sturdy fight when called upon to do so, but they did no more than did
the people of all the other Colonies under like circumstances.
The proof of this is found in a document giving “the names of those Men
that did March on the 19th of April last in consequence of the Alarm
made on that Day, who belonged to Ipswich (Mass:) and was commanded by
Jonathan Cogswell, Jun^{r.}” Then is given the rank of each person, the
number of miles marched, the number of days out, in service, and the
number of miles marched in returning, &c. At the bottom of this document
is Captain Cogswell’s deposition, made December 18, 1775, before John
Baker, Justice of the Peace, of Ipswich, as to the correctness of the
Roll. On the back of this document we find the following: “Ipswich, May
22nd, 1776. * * * We the subscribers have Rec’d of Capt Cogswell, Jun^r
the full of our Wages that was Due to Us for our Marching on the Alarm
the nineteenth of April 1775, as Satt down in the within Roll.” Then
follow the signatures of fifty-six men who were paid for their services.
With this before us the evidence seems almost conclusive that not only
were the men of Ipswich paid, but that few if any of those who fought at
the battle of Lexington or of Concord did so without the previous
assurance of pay for their services. It is proven that no one went out
from the town of Ipswich, at least, without compensation, and in so
circumscribed a neighborhood it is scarcely possible that the men of
other towns would have been willing to render service gratuitously,
knowing, as they must, that the men of Ipswich were to be paid. There is
no doubt of the fact that at Lexington, and in the neighboring towns, it
was known beforehand that the British troops were to make an incursion
for the purpose of destroying the military stores. The American
authorities, under these circumstances, naturally made every preparation
to repel the attack. It was necessary to engage men for this public
service, and it was proper and just that they should be paid. No fault
can be found with the matter of remuneration, but this contrast of fact
and fiction is here offered as another evidence of the false and heroic
coloring given to the services rendered by the New England people,
during the Revolution, and presented to us as authentic history.