Class ; ■■■i Book A-^/\\\^ Copyiiglii W COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. / MARY MATTOON. Copy of Port rail in the possession of Mrs. Mary Mat toon VVoUott Clafp. Mary Mattoon AND Her Hero oftwe Revolution BY ALICE M. WALKER COVER DESIGN BY MARTHA GENUNG AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS 1902 THE LIBRARY OF | CONGRESS, 1 Two Copies Received FEB 28 1903 Copyngnt Entry d^t n~ iCf ^- cuss «- XXc. No. z;- u^ 3 1^ COPY B. Copyright 1902 BY Alice M. Walker ^^^ ^otbe ff^ax^ /iDattoon Cbapter, BauGbters ot tbe Hmerican IRevolution, ot Bmberst, ^assacbusette, THIS STORY OF ITS HEROINE AND HER HERO is H)eDicateD Fore^word IN presenting to the public this sketch of Mary Mattoon and her Hero, the author makes grateful ack- nowledgment to the members of the Mattoon family and to other interested persons who contributed material for the illustrations as well as much information. Of the grandchildren of the Mattoons, Mr. Isaac Gridley of Brooklyn, N. Y., furnished a copy of the Trumbull por- trait of the General, and Mrs. Dorothy G. Vannevar, of Kendall Green, Massachusetts, gave information. Of the great grandchildren, Mrs. Mary Mattoon Wolcott Clapp, Berkeley, California, sent copies of the portraits of Mary Mattoon and the General ; Mr. William Mattoon King, New York City, sent a copy of a portrait of the General ; Mrs. Edith Dwight Wolcott Davis of Lynch- burg, Virginia, sent a copy of the miniature of the Gen- eral; Mr. Ithamar C. Cowles, Unionville, Ohio, sent a photograph of the sword and table, Mrs. Ella D. Robin- son, South Hartwick, New York, gave items of interest ; and all of these contributed much valuable information. Mrs. Anna M. Bardwell, South Pasadena, California, a great granddaughter of Elizabeth Mattoon Clapp, sister 6 Foreword of the General, furnished information. Mrs. Austin Street, Holyoke, Massachusetts, a niece of Mary Mattoon, loaned a family Bible belonging to Noah Dickinson, con- taining a record of the birth of Mary Mattoon. Miss Kate Conkey, Amherst, Massachusetts, loaned an auto- graph letter and other valuable documents. Among others to whom acknowledgments are due are Mr. M. E. Dwight, New York City, Mrs. Isa F. Sanford, Bunker Hill, Illinois, Mr. John B. Tyler, Billerica, Massachusetts, Mr. Timothy Spaulding, Northampton, Massachusetts, and many residents of Amherst. Among the authorities consulted are Carpenter & Morehouse, History of Amherst \ Judd, History of Hadley ; Parmenter, History of Pelhain ; Chase, History of Dartmouth College^ a?id Hanover^ N. H.\ Chapman, Manual of Dartmouth College; The Hampshire Gazette-^ and the well known books by Alice Morse Earle. A. M. W. Amherst^ Massachusetts^ ig02. Mary Mattoon and Her Hero of the Revolution THE fertile lands comprised within the limits of Old Hadley and her " Third Precinct," the Amherst of to-day, were bought in 1658 from the Indian tribe of the Norwottucks by John Pynchon of Springfield. " In consideration of two hundred fathom of wompon, and twenty fathom and one large coat at eight fathom " the three Indian chieftains, Umpanchla — aUas Wom- scom, Quonquont — alias Wompshaw, and Chickwalopp — alias Wowahillowa, completed the bargain. After reserving certain fields on which the squaws might plant and harvest their scanty crops of corn, and stipula- ting for " liberty to hunt deer, fowl, etc., and to take fish, beaver or otter, etc.," the Sachem Chickwalopp made for his signature a circular figure with a neck, Umpanchla drew a bow and string, and Quonquont produced some 8 Mary Mat to on and zigzag marks upon the deed, which was duly witnessed and executed. Thus passed forever from the possession of the River Indians these happy hunting grounds of their fathers. Certain " withdrawers " from the church in Hartford, who had employed Major Pynchon as their agent, paid him ^62, IDS. in money, grain and merchandise for the land east of the Connecticut River. In 1661 twenty- eight persons had taken up their residence in the " New Plantation," which they had named Hadley from a town in England, presumably dear to the homesick hearts of some among their number. The settlement prospered and spread eastward toward the Pelham hills, and south- ward toward the *' Great Falls." A meeting-house was built, and in 1667 a grammar school was founded from funds provided by Edward Hopkins. In spite of Indian wars which followed in rapid succession, the year 1703 found hamlets springing up all along the river. Before this date a man named Foote had built a log hut near the site of the present East Amherst meeting-house, and had attempted to live there by hunting and fishing. His plan did not succeed, and the eastern part of the town for many years after was known as " Foote Folly Swamp." This fact, however, did not deter the venturesome from leaving the river banks and securing land along that part of the settlement within the present Amherst limits. In 1730 the " East Inhabitants" had become so numerous EBENEZER MATIOON. Copy of a miniature in the possession of Airs. B.dith Wolcott Davis. Her Hero of the Revolution g as to require a place in which to bury their dead, and we find them appointing a " Comity " to lay out a burying ground. To-day in the old West cemetery they and their descendants sleep. In 1734 a petition signed by these " East Inhabitants," praying that they might be set off a separate precinct, was presented to the General Court. The prayer was granted, and in 1735 Hadley Third Precinct was '' erected," on condition that within three years a house of public worship should be built, and a minister settled. A committee to build the meeting-house was immediately appointed, and Rev. David Parsons was engaged to be the pastor. About one hundred years after the settlement of Springfield this entry was made in the church record book: ''November, 1735, I Began my ministry at Had- ley." Immediately following we read of the ordination of Rev. David Parsons, Nov. 7, 1739, as the first minis- ter of the new church. This famous divine was a grad- uate of Harvard, scholarly and orthodox, a man of power- ful intellect and shrewd mind, an ideal preacher of the old school. The records of the church for m.any years are almost entirely devoted to votes concerning Rev. Parsons : how to raise his " sallery," how to procure the enormous quantities of wood which he required, how to seat the meeting-house in which he preached, giving each person a place according to his standing in the commu- nity. Committees were appointed from year to year to 10 Mary Mat toon and arrange with regard to the " Hind Seats," and the "Late Seators," and the seats in the *' upper Teer in the Gal- lery," but these were matters of minor importance. The Rev. Parsons " sallery " and his firewood must be pro- vided even before the " able bodied person " was engaged to sweep the meeting-house and summon the faithful by blowing "ye kunk" on Sundays. II. THIS old First Church of Hadley, Third Precinct, was originally composed of sixteen men, all householders and heads of families. The wives, daughters and sisters were admitted to membership during the first year. Among these sixteen names we find that of Eleazer " Mattun," who had come down from Northfield and linked his fortunes with that of the new Precinct and its recently organized church. The families which constituted this frontier settlement were from Old Hadley and from Hatfield, and were bound together by ties of relationship, by common interests and beliefs, and by a spirit of mutual helpfulness which enabled them to obtain the necessaries of life. Four days after the church was organized the pastor baptized Jonathan, son of Jonathan and Sarah Cowls, and soon Her Hero of the Revolution i r after three other children were baptized. During that one pastorate five hundred and eighty-three baptisms^ nearly all those of children upon whom the parents had sought the blessings of the covenant, bore witness to the godly character of those pioneers, the members of the First Church of Amherst. The century had been eventful. The shadow of Indian wars and massacres had hindered the planting of settle- ments at any distance from the river, which was the only means of communication. After one hundred years, with the exception of the Connecticut valley and Westfield, the interior of Massachusetts was still a wilderness. Chil- dren gathered around the blazing logs in the cabins, lis- tened with interest to tales from father and mother, who kept in vivid remembrance the stirring scenes in which they had borne a part. The grandfather of that early day could tell of King Philip's war, of the Indian attack on Hadley, and of the massacre at Bloody Brook, and perhaps could recall the events of the first journey through the forests to Wethersfield and thence to Hadley. No doubt in many a Hadley dwelling there were related incidents of family experiences that carried both story teller and listener back across the Atlantic to far off, dearly loved English homes. Eleazer " Mattun " could have told a tale of how his father, Philip Mattoon, when a boy, made the perilous journey from Glasgow, Scotland, and sought his fortunes 12 Mary Mattoon and in the Massachusetts wilderness. Sir Walter Scott in Peiferil of the Peak describes the attack on Hadley by the Indians, and says of New England : " There thousands of our best and most godly men are content to be the inhabitants of the desert, rather encountering the unen- lightened savage than stooping to extinguish, under the oppression practiced in Britain, the light that is within their own minds." Such doubtless was this Scottish boy Philip, who in 1676 was sent with a company from Bos- ton to defend the towns along the Connecticut River from Indian invasion. Conquering the foe, he fell him- self a victim to the charms of Sarah Hawks, a Springfield beauty, and the next year he removed to that locality, and married her. Eleazer " Mattun " was born in Deerfield in 1690, in the midst of troubled times. One hundred and fifty Indians were encamped that year on the side of Sugar Loaf. A garrison of soldiers was sent from Hartford to protect the town. Two little children were scalped in Deerfield village in 1693, and the next year the savages attacked the fort. The people of Deerfield were always terrified and always in danger, and the boyhood of Elea- zer must have been deeply shadowed by the warfare of those early years. We know but little about him except that he lived for a time in Northfield, where he was deacon in the church, and that he removed to Hadley in 1734, where he also served as deacon. He had at this Her Hero of the Revolution /j time one son, Ebenezer, who was sixteen years old. In the records of town meeting of Hadley Third Pre- cinct, after the date 1739, we find the entry : " Voted, yt the present Comity for the carrying on ye Building ye meeting House shall dispose of ye first hundred and fifty pounds yt is and shall be paid by Dea Eleazer Mattoon as they think best." The " Comity " evidently referred the matter to the town, for in the next town-meeting warrant the freeholders are asked to consider " how Dea Mattoon's first hundred and fifty pounds shall be disposd withall." The gift of so large a sum of money in those days proved that the donor was both wealthy and generous. Eleazer Mattoon died in February, 1767. The general opinion concerning his character is illustrated by an anecdote. At the time of his death, the snow was so deep upon the ground that it was proposed to draw the body two miles to West cemetery on a hand sled. Hear- ing this the Rev. David Parsons cried out in horror : "Such a saint as deacon Mattoon to be dragged to his grave like a dead dog !" and added with all the authority given to the Rev. Clergy, " Never !" The bearers were therefore obliged to lift the body on their shoulders and to tramp their weary way through the snow to the burial place. The discovery of this good deacon Eleazer Mattoon among the original members of the First Church of /^ Mary Mattoon and Hadley Third Precinct brings to our notice a family whose history was identified with that of the town through the most critical period of its existence, and whose honored name is borne to-day by many worthy descendants. The names Ebenezer, John, Samuel, Joseph and Wil- liam were common in Hadley. Young Ebenezer Mattoon therefore was in the fashion as regards his name. Being an only son, he probably inherited much of his father's property. In 1747 he married Dorothy, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Smith, the first physician in the town and grandson of Philip Smith, whose death Cotton Mather ascribed to witchcraft. Ebenezer and his young wife settled in North Amherst, exactly where we do not know. Eight years passed, marked by the birth of two daughters, Dorothy and Elizabeth. On the farm, a part of which in 1858 was the homestead of George W. Hobart, three miles north of the center of the town, was born, Aug. 19, 1755, Ebenezer Mattoon Jr., great-grandson of Philip, the Scotch soldier, and destined himself to become a Hero of the American Revolution. Zebina Montague tells us that the house in which this son was born was torn down, but that in 1858 one built upon its site was still standing. This site is declared by an excel- lent authority to be on the south side of Pine street in •North Amherst " City," now Cushman. From this home Goodman Ebenezer Mattoon came Her Hero of the Revolutio7i i§ down on horseback over the rough and stony road with his baby five days old. In the old first meeting-house on college hill, Aug. 24, 1755, Ebenezer Jr. was christened by Rev. David Parsons. The minister took the child, dressed in its long white robe, and sprinkled water upon its face, while all the children stood on the seats that they might see the interesting ceremony. History says that infants usually cried during this ordeal. We imagine that our hero smiled into the stern face of the godly parson, showing thus early the philosophic endurance of discomfort and the sunny disposition which were predom- inant traits in his character throughout a long and hon- ored life. A stormy autumn followed this birth and baptism. In November the HampsJm-e Gazette records : ''An awful earthquake was felt in Amherst." Within the year the mother of the little Ebenezer died, leaving three children. The sturdy boy flourished, wore his Httle homespun dress, with blue and white checked linen *' tier," ate for his breakfast bread, pumpkin, berries or baked apples with milk, slept in the wooden cradle or the trundle bed, and ran bareheaded and barefooted all day long about the farm. Who made these garments, and cooked the meals, and cared for the family, we do not know. We are told that in 1759 the father married Sarah, daughter of John Alvord, of Northampton, and thus provided a step-mother for his family, in time to sew the deerskin breeches which the boy would need at an early age. 1 6 Mary Mattoon and III. THE district of Amherst was indeed a wild and lonely hamlet. Built on a broad plateau sloping to Hadley on the west and to the foot of Pelham hills on the east, its farms were as fertile as any in the Connecticut valley. The dwellers in its scattered houses raised corn, rye and barley, which was bolted by hand, and ground in the mill at Mill Hollow. Taxes and min- ister's "salleries " were paid in grain. Horses and sheep roamed in the woods on the mountain sides, but cows were under a keeper. Long and lean swine fought bears, wolves and rattlesnakes in the depths of the forest, and were allowed upon the highways only when decorated, with a yoke " as long up and down as 2\ times the depth of the neck." Flocks of geese infested the streets, and on warm days crowded into the space under the meeting- house in Old Hadley, sometimes making audible response to the service in the room above. The name of Dickinson is borne to-day by many descendants of the early Amherst farmers. Ebenezer Dickinson, the founder of the family in Amherst, was the son of Nehemiah, and grandson of Nathaniel, one of the original settlers of Hadley, who came from Wethersfield in 1659. Ebenezer's daughter Mary married in 1757 Noah Dickinson, son of Jonathan, who came to Amherst Her Hero of the Revolutio7i // from Hatfield. Their daughter, Mary, born March lo, 1758, probably in a house on the south side of Main street near the corner of East street, is the heroine of our story. The following taken from the family Bible of Noah Dickinson, now owned by his granddaughter, Mrs. Austin Street of Holyoke, is the family record : " Noah Dickinson and Mary Dickinson maryed in April ye 28 1757 Mary Dickinson born in March the 10 1758 and mar- ried the 8th of July 1779 Mother Mary Dickinson died April 13 1763 Farther Jonathan Died December ye 31, 1788 Noah Dickinson and SeusanahWard maryed in March 13 1792 Jonathan Dickinson born in May the 19 1775 Father Noah Dickinson Died May the 28th 18 15 In the eighty sicks year of his age. John Dickinson Born June 3 Third 18 17 " The little boy whom Mary Dickinson was to marry and who was to become the famous General Mattoon, who fought in the battle of Saratoga, was then about three years old, wearing his checked pinafore and eating his bread and milk on the farm in North Amherst. In 1759 Amherst, although still a district, received its present name. The Scotch-Irish settlers in Pelham used potatoes as daily food. Amherst farmers also had begun to raise potatoes, though many aristocrats thought them i8 Mary Mattoon and hardly fit to eat, and could not imagine what Josiah Pierce of Hadley intended to do with the eight bushels which he dug and put into his cellar. It is quite possible that little Mary Dickinson may have been given potatoes to eat with her milk, and if so, they agreed with her, and enabled her to withstand the cold of that first winter, clothed as she was in the thinnest of linen garments. When she was two years old her father, Noah Dickinson, went down to West street in South Amherst and ordered of James Merrick, the shoemaker, a pair of "pumps" for his little girl, for which he paid 14s. 3d. From finest lamb's wool Mary's mother knit the stockings to be worn inside the " pumps." The child's Sunday gown may have been made of India calico, printed in gay colors, cut low in the neck, with short sleeves, and outside :sleeves to tie on in cold weather. The practical training of children in those days began almost at birth. Some knitting needles were soon put into the hands of our little heroine, and she was taught the beginning of what was to be a daily task. Where she first went to school we do not know, but that she did go we are sure, for though the schooling of a girl was considered of much less importance than her instruction in household duties, yet ev«n girls were expected to learn to read and to write. The principal early schools in Amherst were kept by men, but three " scool dames " were hired to teach in the summer before little Mary was Her Hero of the Revolution ig born, and it is very probable that in some farmer's kitchen such a dame taught the child to read. The inhabitants of Amherst were scattered over many- miles, when in 1764 it was voted to build four school- houses. A controversy arose as to their location, all parents desiring them built in their own immediate neighborhood. The north schoolhouse was located at the " City." There the boy Ebenezer Mattoon, now grown large enough to wear a skin tight nankeen suit, or one of calico printed with bars running up and down, which produced the effect of a striped eel, was taught from the primer, psalter and testament, and switched with birch rods on his bare legs whenever his attention wan- dered from the dull task before him. He was, however, one of those of whom Cotton Mather said : " The Youth of this Country are verie sharp and early Ripe in their Capacities." There is no doubt but that the boy absorbed not only all the learning in the poorly printed text-books, but also all that the teachers of the day were able to impart. A child in old New England was never allowed to be idle, but to a healthy, active lad, the tasks assigned were only pleasures. To feed and milk the cows, and to care for the lambs, to catch a ride on the young colt, and to carry the corn on horseback to Mill Hollow to be ground, were pleasant features of the happy out of door life of the farmer's boy. The eldest son, and for several years the only one. 20 Mary Mattooii and young Ebenezer Mattoon became his father's companion and friend. Together they hunted in the forests along Mt. Toby, and followed tracks of bear and deer, and brought back many a fat wild turkey for the Sunday dinner. They picked up in the woods pieces of resinous pine called candlewood, to burn for light, placing them upon the flat stones in the corner of the fireplace, or carrying them down the uncertain cellar stairs when in search of apples and cider. Walnuts and hickory-nuts were gath- ered to be exchanged for groceries. In early spring father and son went into the woods, and tapped the maple trees amid the lightly falling sugar snow. What joy to the susceptible heart of the New England boy to camp out on the mountain side, and wake to see the stars through cracks in the roof of the rough shanty, and to hear the hooting of the owl from the mysterious depths of the primeval forest ! Wolves prowled about just beyond the firelight glow, and slunk away at sunrise. Wander- ing Indians from across the river visited the camp in search of a kind of liquor wrongly named " Kill-devil," and tasted curiously the boiling maple sap. But none of these visitors harmed the boy. Fearing nothing, he learned to find his way along the Indian trails, and with keen, wide open eyes gathered a store of practical knowledge, of much greater value than the finished sugar which at the close of the season was carried home to use in trade and for "sweetening." Her Hero of the Revolution 21 Sometimes the farmer and his boy found a bee tree in Hadley woods, and took from its hollow trunk a store of honey to delight the hearts of mother and the girls. Again, when game was scarce and pork low in the " powdering tub," they rode on horseback to the fishing place at Hockanum, where in 1773, forty salmon, the largest weighing between thirty and forty pounds, were caught in one day. There the river sometimes seemed so full of shad that the boatmen struck their oars against them. Sturgeon were taken with spears above the falls. Lampreys were very numerous, and were caught in the hands at night by the light of a birch-bark torch. During some of these excursions the fishermen may have passed the cabin where dwelt the family of Silvine Dupee, an Acadian from Evangeline's land, who with his wife and seven children was for five years charitably supported in Northampton. Their strange dress and their jabbering in French made these poor exiles objects of curiosity, and not a detail of all this escaped the eyes of the enquiring boy. Thus studying little from books and much from Nature, young Ebenezer Mattoon spent the days of early boy- hood. On Sundays we find him in the old church on College hill, seated beside his father in the square box pew, listening to long sermons preached by the Rev. David Parsons, and wondering if they will never end. We feel certain that he who, when a blind old man of 22 Mary Mattoon and over eighty, loved fun and practical jokes as well as did the children who were his chosen friends, was in his youth a mischievous, rollicking boy, in whose vicinity the tithing- man found it well to linger. Having sisters of his own, he probably took no especial interest in girls, yet sometimes he may have noticed seated by her mother among the women, our little maiden from East Street, with big blue eyes and serious face. All those who remember her to-day tell us that Mary Mattoon was not much of a talker and was of a reticent disposition, so we are justi- fied in believing that she was a quiet child, and therefore the more attractive to her opposite in nature. For some unknown reason Mary Dickinson was not baptized until she was eight years of age. This rite, performed Aug. lo, 1766, by Rev. David Parsons, probably took place in the old church on Sunday, and was witnessed by the assembled congregation, the six slaves then owned in town grinning from their corner in the gallery. If Eben- ezer Mattoon, now eleven years of age, had not before noticed the heroine of our story, no doubt that day he gazed with astonishment at the big girl receiving baptism like a baby. At this time both children may have been attending the school taught by Josiah Pierce of Hadley, who received for his services $5.33 each month, and " boarded round, "keep- ing also an evening " cyphering school." Teachers were paid in produce, and the parents of the children were Her Hero of the Revolution 2j obliged to furnish wood. Lead pencils and slates were unknown, and paper was scarce, which accounts for the small writing so hard to read to-day. Quills from the geese were made into pens, and homemade ink was manufactured by boiling the bark of the swamp maple in water until it became thick, and then diluting with copperas. We hope our little East Amherst girl was allowed to receive what instruction schoolmaster Pierce could give, and was not obliged, like a little girl in Hatfield, to sit on the school- house steps and learn what she could by listening to the boys who were inside. In 1769 Mr. Pierce was compelled to close his school for want of wood, and thus his work in Amherst came to an untimely end. Ebenezer, however, at fourteen years of age, had decided that he would get an education. In his own words we read: ''My studies preparatory for college were pursued under the tuition of Rev. David Parsons, the first minister of Amherst." Just when he began these studies, which were probably " pursued " as a member of the family of the learned divine, we do not know. In 1770 the family of Mattoon, which now included seven children, had moved from the " City " into a mansion, supposed to have been built by Ebenezer, Sr., on the east side of East Pleasant street. North Amherst, a short distance south of the cemetery. This large square dwelling has always been known as the Mattoon house, and is noted for the beautifully carved mantel and other 24 Mary Mattoon and wood work in the parlor, which in its day marked the proprietor as being a man of wealth and taste. He owned at this time 2 oxen, 2 horses, 4 cows, 13 sheep, 3 swine, and had £(io at interest. His personal property was worth ^20, 15s., his house and land ;^58, his real estate ;^75, IDS, amounting in all to ;^96, 5s. We learn this by consulting the tax-list, and can see why Ebenezer Mattoon, being so well off in this world's goods and having another boy Eleazer to keep him company, may have decided to educate his eldest son. We leave the latter to " pursue " his preparatory studies, and turn our attention to the little East Street girl and her training in her childhood's home. Noah Dickinson was a thrifty farmer and owned much fertile land in the part o\ the town least settled at that time. There was no church or common. Main street, laid out around a swamp where the First Congregational church now stands, could show but one dwelling between East Amherst and the center. The Dickinson house was on the South Amherst road, and here it is sup- posed Mary was born. The family afterward lived in the house on Main street still standing next to the Adams house. Close by were the tavern kept by Oliver Clapp, and Aaron Warner's house and blacksmith shop. The roads to North Amherst and to Pelham led through thick woods. From these sometimes a deer came out, and off on Pelham hills wolves howled at night- EBENEZER MATTOON. Copy of portrait in the possession of Mrs. Mary Mattoon Wolcott Clapp. Her Hero of the Revohction 2§ fall. The children in those East Street homes did not need a curfew to call them in at an early hour, for there was no temptation to linger on the dreary unlighted streets. When Mary Dickinson was twelve years old her father was more prosperous than many of his neighbors. In 1770 he owned 2 horses, 3 cows, 2 pigs and 3 oxen, personal estate worth ^15, 6s., and real estate worth £^2, 15s., the total being ;^58, is., for which he was taxed. From this we learn that although not luxurious, the home in which our little girl lived until her marriage was one of comfort. Her mother was a thrifty housewife, well versed in all old fashioned arts and crafts. She was her daughter's only teacher in all things practical and ornamental. We imagine that the school days of the little girl were early ended, for from incidents in after life we know that Noah Dickinson did not care much for education, and in those old days the father's decision was law. An old valley farmer said : " In summer the girls ought to work in the kitchen ; in winter it is too far for them to go to school." Much learning for women was considered a dangerous thing. Sir John Winthrop, in his history of New England, written in 1640, speaks of a "godly young woman of special parts, who has fallen into a sad infirm- ity, the loss of her understanding and reason, which has been growing on her divers years, by occasion of reading and writing, and had written many books." It is not 26 Mary Alattoon and probable that our heroine went crazy from too much study. The New England Primer, which Cotton Mather called " a little watering pot," may have encouraged Mary's young ideas to sprout. Opposite the letter K she read the words, " King Charles the good. No man of blood." After the Revolution her children studying the Primer, found at the letter K, " Kings and queens Are gaud}^ things." Little Mary was taught to make herself useful in the house and on the farm. She was an only child, and therefore in many cases performed tasks usually allotted to a farmer's boy. These she thoroughly enjoyed, for they took her out of doors. Little children in those days were employed in sowing seeds and in weeding the flax-fields. The three cows belonging to Noah Dickin- son roamed the woods and highways, and betrayed their hiding places by the clangor of the bells about their necks. Mr. Judd quotes, *' Toward night the lowing herd moved slowly o'er the lea," adding, " and came home. Some needed the aid of a driver." Both boys and girls delighted to drive the cows, and Mary may have driven for her father. She fed the chickens, and hunted for eggs, and helped her mother catch the geese and draw Her Hero of the Revolutio7i 2^ long stockings over their heads, and pull out the feathers to make feather-beds, and the best quills to make pens. Becoming afterwards an energetic woman, there is na doubt that as a child she loved best these out door tasks. We hope she was not made to sit in stocks, or to wear a harness or a backboard to help her stand erect, but chil- dren in those days were so precocious, so painfully anxious to be good, that, being no exception to the rule, she did as she was told. Our little maiden learned to make the hasty pudding for her father's breakfast. One or two Old Hadley fam- ilies were said to eat 365 such puddings in a year, so great was their fondness for this delicacy. She learned to knit her father's mittens and stockings, and to sew his deerskin trousers and checked linen shirts, and her own nankeen pantalets, which hung down below her frocks to the tops of her stout leather shoes. She helped her mother wash these shirts, and starch them with a starch made from potatoes. In making bread, both white and brown, raised with yeast from the settlings in the bottom of the beer-barrel, she early became expert. One housewife living in the days before the Revolution was said to have made "20 large cheeses in a given time from the milk of one cow, besides drying several bushels of apples." Her husband said of her : " She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. She reacheth forth her hand to her needy 28 Mary Mattoon and friends and neighbors. I owe my health to the vigilance, industry and care of my wife. For the constant assiduity and press of her daily and painful labor in the kitchen, the great Lord of the Household will reward her in due time." If Noah Dickhison's "3 cows" were each equal to the one owned by this woman, Mary and her mother may have made sixty "large cheeses," to say nothing of dried apples. As, in addition to her other virtues, the house- wife before mentioned was a "nonesuch gardener,%vorking bravely in her garden," so doubtless our mother and her daughter did their share of work among the cabbages and turnips. Mr. Judd says that Hadley women usually had a little plot of flowers in front of their dwellings. So we love to think that Mary, when the duties of the day were done, weeded the sweet-williams and marigolds in front of the East Street dwelling, dreaming the while dreams com- mon to happy girlhood the world over. We certainly know that there in that old house this Amherst girl of olden time learned thoroughly to weave and spin and knit and sew. She practiced all domestic avocations so cheerfully and perfectly that in after life she became a notable housewife. Her famous husband was proud to fill his home with guests, that they might taste the prod- ucts of her skill and envy him the possession of such a domestic treasure. But no suggestion of this had entered the mind of the little girl whom we have seen working Her Hero of the Revolution 2g among her flowers, and who, though well grown in height, was but a child at heart. Young Oliver Clapp married EHzabeth Mattoon, and brought her to live near by in the tavern. Her brother Ebenezer, fitting for college with Rev. David Parsons, sometimes came down to see his sister, and to taste the famous " flip " for mixing which she afterM^ard became noted. It maybe that by means of this casual acquaint- ance the child, Mary Dickinson, was transformed into a woman, and the romance was begun through which Ebenezer Mattoon was to become " her hero of the Revolution." IV. OUR forefathers considered it their first duty to Christianize and civilize the Indians. The Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, son of a Connecticut farmer, a graduate of Yale in 1733 and a follower of Jonathan Edwards, when settled in " Lebanon Crank," pondered this subject and discussed it with his friend Whitefield and other revivalists of the time of the "great awakening." To eke out his meager salary Mr. Wheelock devoted part of his leisure to preparing boys for college. Samson JO Mary Mat toon and Occum, a Mohegan Indian from the tribe near New Lon- •don, was received as a pupil into his home. This associ- ation deepened his interest in the subject of Indian edu- cation, and he conceived the idea of removing Indian chil- dren from their unciviHzed surroundings, and educating them with English youth, that they might become mission- aries to their own people. Through manifold exertions Mr. Wheelock established " The Indian Charity School in America," near the present site of Willimantic. Joseph Brant, the brother of Sir William Johnson's Indian wife, was a pupil. Whitefield provided a schoolhouse. Ben- edict Arnold sent a gift of money. Walter Scott of Edin- burgh sent five dollars. To reach the distant tribes, how- ever, it was necessary to remove into the Indian country. Wheelock applied for land on the Susquehanna, and made desperate attempts to secure a permanent location and a charter. Samson Occum, the Indian, who had developed a genius for preaching, was sent to England to raise money for the school. He preached in London before the king, and through England and Scotland, and in John Wesley's foundry, and the power of his eloquence secured ■generous gifts. Governors of the different states, upon whom he had unsuccessfully urged the claims of his project before a fund had been obtained, now were willing to listen to Wheelock's plans. The definite promise of a charter in New Hampshire, however, decided the matter. Ex-Gov- Her Hero of the Revolution Ji ernor Wentworth conveyed to the trustees his "500 acre lott " in the southwest corner of Hanover. In little more than six weeks the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock had taken up his abode upon this " lott," in a cabin in the wilderness. The site of the prospective college in 1770 is thus described : ''- A choice tract of land of more than 3300 acres, which butts upon the Falls in the river, called White River Falls, and is the only place convenient for a bridge across the Connecticut river, it being but 8 rods wide, with well elevated rocks for abutments on each side and on a straight line from Portsmouth to Crown Point, to which is a good road." From this place, described by a disappointed claimant as " a town where boards can't be sawed or bread raised," Wheelock joyfully sent out this advertisement, Aug. 23, 1770: "My Indian Charity school is now become a body corporate and politic, under the name of Dartmouth College." Sept. 16, 1770, Madam Wheelock and family, riding in an English coach, accompanied by a party of students on foot, set out from Lebanon on their arduous journey into the New Hampshire wilderness. They passed through the Connecticut valley, fording the rivers and making a path with the greatest difficulty through the woods. They reached their destination safely. Madam Wheelock found her future home to be a log cabin built without stone, brick, glass or nails, and furnished with beds made of hemlock boughs. This home was located in the midst of ^2 Mary Mattooji and one thousand acres of white pine forest. The rocky- knob on which the observatory now stands was densely covered with trees of hard wood, and the ground was hidden with a thick carpet of moss. The southeast por- tion of the tract was a hemlock swamp. The historian says : " A more solitary and romantic situation can sel- dom be found. The howling of wild beasts and the plaintive notes of the owl greatly added to the gloominess of the night season." The heart of Madam Wheelock may have failed her, but the fact is not recorded. A terrible plague of worms had destroyed the crops the preceding summer, leaving nothing but pumpkins, on which the pioneers mostly subsisted, their other scanty provisions having to be carried from Northfield and Northampton, through snow which for months that first season was four feet deep. June 12, 1772, ice formed an inch thick by the college door. The work of education, however, went bravely on. The first commencement grad- uated a class of four. The exercises were held in the open air, on a platform of logs, ascended by a single hemlock plank. Scorning this primitive stage, one of the Indian students delivered an oration in his native language from the bough of an overhanging pine tree. We do not know why Ebenezer Mattoon of Hadley Third Precinct, having finished his preparation with Rev. David Parsons, ignored the claims of Harvard and Yale, and selected this new college in the northern woods for Her Hero of the Revolution jj his Alma Mater. The fact that another Amherst boy David Kellogg, son of Daniel Kellogg, was already a student in the institution, having entered in the class of 1775, indicates that through him word may have come to town of the advantages at Dartmouth. There is no doubt that our candidate was well prepared according to the standard of those days. On horseback and alone, a boy of seventeen, he made the journey, and in company with ten Indians from Canada entered the class of 1776. That winter also food was scarce, and much had to be transported more than one hundred miles. So urgent was the need for fodder, which had to be brought forty miles on sleds by oxen, that President Wheelock, as Jus- tice of the Peace, gave men a warrant to travel on Sunday. In the intervals of study the students were expected to work upon the farm. They paid for board 6s. 6d. each week, and provided their own utensils, buying all needed articles in a general store in one of the buildings. The college boys cut logs, which were floated down the river to Springfield, where they were sold, and thus the scanty income of the institution was increased. The president of the college was revered by all, and exercised over his students a truly parental authority. In 1773 the roof of his log house became so leaky that rain came through upon his papers. " E. Mattoon," now a sophomore, volunteered to help build the new house. In after life he told how the frames, made of heavy tim- 3 j^ Mary Mattoon and bers, were raised with a united effort. One of these came ver}/ near falHng, and those beneath held it until help came, though blood was forced from their nostrils. A certain John Ledyard of Hartford entered college with young Mattoon, driving to Hanover in a sulky, on which he transported a quantity of cloth, and other para- phernalia of the theatre, that he might indulge his fond- ness for "play-acting," while fitting himself to be a mis- sionary to the Indians. There was no college bell, and the freshmen were obliged to take turns in blowing on a conch shell to call the students together. Ledyard con- sidered this duty degrading and ran away, only to return and try again, but his haughty spirit could not endure the ordeal to which he was subjected. Mattoon, always ready for anything exciting, helped Ledyard fell one of the fCnormous pines on the river bank, and from it they dug out a canoe fifty feet long and three feet wide. Together they built a shelter of willow twigs in one end of the ■boat and confiscated a bear skin and some venison. Then, seeing his friend supplied with a copy of Ovid and a Greek testament, Mattoon cheerfully helped him launch upon the stream, which bore him through the wilderness to Hartford, one hundred and forty miles below. Our hero, though quite willing to assist another in this fool- hardy enterprise, was not tempted to embark himself. He was in college for quite another purpose, although perfectly willing to engage in any kind of labor. Her Hero of the Revolution J5 In 1839, when a blind old man, General Mattoon visited Dartmouth College, and desired to be led to the river- bank, that he might lay his hands upon the stump from which he helped to cut the tree more than sixty-five years before. The pathetic scene was long remembered and is mentioned in the history of the college. In 1774 Dartmouth possessed a library and a college hall, and other improvements were soon added. This year Ebenezer received a legacy of ;^53, 6s., 8d., from Nathaniel Smith, his maternal grandfather, and this no doubt assisted him to pay his college expenses. We find no record as to his standing among his classmates, but believe that he studied, as he did everything else, faithfully and well. The Indian students, however, were not agreeable companions. We read : " They interrupted our studies. They were still no longer than the school lasted, and all the rest of the time they were hollowing and making all manner of noise." DARTMOUTH college was dependent upon supplies from England, but in spite of this fact President Wheelock and the students sympathized heartily with the growing desire for independence on the part of ^6 Mary Mattoon and the colonies. We do not know how many times Ebenezer Mattoon went home during his four college years, or how much he heard of the committee of correspondence appointed in Amherst, and of the preparations for war. The Rev. David Parsons may have attempted to instill his Tory doctrines into the boy's mind while teaching him Latin and Greek. That he completely failed in this is proved by the fact that when young Ebenezer did come home, in April, 1775, and the news came of the Lexington alarm, he hastened to enlist as a private in Captain Dickinson's company, and spent part of his vacation in Cambridge with the soldiers. Those were exciting times for the ardent young patriot, who, though not engaged in any battles, yet lived for a month in an atmosphere of war. Lieutenant Noah Dickinson, father of Mary, also led a company to Cambridge at the time of the alarm. Though the minute-men were soon dis- banded, many of them returned home only to enlist for a longer time. Ebenezer, the father, went with Captain Dickinson to Lexington, and was gone eleven days. Another company commanded by Captain Reuben Dick- inson is said to have been in the battle of Bunker Hill, though not in the intrenchments. We wonder that after having had a taste of army life, our college boy returned at all to Dartmouth, and we honor the determination which led him back into those northern woods to finish his course. Her Hero of the Revolution j/ An old resident of Amherst remembers hearing Gen- eral Mattoon, in the last years of his life, say : " They tell me that the days of the Revolution tried men's souls, but I say that they tried the souls of women also." The truth of this became apparent even in the beginning of the conflict. The peaceful life in Amherst homes was now at an end, and all the best and bravest men were hurrying to Boston. Upon the boys and women devolved the support of the families left behind. When we consider the hard work required to carry on a household in those primitive times, we feel increased respect for the heroic women who toiled in the fields with the cattle, that the men might fight for the freedom of the land. It is probable that Ebenezer Mattoon renewed his acquaintance with Mary Dickinson during that summer of 1775, but of this we know nothing. He returned to college, and continued his studies until the spring of 1776, his senioryear. We read Mattoon's own words as follows : " In the spring of '76, after examination for degrees, I obtained permission of the faculty to go to Canada and engage in the Revolutionary Army, receiving a promise that our degrees should be regularly conferred. Soon after my arrival in Canada, I received a lieutenant's com- mission and performed the duties of an adjutant for that year. The next year I was lieutenant in the artillery in the northern campaign, and was in St. Clair's retreat from Ticonderoga and in the hard-fought battles and capture of Burgoyne. Continuing in the army I was in the battle fought by General Sullivan on Rhode Island." J 8 Mary Mat to on and This outline of his three years service as an officer in the Revolution is supplemented by the details of his application for a pension, which he made in 1830, when, seventy-six years old, for about thirteen years he had been totally blind. This application tells us that he served but four months as a private, and that at the close of the campaign he returned to Ticonderoga, where he was dis- charged. After he came home he was chosen lieutenant in the state militia. He enlisted again in the army April I, 1777, as lieutenant, and after the retreat of General St. Clair, of which he speaks, he was detached into Cap- tain Furnald's company of artillery, where he served dur- ing the rest of the campaign. He returned to Amherst Jan. I, 1778, after Burgoyne's capture. In April, 1778, he again enlisted as lieutenant, and with forty men marched to Providence, where he joined Captain Lamb's Company, of Colonel Wade's regiment. He continued with that division until discharged in January, 1779. One month in Cambridge and four months in Canada as a private soldier, two years and three months as a lieu- tenant in 1776, 1777 and 1778, is the record of his ser- vice. His commission as adjutant was signed by Lieu- tenant Colonel Wait. His other commissions, all of which are lost, were granted by the state and were signed by the council. Ebenezer Mattoon came home to Amherst in January, 1779, a veteran of the Revolution at the age of twenty- Her Hero of the Revolution jp three. He told the story of the battle of Saratoga with the authority of one who knew whereof he spoke, and he settled once for all the disputed point as to who killed General Frazier, The names of General Lincoln and Benedict Arnold were often on his lips. The diploma granted by Dartmouth would ordinarily have caused its owner to be respected as a college graduate, but the importance of this was entirely overshadowed by the lieu- tenant's commission which the young soldier bore, and by the glory of his achievements in the northern cam- paign. Many Amherst men had been in the war, and many were still fighting, but none so young had made so brillant a record. The story of the surrender of Burgoyne, as witnessed by Lieutenant Mattoon, was many times repeated by the youthful officer. His account of the battle may be found in the Hartford Coicra?it, of Jan. ii, 1836. As long as he lived. General Mattoon took delight in repeating the fact that, obeying orders from General Gates, he rode from Amherst to Springfield on a Sunday, and conveyed several cannon from the arsenal to where they did good service on the battle-field of Saratoga. He returned to Amherst not only covered with glory, but bearing on his face some indications of small-pox, an unseen enemy met and conquered amid the rigors of a Canadian winter. After the capture of Burgoyne, the Americans replaced their old-fashioned cannon with the modern guns taken ^o Mary Mattoon and from the enemy, and the former were given to officers in the army. An old iron field-piece, a six pounder, fell to the share of Lieutenant Mattoon, who brought it home as a souvenir. These cannon, furnished in early days to the colonists by England, had done good service in the French and Indian war. It is quite possible that this venerable relic, so long the chief feature of Fourth-of-July celebrations in East Street, in ages past may have per- formed its part in winning some of England's famous victories. Lieutenant Ebenezer Mattoon, in his worn continental uniform, bringing home the historic cannon as a relic for the town, received a hearty welcome from his neighbors and friends. To the boys crowding about he told how his squad was encamped on one side of a small stream, and his men watched the British on the other side cook- ing their evening meal in a kettle over the camp fire. A gun was fired at the kettle, sending its contents flying in every direction, thus giving the redcoats a surprise. Again, near Saratoga, he found himself with a small party greatly outnumbered by the enemy. Instead of surren- dering at their command, he ordered his only gun fired thirteen times in succession, and thus cut his way through to safety. Many stories like these he delighted to tell in after years, and persons are living to-day who remember how his eyes would twinkle, and how he would shake with laughter, as he described his youthful antics. ^ o I ^ .a Her Hero of the Revolution 41 About the time of his discharge, some artist painted a miniature of the young lieutenant in uniform. The picture is owned to-day by his great-granddaughter, Mrs. Edith Wolcott Davis. It came to her through her motlier, Mrs. Wolcott, who had received it from her mother, Mary Mattoon Dwight, the daughter of the General, who lived with him for many years in East Amherst. The copy of the picture shows us the young soldier as he appeared about 1779, at the most interesting time, when, as he says, he "left the army, returned to Amherst, and was married to Mary Dickinson." VI. THE Rev. David Parsons had become so bitter a Tory that we are not surprised to find no record of the marriage in his handwriting. The ardent young patriot would hardly go to him for such a service. The ceremony may have been performed by a magistrate as was customary. It may be that Mary Dickinson put on her poke-bonnet, mounted her Narragansett pacer, and rode over to Hadley or Northampton, there to become Mary Mattoon. Her husband paid 6s. as the wedding fee. We know that the marriage was July 8, 1779. The bride's heart must have swelled with pride, as she 42 Mary Mattooii a7id realized that her hero had not forgotten her through all the vicissitudes of college and army life, and had come back to make her his wife, and to settle down upon an Amherst farm. She was at this time twenty-one and he was twenty-four. Her grandchildren remember her in middle life as tall and straight and slim, with large blue eyes and jet black hair. From this we can imagine how the bride appeared upon her wedding day. Members of the family believe that on the occasion of her marriage Noah Dickinson gave his daughter the East Street farm. This may be possible, though no deed of gift can be found. Whether, if this be true, the house in which she and her husband afterward lived was then standing, and the young couple took up their abode there at once, we cannot determine. It is probable that they found somewhere a temporary home, and that the bridegroom built the mansion which, with its wide spread- ing wings on either side, was for many years the most pretentious house in town. Here for the remainder of her life Mary Mattoon devoted herself to her husband and his interests, in her quiet, unobtrusive way, furnish- ing the foundation upon which rested his social and political success. She was the power within the home, a type of the New England matron of the olden time, whose descendants rise up and call her blessed. We find that Ebenezer Mattoon had a license as a " retailer," so he may have assisted Oliver Clapp in his Her Hero of the Revolution 4J- tavern. He was a member of a committee to lay out highways, and travelled about old Hampshire County choosing locations for the roads which now connect the valley towns and over many of which we hear the whizz, of trolley cars. Our soldier farmer was also a school teacher. About 1862 his granddaughter, Mrs. Wolcott, was visiting in Goshen, and there met a very old man^ who had been in his boyhood a pupil of General Mattoon. He told her that as a master the General thoroughly commanded the respect of his pupils and was very popu- lar with them, entering into their sports, and showing much ingenuity in suggesting new games. When play- time ended he was again the teacher. As he was obeyed by his soldiers so was he by the boys in the district school. Wherever we find him he appears as a leader,. whom many were ready to follow. The square white house embowered in trees, now the home of its owner, Olney P. Gaylord, presented a very different appearance when Mary Mattoon presided within its precincts. The year after her marriage her husband had been called to represent the town in the General Court, and in 1782 he was made a Justice of the Peace. This office he held until 1796. From the rank of Cap- tain he had risen to be Major, Colonel, Brigadier-General and Major-General of the 4th Division Militia of the Commonwealth. Many unexpected honors had been bestowed upon him. In 1792 he had been a member of 44 Mary Mat to on and the electoral college for the re-election of Washington, and in 1796 he had assisted in the election of Adams. This same year he was appointed Sheriff of old Hampshire County, which then included nearly the whole of Western Massachusetts. Thus, seventeen years after her marriage, we find our heroine the wife of the most distinguished man in Amherst, and mistress of a mansion second to none in size and elegance of furniture and adornment. The maples planted by the bridegroom shaded the portico from the western sun. Commodious parlors situated on either side of the square front hall accommodated the family and the transient guests. In the center of the house was the great stone chimney, with capacious fire- places, which devoured great logs of oak and maple and ever yawned for more. The common living room, which extended nearly the length of the house, was also the workroom in which the spinning-wheel of the mistress sang its daily song, and in the convenient kitchen at the back of the house the deep brick oven sent forth the products of her skill. The porch in the rear commanded a view of Pelham hills. On each side of the house was built a wing, each con- taining a single room, that on the south being used for a parlor, while the one on the north served as a dining room. Each of these state apartments required about fifty yards of carpet to cover its floor. Of the method of Her Hero of the Revohtiion ^5 making carpets by sewing together and then weaving strips of new woollen cloth left from the men's clothing, a former resident of old Hadley writes : " The older girls assisted in spinning the warp .... Mother com- menced to color the yarn green, red, blue, yellow and some black, for the beauty of the carpet depended upon the yarn, as the cloth which we cut and sewed together only served for filling." " Mother " would then arrange the threads in the " harness and reed," in such a manner •' that all the colors were thrown on the top and made a very handsome stripe." So possibly the carpets in the state dining room and parlor of the Mattoon house were made by " mother " and "the girls," though they may have been brought from abroad. Mrs. Bardwell, great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Mat- toon who married Oliver Clapp, writes thus concerning the old house : " I think there was no home in western Massachusetts conducted with more style than General Mattoon's pre- vious to the time when he lost his eyesight. I well remem- ber the old dining room with its carved woodwork, and its large sideboard on which always stood two decanters with their glasses, well filled according to the customs of those days." The sideboard mentioned may now be seen in the home of Joseph M. Kellogg. Opening from the dining room were wine closets with loaded shelves, which contributed to the sideboard when ^6 Mary Mattoon and occasion required. A china closet near at hand contained the quaint tea set now owned by Mrs. Lane, and other valuable dishes. Thirty-six dining chairs stood ready for the guests, and three dozen knives and forks and plates, with fourteen silver teaspoons and six tablespoons, proved Mistress Mattoon to have been well provided with luxurious table furnishings. In the house were five " fall leaf tables " and nine looking-glasses, and some of these may have been in the dining room. There is no doubt but that the "6 Decanters, 12 wine glasses and i demi- jon " of which we have record, were in the wine closet ready for instant use. At one end of the state parlor, separated from each other by a window, were hung two large and expensive mirrors in gilt frames. This room contained one " sopha," and chairs with long legs and stuffed seats. One of these, together with a card table and a chest for linen, is owned by Miss Conkey of Amherst. Upon the wall hung two pictures, a " Washington family Picture," and " The death of Gen. Wolf." Some of the " 4 pr brass hand Irons " in the house may have been in the fire-place, and possibly the " 50 vol of books" owned by the General were in a bookcase on the wall. Three card tables stood ready for the evening game of whist. The seventeen years that had passed since Ebenezer Mattoon married Mary Dickinson brought to their home tsix children, two of whom died in their infancy. In the Her Hero of the RevoliLtioii ^7 West cemetery we find two little graves with these inscriptions : " In memory of Fanny E. daughter of Ebenezer Mat- toon, Jr. and Mrs. Mary Mattoon who died January ye 28, An Don 1790, in the 2nd year of her age :" " In memory of Fanny Mattoon 2nd, daughter of Eben- ezer Mattoon Jr. Esq. and M. C. and Mary Mattoon, who died Sep ye i, 1792, in the 3rd year of her age." The eldest daughter, Mary Dickinson, born April 4, 1780, was but eighteen months old when September 29, 1 78 1, Ebenezer, 3d., appeared upon the scene. Two more years elapsed, and Noah Dickinson, named from the grandfather, was added to the little family, and two more years brought Dorothy Smith, the namesake of the wife of Dr. Nathaniel Smith. If little "Fanny" and "Fanny 2nd " had not died, there would have been living six chil- dren under ten years of age. We know that the death of these two babies brought deepest sorrow to the mother's heart. We can imagine that her time was fully occupied during these first few years, and that she had ample opportunity to put into practice all the lessons in housewifery which she had learned before her marriage. Her husband, though in comfortable circumstances, was not rich. It is said that he was a successful farmer, but it is hard to see what time he had to be a farmer at all. He bought of Noah Dickinson fifty additional acres of land, and straightway accepted numerous public offices which called him off to 48 Mary Mattoon and Boston. He seemed to feel quite sure that the mistress at home would run the farm, pay the hired help, and look after all the children, and protect his interests. His confidence was not misplaced, for Mary did all this and more. Wolves were common in Amherst as late as 1787, but Ebenezer's sheep were not molested. Crows and blackbirds were a nuisance to the farmer, but Ebenezer's corn was not pulled up. The master was doubtless abroad on public business when the bear was killed in Hadley and drawn through the streets on a load of corn, but the mistress was in charge at home, and no bear, real or imaginary, disturbed the family or farm of Ebenezer Mattoon, Jr.,- Esq. and M. C. Five years before, in 1 79 1, Mary had lost the mother who had been her close companion during her girlhood. Ten months later her father had married " Seusanah " Ward, and now in 1796 she had a little half-brother, Jonathan. Thus changes had taken place in her immediate family, while other important events were occurring throughout the town. VH. UNTIL the death of Rev. David Parsons, the Tory minister, those who had won the battles in the Revolution had listened with what patience they could to his preaching. When he died, and it was found '■H FIRST MEETING HOUSE, EAST STREET. Fro}n History of Amherst^ Mass. Her Hero of the RevolMtion ^g that many in the church favored the settlement over the church of his son David Parsons, as rank a Tory as him- self, Ebenezer Mattoon felt that this could not be allowed. He invited those who sympathized with him in this feel- ing to meet in his East Street home to discuss the matter. Nov. 12, 1782, twenty-two "aggrieved brethren," known as " Captain Mattoon's Council," met and organized the Second Church of Amherst. Ebenezer Mattoon was clerk and treasurer for the first year. A special commit- tee measured from every man's door to find the center of the parish, decided on a spot about in the middle of the common, southeast of where the present church stands, and provided a barrel of rum and other refreshments for the raising. November, 1783, the meeting-house was finished. The first religious service was held Feb. 15, 1784, and the next year Rev. Ichabod Draper became the pastor. Obedient doubtless to the wish of her husband, Aug. 28, 1785, Mary Mattoon marshalled her little flock, Mary and Ebenezer, Noah Dickinson and Dorothy Smith, over to the church, and there together they were baptized. The baby Dorothy was at this time but two months old. There were now five taverns and eight rum sellers in Amherst and it would seem that two churches were none too many. Until disabled by age and infirmity Ebenezer Mattoon never failed to serve the church which he had founded. As parish committee year after year he kept the parson 4 JO Mary Maitoon and from freezing by carrying out the directions of the town fathers regarding his wood. In 1809 he was the moder- ator of the meeting which voted "that it is of the opinion of this parish that the Rev. Mr. Draper's Infirmities are such as to render him in a great measure Incapable of performing his ministerial Duties." He also acted as chairman of the committee which waited on Mr. Draper to inform him of this vote, with instructions that they would pay him salary and wood for a stated time, if he would leave at once. On almost every page of the old record books the name of Ebenezer Mattoon appears. In 1801 he was a member of the " Comity " to examine the old " meating-house " with a view to repairs, and again in 1806 he presided when the question " to see if the parish will repair the meating-house by painting it over again " was discussed. It was not his fault that this was " negatived." He assisted when they raised the sum of ^30 for "Musick," and also when the church bought a bass viol and "mended the same." In fact he followed in his father's footsteps, and though not a deacon, he v/as truly a pillar in the church. Hard times followed the Revolution. The state, being bankrupt, was compelled to raise money by taxing the towns, v.hich were unable to respond to such demands. Every one was in debt, lawsuits abounded, and lawyers flourished. Mobs gathered in the towns and prevented the sitting of the courts, and a party of men from Amherst Her Hero of the Revolution 5/ assisted in one such riot in Northampton. Daniel Shays, a Revolutionary officer, organized a rebellion, and many Amherst men enrolled under his banner. Next door to the home of Mary Mattoon stood the old Clapp tavern, once the place of entertainment of some of Burgoyne's officers, who were prisoners on their way to Boston. In this tavern gathered the conspirators against the newly formed government. We are not surprised that Ebenezer Mattoon, now Justice of the Peace, stood firm against the rebels, although his brother-in-law, Oliver Clapp, was secretly a friend of Shays. These were exciting days in Amherst and the adjoining hamlet of Pelham. There, in the old Conkey tavern, the rebellion was planned, and in the open space before its door Daniel Shays drilled his men in the manual of arms. Ebenezer Mattoon served with the Amherst com- pany which defended the arsenal in Springfield, and stood by the side of General Shepard on that occasion, though many of his lifelong friends were among the insur- gents. After the insurrection v/as subdued he was one of the justices before whom appeared over a hundred Amherst citizens to take the oath of allegiance. Together with other notorious rebels Henry McCulloch of Pelham, a boyhood friend of Ebenezer Mattoon, was tried for high treason. In early life a compact of mutual assistance in case of need had been made between the two men. Now General Mattoon wrote to Lieutenant Governor Gushing ^2 Mary Mattoon and to this effect : " I have suffered much in person and prop- erty by these people. I have been obHged to remove my family to a neighboring town for shelter. Notwithstand- ing all this, I must beg for McCulloch. I cannot express my feelings on this subject, but am sure McCulloch is not the person to make an example of." The petition pre- vailed, but not, it is said, until a rope was put about the prisoner's neck on the scaffold. McCulloch was ruined, and for many years trudged over Pelham hills to the Mattoon home with a bag upon his shoulder, returning loaded with provisions for himself and his family. Eben- ezer Mattoon was constant in friendship. We are glad to learn that Mary and the children were removed to a neighboring town for shelter. The insurgents did much damage on their march and the pursuing army found that most of the Amherst men had followed the rebels to Pel- ham, leaving the women and children unprotected. To which " neighboring town " Mary Mattoon was removed, and how she ever managed upon her return to reconstruct her household, we can but imagine. There is no record as to the part which Amherst women played in Shays' rebellion. No doubt a war of words expressed the feelings of those connected v^^ith the con- tending parties. Mary Mattoon, not being " much of a talker" probably thought much of these matters, and said little. Her father being impetuous and very patri- otic, was prevented by his wife from shooting Daniel Her Hero of the Revolution 5J Shays as he passed the house. The daughter, sympa- thizing with both husband and father, went about her daily toil, and pondered these things in her heart. Her talents as a manager were more and more called into action and her strength of character developed as time went on. The record of Ebenezer Mattoon's public service shows him to have been called to many offices which required good judgment and a knowledge of affairs. In 1779 he was a member of the committee appointed to build the new jail in Northampton, and 1801 found him consider- ing plans for a new court house. The heart of Mary Mattoon again swelled with pride when, in 1801, her hero was elected to Congress by a large majority. This was indeed an honor ! His wife, being manager and representative at home, could not accompany him to Wash- ington, but she could minister to his welfare by training his boys and girls, by conducting the affairs of her household in a manner befitting the wdfe of so great a man, and by looking sharply after the industries carried on upon the farm. Meantime the Amherst member in Congress, being an old school Federalist, followed the dictates of his conscience, and in the Jefferson campaign threw his influence in favor of Aaron Burr, whom he con- sidered to be the better man. Her great-grandson, Ithamar Cowles, says of Mary Mattoon : " My grandmother was a person of great firm- 5^ Mary Mattooji and ness of character and had a deal of independence for a woman of those times." The truth of this statement is illustrated by an anecdote concerning her, told by Justus Dwight to his daughter, who is still living. " When Major Mattoon was gone to the war, his wife being alone with her children, heard some one in the room overhead. She immediately caught up a broom and went to see who was the intruder. She found a strange man and ordered him to get out of the house. Overawed, he said, ' You will let me go dov;n and out of the door, won't you ?' With a flourish of her broom, she exclaimed, ' No, you vnW go out the same way you came in.' " The war mentioned was probably the Shay's Rebellion. It is fortunate that the wife of General Mattoon was possessed of those qualities which enabled her to manage alike both farm and household during the absence of the master, who for twenty years performed the duties of High Sheriff of old Hampshire County. This was the largest county in the state, extending from Vermont to Connecti- cut, including Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin of to-day. There were no deputies at first, and the office of High Sheriff, though a position of honor and emolument, yet involved much responsibility and prolonged absence from home. Sometimes the Sheriff rode a hundred miles a day over the hills of Western Massachusetts. Mary's courageous heart must have rejoiced to see him Her Hero of the Revolution ^^ come down the road on horseback after one of these lonely journeys. He wore a sword and a miUtary hat with a cUister of ostrich-feathers. This hat, minus the feathers, has been presented to the Mary Mattoon Chap- ter, and is one of the greatest treasures in its rooms. Thougli a man of war, the General had a loving, tender heart. In 1806 two murderers, Halligan and Daly, were sentenced to death. The High Sheriff by virtue of his office, was obliged to officiate at the execution. The night before, he walked the floor in his East Street home in great distress of mind. A neighbor, seeing his trouble? offered to do the business for him for five dollars. The General indignantly exclaimed, "Would you take a man's life for five dollars ?" He is also said to have remarked : " I will never give a thing which it is my duty to do to any one else to do for me." Strict integrity, devotion to duty, power of self-command in his command over others, joined to a sympathetic nature which shrank from giving pain to the smallest creature, were the qualities which characterized the hero of Mary Mattoon. The execution proceeded. A great crowd gathered. Accompanied by his mounted aids, with pistols in hol- sters, in all the bravery of sword and uniform and "chapeau bras," Sheriff Mattoon rode to Northampton on his finest horse, and performed his difficult duty. With prudent forethought he had stationed an armed squad of soldiers to guard against a rescue, and this danger was ^6 Mary Mattoon and averted. Imposing indeed was the appearance of the High Sheriff as he passed along the road ! Zebina Montague tells us : " For many years his name was used by fond mamas, who said to refractory children, ' Behave, or I will send for General Mattoon.' " Yet we imagine that this stern and conscientious administrator of justice, after the law was vindicated, unnerved by what he had felt to be a terrible task, went home for comfort, and that she whose heart had followed him through the day did not fail him in this extremity. Mary Mattoon must have taken her father-in-law into her home, after the death of his wife in 1803. A histo- rian says of General Mattoon: "The writer was at his house when it was the home of three Ebenezer Mattoons, his father, himself and grandson, and Feb. 19, 1814, the birth of a great-grandson made the fourth of the same name in direct succession." This great-grandson was the son of Mary, the General's eldest daughter, who married Daniel Dwight. In April, 1806, the old man Ebenezer died. Having previously given them their portion, at his death he left to each of his five daughters five shillings (eight3^-three cents), and to his son Ebenezer he gave the remainder of his personal property, including twenty-five acres of land in East Street, and also land in Pelham. This brought more means with which to pay the family expenses, but with it came more responsibility. About this time an artist of great skill painted the por- SWORD PRESENTED TO EBENEZER MATTOON WHEN HE WAS ADJUTANT GENERAL. FURNITURE FORMERLY IN THE MATTOON HOUSE, EAST AMHERST. Owned by Ithaviar C. Cowlcs. Her Hero of the Revolution 57 traits of the master and mistress as they appeared in their East Street home. Who this painter was we do not know. The General is dressed as a private citizen, and his mild and pleasant face does not even suggest the fierce High Sheriff, used as a bugbear to frighten children. This picture of Mary Mattoon is the only one known to have been made. The original oil paintings are owned by the General's great-granddaughter, Mrs. Mary Mattoon Clapp, granddaughter of Daniel Dwight. Here we see the mistress of the East Street mansion as we have imagined her. Early in life she donned the tall white cap, as was the custom of matrons of that day. Her face, though placid, is cast in an heroic mould, and its lines bear witness to the strenuous life which she had led. We do not readily forget the steadfast gaze of those " large, beautiful, dark blue eyes " which look out from the picture as they did at Ebenezer Mattoon, winning his impressionable heart and holding it true during fifty-six years of married life. Our heroine appears, a stately figure in her short-waisted black silk gown and white kerchief, a typical New England dame of the olden time. Thus, doubtless, was Mary Mattoon at the wed- ding when, in 1807, her daughter Mary married Daniel Dwight, with whom she went to live in Westmoreland, N. H. Her son Ebenezer, in 1804, had married Lucina Mayo. Noah Dickinson, the youngest boy, had followed in his father's footsteps. He entered Dartmouth at sev- §8 Mary Mattooii ajtd enteen, graduated with honor in 1803, married Lucy Bil- lings and began to practice law in Amherst. Now Mary- was to leave her home and go into the northern wilder- ness. The capacious dining room and parlor in the East Street house were well suited to accommodate wedding guests, and there the marriage was probably held. We know that many servants were required to carry on the work of so large an establishment as that of Mistress Mary Mattoon. Two of her servants Mrs. Bardwell has described for us: " Jeptha Pharaoh, father of the late William Pharaoh, was valet or body guard for the General, and very proud was he of his uniform. His wife Peggy was an assistant to Mrs. Mattoon. She spun her linen, and helped in various ways in household duties. I have now a knot of flax which she prepared ready for the distaff of Mrs. Mattoon, who was a notable housewife^ well filling Solomon's ideal of a virtuous woman. Peggy was a descendant of an Indian chieftain, and alas, loved the contents of the decanters too well ! When her appetite was gratified she was very happy. She would then announce herself as ''Margaret Sashwampee Pharaoh, an Indian Chief's daughter." We like to think that old Jeptha waited upon the guests at Mary's wedding, and that Peggy was " very happy " without the aid of the decanters. The knot of flax men- tioned is now the property of the Mary Mattoon Chapter, the sole article in its possession known to have belonged to the chapter heroine. Her Hero of the Revolution §g For many years General Mattoon was the most popular militia officer in Western Massachusetts. The boys of that day thought him tall. A printed record says : " He was below medium height, compactly built, straight as an arrow, and when mounted on one of his fine horses made a splendid appearance." His home was constantly filled with visitors. Distinguished men from Boston, members of the Legislature, and even the Governor were his guests. Sometimes his friends took the family by sur- prise, and the mistress was always expected to be ready. One legislator, thinking that the country so far from Bos- ton must be a v/ilderness, asked if he should take his gun, but upon arriving at the Mattoon homestead he was overcome with mortification to see the style and elegance with which he was entertained by the dignified host and hostess. A party of officials planned an unexpected visit. Learning this by chance, the General sent men to hunt on the mountain, and Mary taxed herself and the servants to the utmost to get up a fine dinner. The guests expressed astonishment, at Vv^hich the General replied, with a twinkle in his eye, that he hoped next time they would let him know they were coming, that he might make fit preparation. General Mattoon was full of fun and jollity, and loved young people, and Mary loved to see him happy. Therefore a bevy of attractive young ladies, nieces and other relatives, and friends of Dorothy before her marriage, frequented the East Street home, and all were welcome. 6o Mary Mattoon and Woman's work in Amherst was somewhat easier now. Levi Dickinson in Hadle}^ had initiated the industry of making brooms from broom corn instead of from birch twigs, and sweeping had become a less difficult task. A carding machine had been set up in North Amherst, and there was also one in Pelham. To the latter for many years General Mattoon carried his wool. The people of the town had more advantages than heretofore. The first public library had been established, and was kept in a case six feet high and five feet wide at Deacon David Moody's in South Amherst. The farmers, too, were doing wonders. A squash was grown in Amherst measur- ing " ly^- inches, \\ inches from the small end." The vine bore "rising of loo squashes." VIII. IN 1811 we read in the Hampshire Gazette of a great comet which was believed to presage war. The prophecy proved true. July 3, 1812, General Mattoon was ordered to see that the entire western division under his command was thoroughly trained and equipped for instant action in time of need, "to defend their country and their constitutional rights, and those liberties which Her Hero of the Revolution 6i at the expense of so much blood and treasure were pur- chased in the late Revolution." The General did not believe in this war. He was a delegate to the Convention which met in Northampton, and presented a memorial to the president praying that Commissioners might be appointed to negotiate peace. Nevertheless, when war was declared, the Major General was ready and his Brigade Major, Noah D. Mattoon, was also ready. The General sent out orders and appointed days for inspection and for general training to be held in the usual place, " Below the West Parish meeting House, between said meeting House and the brook." There was no danger that these orders would not be obeyed, for Gen- eral Mattoon as a tactician and disciplinarian was the most remarkable military commander in the state. A subaltern in his division said: "He was a perfect Napo- leon in his way, and woe be to the officer or soldier who came on parade with his uniform tattered or soiled, or whose conduct in the line was in any way unsoldierly." A surgeon in one of his regiments remarked to Zebina Montague: "Why, sir, he would take a company of raw w^ool hat boys from Pelham Hills or Shutesbury, and by drilling them an hour or two behind a drum and fife on old Hadley common, he would put the very devil in them." The General said of himself: "I studied no profession except that of arms." How thoroughly he mastered this, his sole " profession," is shown by the closing para- 62 Mary Mat to on and ^raph of a general order which he issued during the war of 1812 : '' In passing down the orders of his excellency the Commander-in-Chief, the Major General directs that they be communicated to every company, and that they be carefully preserved by every officer and soldier in the division. The crisis is all important to our country and demands the attention of every individual in the commu- nity. Let every officer and soldier do his duty : forbear the use of irritating language : let party dissention have no continuance in the Militia. Division is destruction, union is our salvation. Let due subordination be cher- ished by every grade throughout our ranks and every officer and soldier be prompt to carry the general order into full effect." One company, that of Captain Chester Williams of Amherst, consisted of captain, lieutenant, ensign, six sergeants and musicians, three corporals and sixty-three privates. Each soldier was to be provided with musket, bayonet, cartridge-box, iron rod, sca.bbard and belt, flints, wires and brushes, knapsacks, cartridges and balls. The Americans had rushed unprepared into war, and their project of invading Canada was unsuccessful. Rumors prevailed that the British might descend on Bos- ton. June 22, 18 1 2, General Mattoon was ordered to detach 445 men from the fourth division, who should hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment's warning. Reviews were frequent and the vigilance of the Major •General was untiring. The troops were drilled and Her Hero of the Revolution 6j reviewed and paraded below the west parish meeting- house. Artillery for Commodore Perry's fleet on Lake Erie passed through Amherst over the old Bay road. Loomis Merrick remembers hearing his grandfather, James Merrick, tell of seeing one cannon drawn along that road by seventeen horses. In September, 1814, an urgent call came for a force to repel the British, who had invaded Massachusetts. General Mattoon detached six- teen companies from the fourth division for the defence of Boston. But after all, there was no fighting, and the few Amherst men returned safely to their homes. During these two years the Major General deeply felt the responsibility devolving upon him. That he was equal to the emergency is proved by the fact that in 181 6, resigning his commission as Major General, he received and accepted from Governor John Brooks the appoint- ment as Adjutant General. This placed General Mattoon second in command of all the militia in the state. The sword presented to him at this time, and also certain articles of his furniture, are owned by IthamarC. Cowles, his great-grandson. Mr. Cowles says : " They say that General Washington has played many a game of whist on that table." 64 Mary Mattoo7i and IX. ENERAL Mattoon had now become a very wealthy man. He owned large tracts of land in North and East Amherst, in Leverett and in Pelham. He was successful in every undertaking and was greatly admired and respected by the townspeople. Pacific Lodge of Masons, which he had joined soon after it was organized, in 18 1 7 elected him its master. He owned an interest in manufacturing enterprises and his advice in business matters was considered of much value. There are those living in Amherst to-day who, when little children, rode with him in his fine coach with its liveried coachman, and who remember well the deference paid to the great man by his fellow townsmen. He made many journeys to Boston, travelling by the " Fast Mail coach," and this same conveyance brought many distinguished guests to his hospitable mansion. By this time the youngest daughter, Dorothy, had married Dr. Timothy Gridley, who, though living in town, had taken her away from home, and Mary Mattoon was left alone. We hope she now led an easier life and could enjoy some leisure moments. Her grandson, Isaac Gridley, says : " In the early part of the last century she led the singing in the church and was a very efficient churchworker." This statement suggests that her imme- orry\^ Coj^y of portrait in the possession of William Mattoon King. Her Hero of the Revolution 6^ diate home duties did not occupy all her time. Perhaps she may have belonged to the " Female Cent Society," which at that time flourished in East Street. With no daughter to assist, this woman who was " not much of a talker," as she grew older, must have found it hard to entertain so many guests. Her father now had passed away. In old West cemetery we find the inscription : " Lieutenant Noah Dickinson died May 28th, 1815, aged 85. Mortals attend, for you must die, And sleep in dust as well as I, Repent in time your souls to save, There is no repentance in the grave." General Mattoon was interested in all young people and was specially fond of his young brother-in-law, Jonathan, whom he desired to send to college. The boy did go to Deerfield Academy to prepare, but his father, needing his help, went after him and brought him home " to shoot ducks." Noah Dickinson, like many others of that day, did not think an education necessary, and in this he agreed with the majority of his neighbors. We are glad to know that in the autumn of 18 16 the newly appointed Adjutant General of the state found time to take with his wife a journey to Westmoreland, N. H., to visit "Mary and the children." A letter, by General Mattoon, written to his son-in-law, Daniel Dwight, loaned by Mrs. Davis, tells us all we know about this 5 66 Mary Mattoon and visit. We can imagine how Mary Mattoon put on her green silk calash, and started out in the fall-back chaise on this journey, which, so far as we know, is the only one she ever enjoyed. The last sentence of this letter is of special interest, giving the General's idea of the state of things in Boston. Boston, Nov. iith, i8i6. My Dear Sir: I received yours of the 30th ult. by Mr. Kendall, and am very glad to know that you are all well. The day we left your house we arrived at mine, about dark : all stood it well, but Mrs. Mattoon. She was very much fatigued, but was much better next morning ; your Father and Mother are remarkably well, and felt much better for the journey. I left home on Monday the 4th, and arrived at Boston on the 5th through rain, and mud in abundance, but am in tolerable health now. The Saturday before I left home, Jos. Graves was hunting with Col. Stebbins — and by accident shot him, and wounded him very dan- gerously, several large shot remain in his back, you will hear the particulars probably before this reaches you. I have sent my horse and chaise to you by Mr. Ken- dall, altho. the price is high, yet I can do no better, and as you will be near him, you can see to him — and use him when you have occasion. I thought it would be better to have the horse and chaise together, for they may be sent either here or to Amherst in the Spring, with less trouble. 1 wish you to direct his hoofs greased, once or twice a week, for they are bad, — he was lame, but by greasing he is nearly well. Her Hero of the Revolution 6j Give my love to Mary and the children. I want to see them much more than before I visited you. No news here, all are eager for property, and inquiry respecting it bounds the conversation of most people, and information respecting it, if agreeable, satisfies their minds. I am. My Dear Sir, Yours affectionately, E. Mattoon. Another letter, now the property of Miss Conkey, writ- ten by General Mattoon from Boston to his son, Noah Dickinson, has the date so indistinct that we can only guess it to be 1817. These two letters mentioned are probably among the last which he wrote with his own hand. We see that even in the midst of the turmoil of public life, expecting a visit from President Monroe, the Adjutant General remembered to tell his son what kind of grain to '■'- sew," purchased a " quintall of fish " for the family, and picked out for Mary " 1 lb Hizin Tea, 8 lb H. S. Tea, 15 yards of Callico and 2 pair stockings." This thoughtfulness for his wife, even under such cir- cumstances, was never failing. Boston, Wednesday Evening, 10 o'clock, 23RD April i8i7(?) My Deal' Dick: I have this moment returned from Medford and found Mr. E. Dickinson waiting for me. He gave me your letter with one from the Doctor. I am very glad to 68 Mary Mattoon and learn that all are well : in regard to sewing, I would put as much rye and oats into the ground as you think you can find ground that will produce any considerable crop. As to Indian corn, I have very little expectation of its succeeding better this than last year. It looks dismal here, and the prospect very unfavorable at present. A kind Providence governs. We must depend upon that after doing our duty. If the season continues as cold as at present, I think we will have to experience such dis- tress as this country never witnessed. I have sent a quintal! of fish by Mr. Dickinson. I sent half a quin- tall by Mr. Dean with other things. I sent several things to your mama by Mr. Dickinson (to wit), i lb Hizin tea, 81b H. S. Tea, 15 yards of Callico and 2 pair stockings. I wrote you by Dean and as it is late I must close. The certificate of the removal of an officer must be made by the Major General. We expect the President of the U. S. in Boston 27th of May. I have with some difficulty obtained leave of absence for a few days after the first of May. The coun- cil set on the 7 th, but I have urged so hard the necessity of my being at home for a few days, that I have suc- ceeded in obtaining leave of absence. Love to all — good night. Yours with affection, E. Mattoon. The year this letter was written there was given in Boston the most brilliant military exhibition that had ever been seen in that city. Cavalry, artillery and infantry occupied three sides of the common, all commanded by Brigadier General Welles. The line was reviewed by the Her Hero of the Revolution 6g Governor accompanied by Adjutant General Mattoon and other officers. A picture of the General in full uniform as he appeared that day hung for fifty years in the Bos- ton Museum. Mrs. Clapp says that this picture, of unknown authorship, was accidentally discovered by her mother, Mrs. Wolcott, granddaughter of the General. It was purchased and is now owned by his great-grandson, William Mattoon King, who has presented a photograph of the painting to the Mary Mattoon Chapter. For many years there was great jealousy between East Street and West Street, or the Center. The former could muster the larger number of votes, and possessed General Mattoon and the old cannon, and went by the name of Sodom. The Center was called Mt. Zion, and boasted of its academy and afterward of its college, and was proud to number Noah Webster among its citizens. The statement, " Large bushy whiskers require a good deal of nursing and trimming," found within the pages of the little old blue spelling book, may have been evolved from the brain of this great man during his residence in Amherst. When he moved out of town, the East Street people in their triumph over the Center, rang the church bell and fired a salute from the old cannon. East Amherst boasted the first postoffice, one mail a week being brought by stage-coach from Northampton. In this mail came the county paper, \hQ Hafnps/iire Gazette, the chief means by which the farmers learned the news JO Mary Mattoon and from the outside world. Among the gems of poetry in the Gazette in 1817 was the " Burial of Sir John Moore," and the " Old Oaken Bucket." A sea serpent with a body " larger than the mast of a ship " was reported to have been seen off Gloucester harbor. A certain Captain Joseph Ferry, aged ninety-four, who had just died, was declared to have been buried in Springfield, "where had previously been deposited the remains of his 5 mothers and his 5 wives." The readers of the Gazette certainly learned all the news, and almost every issue for years bore somewhere on its pages the name of Ebenezer Mattoon. Suddenly, about 1818, his name appeared no more. The news soon spread that the great man of Amherst, he whom it was expected would soon be elected governor of the state, had become totally blind. A simple cold taken in the year when snow fell every month, had produced an inflammation which destroyed the sight of those keen eyes, and obliged him to resign his position as Adjutant General. This misfortune to so eminent an officer was severely felt by his associates in public life. In 18 17 he had become a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, expecting to serve as a private, for although an old man, he was proud again to shoulder his gun in the ranks. The same year he was elected Captain and was chairman of a committee which petitioned the governor for two brass six pounders to be used in their drill in Her Hero of the Revolution yi order that they might " be restored to the ancient situation of the company as the name imports, as well as to assist them in a correct knowledge in the exercises of artillery." June 3, 1818, when he was to have returned his badge of office, he was prevented by a " distressing indisposition." He was heard to observe on the election day, from the ceremonies of which he was detained, that " it was one of the most melancholy days he had ever been called upon to spend, as he had calculated with no small degree of pride on that day." When in 1834 the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company observed its one hundred and ninety-sixth anniversary, General Mattoon, the oldest member living, was led around the company, and thus reviewed it, though he was totally blind. With characteristic resolution our hero rallied his energies to meet the calamity which had come upon him. He still had many visitors from abroad who came to sympathize and went away filled with admiration for the old soldier, fighting his hardest battle. In 1820 he was a delegate to the convention for amending the Constitu- tion, and the same year was a member of the electoral college. He was in great demand as a speaker on public occasions and was consulted as authority on points con- nected with public affairs. The cares of Mary Mattoon were much increased when she was least able to bear the strain. Her son, the law- yer, had gone west, and could not be consulted with ^2 Mary Mattoo)i and regard to the management of the estate. The mistress attempted to be her husband's eyes as well as hands and feet, but her endurance finally failed. As time passed rheumatism claimed her for a victim and her upright form became bent and twisted. The General missed his eyes, and also missed the quick step and ready hand of her upon whom he had depended for so many years. In 1828, he was again a member of the electoral college. After this we find no record of his appointment to any public office. The grandchildren of Mary Mattoon remember her in her last days as sitting in her chair beside her husband, so bent that her head very nearly touched her knees, try- ing still in her feeble way to take the place of the eyes which he had lost. She was able with difficulty to walk about the lower part of the house, and though in reality three years younger than the General she seemed many years his senior. His outdoor life of travel with variety of occupations had kept him young and had stored his mind with an inexhaustible fund of tales and anecdotes of both public and private interest. We cannot doubt that he who remembered her so faithfully when absent, now was happy to give her of his best. With unselfish devotion she had rejoiced to spend her best years in his service. The dull routine of daily duties, with no recre- ation or amusement, had broken down her sturdy frame, and now in her last years she was obliged to be depend- GENERAL MATTOON. Copy of the Trttmlntll portrait. Her Hero of the Revohition yj ent upon others. The blind old man and the helpless old woman, a true hero and heroine of old New England, sat side by side in the East Street home and communed of the past. This pathetic picture is relieved by the remembrance of the cheerful disposition of the old soldier, who by his funny stories made the home bright, and drew about him the children and young people from all parts of the town. One would think that he had many reasons to be sorrowful, for his business interests had greatly suffered, and from being wealthy he had become comparatively poor. Never for a moment did he lose courage or fail to take an active interest in everything going on about him. He dictated descriptions of the battle of Saratoga for various papers. The children in the neighborhood were taught to call him " Grandpa," and were pressed into his service as gsuides about the town. Many living to-day count this experience as among the happiest of their childish recollections. Strangers who went to call upon the General did not see his wife, but her grandchildren still speak of her as being "not much of a talker," and say that she was " good," and that she was bent over because of much hard work. She would not have made a handsome picture at that time, but the beauty of her unselfish life shone forth in those blue eyes, which from beneath the shadow of the tall white cap sought her hus- band's face as long as consciousness remained. Mary 7^ Mary Mattoon and Mattoon died quietly as she had lived. She slipped out of life July 30, 1835, ^g^d seventy-seven. One line in the newspaper announced her death. After a simple funeral service, the old West cemetery received the dis- torted body. She was buried by the side of " Fanny " and "Fanny 2nd," and her name is cut beneath that of her husband on the same stone. The story of her heroic life of self sacrificing love, though heretofore not written on earth, is recorded in Heaven. X. THE General's business affairs had become so involved that the year before the death of his wife all his real estate and that belonging to his son were sold at public auction. This property included the farm described as " situated about one mile and a half north of the colleges in Amherst, containing about 200 acres," " a farm lying near the second Parish meeting house in said Amherst containing about 100 acres," "the Hendrick farm lying about one half a mile south of the second parish meeting-house containing about 80 acres of excellent land," one hundred acres of pasture and wood- land in Leverett, thirty acres of woodland in Pelham, Her Hero of the Revolution 75 and fifteen acres of mowing and pasture land in East Amherst. The loss of property and the consequent auction must have been terrible blows to Mary Mattoon and probably hastened her death. We are glad to know that she was not obliged to leave her home, and that the General was able to live there in comfort to the close of his life. He must have sadly missed his wife, but he seems never to have lacked for friends. His niece, Elizabeth Clapp Kellogg, lived in his family from her seventh year until she married Ithamar Conkey. Her son, Ithamar Conkey, became a leading Amherst lawyer. The General's granddaughter, Mrs. Wolcott, when a child,, was a member of his household, and was devotedly attached to him. Her daughter, Mrs. Clapp, says : " Tucked away in my treasure-box is a strand of silvery hair which my mother cut when as a child, she sat in the dear old grandfather's lap and read the Bible to him." This little girl was his constant companion, his blindness making him turn to her for many little offices. She often said there was no one she loved in those days as she did her grandfather. Besides the Bible, this little girl read the Hampshire Gazette to the old man, and much interesting information the pair discovered in its pages. The canal-boat James Hillhouse was announced to leave the wharf near the Mansion house, Northampton, every Thursday, for " Newhaven." The county Total Abstinence Society jd Mary Mattoon and was formed, with General David Mack of Amherst as its president. Mrs. Dorcas Bogue, aged " loo yrs 20 days," died in Amherst. The silkworm craze struck the Con- necticut Valley, and the " Amherst Silk Society " was formed. The farmers were adjured : " If ye aspire to wealth and ease, Stock well your farm with mulberry trees." Many farmers followed this advice, but the wealth and ease did not materialize. The " New England Zoological Society " came to old Hadley. An advertisement in the Gazette said : " The inmates of these cages form a most Gigantic and imposing spectacle." One of these "inmates" made its escape and wandered over to Amherst. The Gazette then said " A stray ostrich which escaped from the menagerie was met by farmers on the road between Belchertown and Amherst," and added : " These miserable caravans with their circuses and Jim Crows ought not to be permitted to traverse the Country disturbing the peace and quiet even of the Sabbath Day." Fresh meat sold in Northampton for twelve cents a pound and in Amherst for sixteen cents. The Gazette said : *' We must all become Grahamites and live upon bran bread and saw dust puddings." To help them chew this expensive meat people were buying " mineral teeth," " Incorruptible teeth " and " double sets of teeth with springs," of Dr. Charles Walker in Northampton. General Mattoon retained his own teeth in good con- Her Hero of the Revoltition yy dition to the end of his life, and so he did not need to patronize the Northampton dentist. He was, however, much interested in all advertisements of new inventions. He was glad to learn that his neighbor, Willard Kellogg, had a yoke of oxen weighing 4200 pounds, and that Nathaniel Farrar had raised a beet in his garden which weighed ?>\ pounds and measured 17 J inches in circum- ference. There is no doubt but that he shared the gen- eral excitement when the canal-boat, Davy Crockett, drawn by four grey horses, reached Northampton from Westfield. The announcement that the steamboat, John Ledyard^ built in Springfield, was carrying passengers and freight between that city and Wells River must have recalled to him those college days at Dartmouth, and the "great American traveller " after whom the boat was named. Ail these events, as recorded in the Gazette, the little girl read to her old blind grandfather. The Gazette for Dec. 2, 1835, contains an article of two and a half col- umns signed " E. Mattoon." The writer describes in clearest language what took place between Oct. 7 and 17, 1777. About this time he visited the scenes of those battles, and with no uncertain step walked to an elevated place, from which, pointing with his cane, he described the location of the left wing, and the position where stood the General and his aids. The stump of a tree and other indications proved the truth of his statements. His long life of strenuous effort, and the loss of his LofC. J 8 Mary Mat to on and eyesight, had not dimmed his recollection of those scenes in which he was an actor more than fifty years before. The old cannon which General Mattoon brought from Saratoga for many years was the chief feature in patriotic demonstrations. It's owner willingly loaned it to the boys, and when it was not in use kept it in the barn behind his house. Which section of the town should have the gun was a disputed question before each Fourth of July, and the General, the oldest boy of all, let the others fight it out. After the college was estabUshed the students found the gun very useful to assist in their cele- brations, and took their turn in stealing it from the boys in the Center. In the summer of 183 1 the much desired fieldpiece mysteriously disappeared, and though search has many times been made no trace of it has ever been found. In 1896 there was discovered a letter written in 1858, which describes the burying of the gun by a party of students, and tells exactly where it might be discovered, but all the landmarks had disappeared, and search was unavailing. It is probable that under Main street, over which run the Amherst & Sunderland electric cars, the old cannon rests securely, never to be resurrected. The student who described the hiding of the gun said that " General Mattoon was in perfect ecstacies at the fun of the thing." Amherst College delighted to honor General Mattoon. Professor Fiske invited him to be seated on the platform in Her Hero of the Revohition yg College Hall when he gave a lecture on the battle of Sara- toga and the surrender of Burgoyne. When called upon to speak, the old soldier expressed his pleasure at the correct statements made, and then narrated an amusing incident. The day before the battle he was stationed with his artillery opposite an outpost of the enemy. A young British soldier called out: "Give us a dish of pumpkin and milk." Lieutenant Mattoon responded by ordering a gunner to train a gun filled with grape shot on the campfire. The logs were scattered in all directions. During these last years Colonel Trumbull, who painted the portraits of many Revolutionary officers, came to Amherst, and asked General Mattoon to go to New Haven and sit for his picture. We are indebted for the copy of this picture, as painted by the distinguished artist, to Mr. Gridley, grandson of General Mattoon. Mrs. Clapp, the owner of the picture of Mary Mattoon, says that the original Trumbull portrait of the General is in the pos- session of Mrs. Eliza Orme. The people of Amherst well remember the erect sol- dierly figure of General Mattoon as with his cane he walked about the streets. By counting his steps he could find his way anywhere he desired to go, but so many children were anxious to lead him that he was often seen with a flock of them about him. He was not content to remain at home, but even in extreme old age took trips to different parts of the country. In 1839 he visited his 8o Mary Mattoon and Alma Mater, Dartmouth college. ^Mrs. Robinson, grand- daughter of Noah D. Mattoon, telts of a visit the Gen- eral made to her grandfather when the latter was living in Unionville, Ohiaj The old General and his son went to call on Judge Wheeler. A few days after, the General repeated the visit, going and coming alone in perfect safety. He had counted his steps the first time he went over the? ground. After 1830 he made two journeys to Boston every year to draw his pension, upon which he lived. His granddaughter, Mrs. Vannevar, mentions the fact that he visited her in Boston the spring before he died, when he must have been eighty-seven years old. He also travelled to Philadelphia and had a visit with Mrs. Wol- cott, his granddaughter. She found him as amusing and cheerful as of old, and heard him repeat with delight the stories which he used to tell the little East Street girl. He never repined or complained about his blindness, but said that he considered it to be one of the greatest bless- ings that had ever come to him. He seemed to feel that his ambitions had for a season occupied too large a share in his life. In 1840 Levi Stockbridge heard General Mattoon speak in College Hall at the time of the Harrison campaign. In ringing tones the old Revolutionary hero of eighty-five declared that if he had a son who would not vote for Harrison he would disown him. The old soldier was not dead yet! Henry Jackson remembered that when there / BURIAL LOT IN WEST CEMETERY. Her Hero of the Revottitioii 8i was some trouble in the East Street school, the blind old General came over, and rapping violently with his cane, said, " I have come to see about this !" This quelled the disturbance. A party of boys were playing ball east of the General's house. The General appeared and shaking his cane ordered them to leave. They ran away so frightened that two boys tried to get through the same hole in the fence and one had to back out. The com- manding voice and figure compelled obedience though the old man was blind and helpless. Sept. 12, 1843, we find in the Hampshire Gazette: " Another hero gone. It becomes our melancholy duty to record the death of another revolutionary patriot. General Ebenezer Mattoon departed this life in Amherst yesterday afternoon, Sept. 11, at 4 o'clock, after a sick- ness of about four weeks." Mrs. Vannevar says : " Grandfather died in the old house and my mother (the wife of his son Ebenezer) took care of him. He was sick from the 4th of July till the nth of September. He was very patient through his sickness." The following week the Gazette published : " The funeral obsequies of this venerable patriot and Christian were observed in the church in which he was accustomed to worship, in East Amherst, on Thursday afternoon last. A large number assembled to pay their 82 Mary Mattoon and tribute of respect and affection to the high standing and worth of their deceased friend and fellow citizen. The solemnities of the occasion were opened with a dirge, fol- lowed by reading of scripture and prayer by Rev. Dr. Humphrey and sermon by Rev. Mr. Belden, pastor of the church. The discourse was very appropriate to the solemn event ; but in compliance with the wishes of the deceased, the occasion was improved for the benefit of the living, rather than in bestowment of panegyric upon the dead. The deceased had selected the following pas- sage in Job, which he had meditated much upon, as the theme of discourse : But man dieth, and wasteth away ; yea, man giveth up the Ghost, and where is he ? . . . The preacher expressed unwavering confidence in the belief that the venerable patriot of the Revolution had died fighting in the cause of the Redeemer, and was enjoying the rich reward of the faithful soldier of the cross. The deceased attributed his final conversion to the Providence of God which deprived him of sight. That otherwise great calamity had been the source of his greatest blessing." Side by side in old West cemetery, surrounded by a host of friends and neighbors, Mary Mattoon and her Hero of the Revolution sleep. The tombstone bears these inscriptions : "Gen. Ebenezer Mattoon died Sept. ii, 1843,^. 88." " Mary D. wife of General E. Mattoon died, July 30, 1835, ^- 77." The Amherst Chapter^ Daughters of the American Rei'o- hition, is proud to bear the name of Mary Mattoon, a Her Hero of the Revolution 8j woman who, like the wife of Samuel Adams, was ambitious for her Hero of the Revolution, to whose success she devoted with loving self-sacrifice a life of arduous toil, a life inconspicuous, but none the less worthy of her country's praise, an example of those domestic virtues which made the New England home the source of the nation's strength. 2^25 \^^^ PRESS OF Carpenter & Morehouse, amherst, mass. LBFe '13