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Reference Entry Quote:
Capt. William Meacham at
Bunker Hill.
By E.S Willcox, Esq., of
Peoria, Ill., Librarian of the Public Library
WILLIAM MEACHAM, of New Salem,
Mass., captain of a company of so called minute-men, was
killed in the battle of Bunker Hill, but I have been unable
to find any published record of that fact, and am told that
his name does not appear upon the marble tablets at Bunker
Hill, which profess to give the names of officers who fell
in that action.
In the REGISTER, vol. 27, for
1873, page 122, his name is given in a "List of officers who
were in the battle of Bunker's (Breed's) Hill, June 17,
1775, not named in Frothingham's 'Siege of Boston,' second
edition," as captain in Col. Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge's
Regiment, but it is not stated that he fell there.
As Capt. Meacham was my
mother's grandfather, and as family tradition and the family
Bibles claim that he was killed at Bunker Hill, I have
naturally looked for some official or published confirmation
of the fact, but, until this last summer, without
success.
While in Boston, July last,
pursuing my inquiries, Mr. G.W.Brown, the obliging attendant
in the rooms of the Massachusetts State Archives, State
House, handed me the original paper, well preserved, of
which the following is a copy:
December ye 15th 1775 This may
certify that I William Stacy and I William Smith and I Ben
Haskall were well knowing to the guns of Capt Wm Meacham and
that of John Ganson, the sd Capt were killed the said John
were wounded in the action on Bunker's hill ye 17 of June
last we therefore have prized the sd Capt. gun at 3 00s 00d
the Bayonet and Belt at 0 09s 08d and the sd Jno. gun at 2
14s 00d the sd Capt. gun was a compleat fuze* the other a
New French Regular gun.
William Stacy, (Majr)
William Smith, (Lt)
Benj'n Hascall, (Sergt.)
* For fuzee, no doubt
[Massachusetts Archives, Vol
138, page 375]
Here is the incontestable
proof of what I was seeking, carefully filed and indexed and
easily found at a moment's notice. My astonishment at
finding such a document as this, at holding it in my hand,
may be imagined, and also my gratitude to the grand old
State of Massachusetts for so sacredly preserving and
guarding the original records of the deeds of her brave
sons.
But Mr. Brown gave me still a
greater surprise by stepping back into one of the alcoves
and bringing me the original muster-roll or pay-roll of my
great-grandfather's company, a little faded and yellow with
age but in perfect preservation, containing the names of
fifty-three men who composed the company, date and place of
enlistment, number of miles marched, amounts due each one
for mileage, service, etc., etc., etc., and on the back,
endorsed for filing, in a bold, clerical hand, the
following:
Capt. Wm Meacham
Army Roll (Pounds)205:
18/9
Jany 9th
Coll Wodbridge's
Regt.
The muster-roll was headed: "A
muster-roll of the Company under the command of Captian John
King in Colonel Woodbridge's Regiment to the first of
August, 1775."
The first line is in substance
as follows:
William Meacham, town New
Salem; rank, Captain; killed June 17; time of enlistment,
May ye 11th; travel, 90 miles; amount, 1d a mile 7/6; time
of service, 1 month 9 days; whole amount, (pounds)8 05s 11d
1q; guns 1; bayonet 1; himself lost June 17, and so on.
The second name on the roll is
that of John King, sergeant, then captain, the one who
succeeded Capt. Meacham in command, and who made out the
quarterly payroll, Aug 1st following. It is his name,
evidently taken from this pay-roll, which appears in place
of Capt. Meacham's in the REGISTER, vol. 27 p. 122, for
1873.
In this list or roll of
fifty-three men in Capt. Meacham's company, who were mostly
from New Salem, appear also the names of Jeremiah Meacham,
Jonathan Meacham, John Meacham -- four brothers Meacham --
and Moses Curtis, who married their sister Mary Meacham
after whom my mother was named. John Meacham died many years
afterward at Benson Vt. Jeremiah died in Oneida Co, N.Y.,
and Jonathan at Petersham, Mass. Moses Curtis was the
grandfather of Rev. Dr. Harvey Curtis, a graduate of
Middlebury College and subsequently President of Knox
College, Galesburg, Ill.
Capt William Meacham was born
in Salem, Mass., March 10, 1742, and married Sarah Cook in
1771 -- the ancestor of the family came over to Salem
previous to 1640, from Somersetshire, England.
After his death his widow with
her two young children, William and Jeremiah, removed to
North Adams where she taught school, and then married Zadok
Everest, a widower from Ticonderoga, N.Y., with two
children, William and Sally. They had ten children more -
Lois who married Erastus Swift of Bridport, Vt., son of the
Rev Dr. Job Swift, and after whom I was named; Zadok,
Dudley, Udney, Hiram, Solomon, Charles, Lorraine
(grandmother, I think, of the Murrays of Clarendon Springs,
Vt.), Rhoda and Esther. The Everests were a large family
connection long well known on the lake shore in Essex Co.
N.Y., and in Addison Co., Vt. The Sally Everest mentioned
above married Loudon Case and lived many years in Rock
Island, Ill.
Since, so far as I have been
able to discover, there exists no published acknowledgement
that Capt. William Meacham lost his life while commanding a
company at Bunker Hill, although there is abundant and
easily accessible evidence of the fact in the Massachusetts
State Archives, I have thought it a matter of historical as
well as family interest to publish these particulars. There
are many descendants of Capt. Meacham and his brothers who
will be interested in knowing them.
Muster Roll of Capt. John
King's Company, August 1, 1775
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Men's Name
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Towns whence they came
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Rank
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Time of Inlistment
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Travell
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Amount at 1d a mile
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Time of service
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Whole amount
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Notes
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William Meacham
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New Salem
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Capt. killd June 17
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May ye 11th
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90
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7-6
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1 month 3 days
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£8 5s 11d 1q
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Lost his gun June 17
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Moses Curtice
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New Salem
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Corpl
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Aprial 26
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90
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7-6
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3 month 13 days
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£7 19s 10d 2q
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Jeremiah Meacham
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New Salem
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Corpl
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Aprial 26
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90
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7-6
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3 month 13 days
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£7 19s 10d 2q
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Jonathan Meacham
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New Salem
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privat
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May 11
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90
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7-6
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2 months 25 days
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£6 3s 2d 0q
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John Meacham
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New Salem
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privat
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May 11
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90
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7-6
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2 months 25 days
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£6 3s 2d 0q
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