Great Barrington, Massachusetts - "They Put Our Patience To The Severest Test"

After spending the night of October 24, 1777, in Nobletown (Hillsdale, New York, today), the German column of the Convention Army continued on its way into Massachusetts.  Brunswick grenadier Johann Bense noted just the basics regarding the end of the day's march in his diary: "[October] 25 at Great Barrington in the woods.” [1] 

A century later local historian Charles J. Taylor described their stay in much more detail, in his History of Great Barrington, published in 1882.  Taylor, like many, refers to Burgoyne's German troops as "Hessians", but begins his account with some basic facts which can be corroborated through several primary sources, saying: “Late in October, a large part of the captured army of Burgoyne was marched through the town en route for Boston, and encamped here...  A large body of Hessian soldiers formed part of this cavalcade ..." [2]

Taylor then goes on to describe exactly where the Convention Army stayed.  He indicates they camped in two areas, as: "A portion of the prisoners had its camp in the hollow of the hill-side westerly from the late residence of Mrs. Mark Rosseter in the northerly part of the village; a larger section was encamped in the south part of the village, on the level ground lying west of the Main street and north of the road leading from the Burial ground towards Green River." [3]  

Taylor also notes: "The officers, amongst whom was the Hessian General - Baron Reidesel - had their quarters in the old Episcopal church, opposite the Sedgwick Institute; and General Burgoyne, who was indisposed, and depressed in spirits, remained here several days, the guest of Col. Elijah Dwight, in the Henderson house." [4]  

Taylor doesn't tell us how he knows any of this, but his description of where the Convention Army stayed in Great Barrington creates numerous historical rabbit holes to explore.  An 1854 map of the town by Edgar Maurice Woodford may be of some help.  Part of that is annotated here with the likely location of the places Taylor names.  If correct, there would have been over half a mile distance between the two campsites the Germans were said to have occupied.

Taylor's account assumes the reader will know where Mrs. Mark Rosseter (perhaps Caroline Hamlin Rosseter, who died in 1880) lived.  Likely it was north of present-day Rosseter Street,  as the Woodford map shows property in that area owned by a "M. Rosseter", north of the town center and west of Main Street.  

Taylor assumes, for the second campsite, that readers will know which road led from the cemetery to the Green River.  Unfortunately, the "Find A Grave" website lists fifteen cemeteries in Great Barrington.  Likely Taylor was referring to Mahaiwe Cemetery on South Main Street, just below Route 41 (which crosses the Green River), and has a number of graves dating back to the eighteenth century.  This suggests many from the German column, "the larger section", stayed in the area north of Silver Street and to the west of the Routes 7 and 41 rotary.     

There was an Episcopal church in Great Barrington in 1777.  Saint James Church, so named in 1804, was founded in 1762, and has since merged with Saint George's of Lee according to an online history of the current parish.  In 1857 the parish built a stone church at 352 Main Street, suggesting that "the old Episcopal church" was elsewhere in town.  The Woodford map of town shows the Episcopal Church further north of 352 Main, at the corner of Main and Railroad streets.  Taylor's comment that it was "Across from the Sedgwick Institute" presents a problem however, as an 1884 map though shows the Institute south of where Routes 7 and 41 split, between Mahaiwe and Silver streets - though perhaps it was in a different location when Taylor wrote his history.

The Henderson House at 390 Main Street (seen here in a photograph in the Library of Congress dating from the 1930's), where Burgoyne reportedly stayed, was built in 1759 for Brigadier-General Joseph Dwight of the Massachusetts militia, who died in 1765.  The building has been moved twice, but is said to still be within 200 feet of where it was built.   It's not clear why Taylor indicates that "Colonel" Elijah Dwight hosted Burgoyne.  It's quite possible Dwight did, as in July of 1776, the Great Barrington resident had refused to sign a loyalty oath.  That led to his being strongly encouraged to surrender any weapons he owned to Patriot authorities voluntarily, for if he did not he was warned, people in town were "... determined to take your arms in their own way".   As to his being a colonel, Taylor's summary of his life notes only that at age sixteen he served as a hospital commissary in his father's regiment during the French and Indian War.  [5]  

Brigadier-General William Whipple's account of his journey from Albany to Cambridge clarifies that Burgoyne arrived in Great Barrington four days after the German column, and offers a bit more detail on both the town and where Whipple stayed - but not where Burgoyne stayed.  Whipple notes that on October 28th their party "... set out from Kendar Hook [Kinderhook, New York] in the morning arrived at Noble Town about 12 ... but the accommodations being very bad I left the company at 3 o'clock and rode to Barrington 10 miles and put up at Mrs: Allens where I had an exceeding good bed & in every other respect well accommodated".  

Whipple's account suggests Burgoyne stayed only one night, and his delay was due to the weather, writing that on October 29th, "Still continuing to Rain about 12 o’clock the company came up, had a very good dinner and determined to halt here until the weather is fair".  Either way, on October 30th all departed, Whipple noting: "... the weather clears up dined at Mrs. Allens and set out at 8 o’clock for [illegible] Chadwicks [inn, in Tyringham]".

Just below the Routes 7 and 41 fork is another building from the period, which is now the Wainwright Inn.  The inn's website indicates the oldest part of the structure was built in 1766 by Captain Peter Ingersoll, and that: "The colonists undoubtedly met right in our living room, planning their participation in the siege of the British troops in Boston. During the American revolution, our house served as a fort and colonial armory."  

Taylor also claims that: "During their stay the prisoners were kindly treated more so perhaps than would reasonably be expected at the hands of an exasperated people. Many of them were sick suffering from camp fever and it is related that Captain Truman Wheeler collected roots boiled them down and personally distributed the decoction amongst the invalids with good effect and that one of the British officers presented Captain Wheeler with a substantial token of his own appreciation of the kindness shown the prisoners." [6]  Wheeler's house, at 817 South Main Street, is now home to the Great Barrington Historical Society and Museum.

Taylor provides no source for his claim the Convention Army was treated well and looked after.  Some German accounts tell a significantly different story, and more detail than Bense noted.  The Specht Journal notes the Germans marched thirteen miles on October 25th, then entered a village described as: "... large and almost like a market town although the houses do not lie near each other.  There are solid and well built houses in this place as well as one very new and one very old church."  As to how they were treated though, "You cannot imagine any people more mean and malicious than the inhabitants here.  They did every kind of disagreeable things to us and made every effort to test our patience.  Most officers were forbidden to enter the kitchens ... and had to live with the soldiers in dirty barns or still dirtier stables."  In a letter home, a German officer wrote: "I never saw ruder, more spiteful people, and never have I been more on my guard against blows. Through rude treatment they put our patience to the severest test."  As to why this was so, it was suspected that it was because: "Several inhabitants from this village had been killed in the affair at Bennington and several very sick were lying there, suffering from their wounds."  [7]

Taylor's 1882 history of Great Barrington includes another story said to be from 1777.  We'll look at that next week, when we look at Burgoyne's artillery, which under Article I of the Convention, was left behind at the time of the surrender at "the verge of the river where the old fort stood."   For now though, Taylor's account of the Convention Army in Great Barrington raises as many questions as it answers. 

[1] Bense, Brunswick Troops and Saratoga, 76.

[2] Charles J. Taylor, History of Great Barrington (Great Barrington: Clark W. Bryan & Co., 1882), 250-251.

[3] Taylor, History of Great Barrington, 250.

[4] Taylor, History of Great Barrington, 250.

[5] Taylor, History of Great Barrington, 243, 297-298.

[6] Taylor, History of Great Barrington, 251.

[7] Specht Journal, 106.  Letters From America, 121.

Next Week: Burgoyne's Artillery - "Drawn Through The Village"

For more on the Convention Army's 1777 march from Saratoga to Boston, see:

1777 March Blog Home          Overnight Stopping Points          Towns and Villages Along the Way

 Annotated Bibliography