A Lexington-Saratoga Connection Continued - “Our Continental Pay”

How many connections are there between Lexington and Concord, and the 1777 march of the Convention Army?  On the American side, countless Massachusetts militiamen who answered the call on April 19, 1775, did so again in the summer and fall of 1777.  Benjamin Lock of Lexington is said to be one of them.  Several documents confirm he served with the Massachusetts militia late during the Saratoga campaign.  One is the journal he kept in 1777 documenting his to march to Saratoga and return home after the surrender.  

Another is a document in the collection of the Lexington Historical Society, created in Lincoln, Massachusetts in June of 1778.  It reads: "These may certify whom it may concern that we the subscribers have Rec'd of Sam'l Farrar Jr. our Continental Pay in the thirty Day Service in his company in Col'l Reeds Regiment to Reinforce the Northern army under Gen'l Gates".  Twenty names follow, the signature of each man (or his representative) from Lexington who served in Colonel Jonathan Reed's regiment during that period.  Benjamin Lock is fourteenth on the list. [1] 

So who were "Sam'l Farrar Jr." and Colonel Reed, why were Lock and his comrades from Lexington in neighboring Lincoln to draw "Continental Pay" for thirty days of service, and what do we know about some of the others on the list?  The answers to these questions provide valuable insight on how the Massachusetts militia was organized and operating in 1777.

During the Revolutionary War, Massachusetts militia companies were organized by town for the most part, with some larger towns having more than one company.  Regiments were organized within counties, under one brigadier-general in each county with more than one regiment.  Each able-bodied white male residing in Massachusetts between the ages of sixteen and fifty who was not exempt from militia service was part of the "Training-Band" and expected to have a musket, bayonet and accoutrements; drill and be inspected periodically; and serve when called.  In addition, the act provided "... That no Soldier shall be obliged, without his consent, to join a Company belonging to any Town in which he has not his usual Place of Abode, unless where there shall not be Privates enough to make a Company of thirty Soldiers, including Officers...". [2] 

On February 20, 1776, the Massachusetts House of Representatives ranked the state’s militia regiments of each county by seniority, approved field officers for most regiments, and designated the towns which would make up each regiment.  Under this plan, Middlesex County was to have seven regiments, with Jonathan Reed of Littleton serving as lieutenant-colonel in its 6th Regiment, made up of companies from Littleton, Westford, Groton, Shirley, Pepperell, Townsend and Ashby.  The militia company from Lexington, as well as the company from Lincoln, along with those from Concord, Weston and Acton, were assigned to the 3rd Middlesex County Regiment. [3]  Samuel Farrar Jr., from Lincoln, served as a lieutenant during the first year of the war, until he was promoted to captain of the sixth company of the 3rd Middlesex County Regiment on March 27, 1776. [4]

This raises the question of why Lock and nineteen others from Lexington were serving in a company commanded by Captain Farrar from neighboring Lincoln, and why Farrar's company from the 3rd Middlesex was serving under Reed, who commanded the 6th Middlesex County Regiment.  The answer calls into question earlier research which indicates that both the 3rd and the 6th Middlesex County regiments were part of Brigadier-General James Brickett's brigade, along with the 3rd and 4th Essex County regiments. [5]

Lock, Farrar, Reed and Brickett were all called to service under a resolve passed by the Massachusetts General Court on September 22, 1777.  The September mobilization was one of many which occurred in 1777, including after Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne's capture of Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence in July, the Bennington alarm in mid-August, a request from Major-General Philip Schuyler initially approved on August 6th for two-thousand troops to serve with the Northern Army until November 30th, and for what would be an unsuccessful attempt to drive the British off Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island.

While the September resolve was specific in activating the 3rd and 4th Essex County regiments, it simply called for “at least one half” of the remaining militia from the counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Worcester and Middlesex to serve.  Time was of the essence, as on September 13th Burgoyne and his men had moved further south from Lake Champlain into New York and crossed over to the west bank of the Hudson River, and “... by that means have rendered their retreat more difficult, & that if the Army under Gen'l Gates was Speedily & Strongly reinforced  there is a great prospect, under the smiles of divine Providence of wholly destroying them…”. [6]

It was a local decision to determine who would be called to serve, but a partial call-up of the militia of this nature would activate individuals rather than units.  Under the state's 1776 Militia Act, companies were to consist of sixty-eight privates.  Once formed, each company would chose its officers, a captain and two lieutenants; and after that a clerk, four sergeants, four corporals, a drummer and a fifer. [7]  Under the August resolution, brigadier-generals were to order one captain and two lieutenants to take command of each company, create regiments with eight companies each, and then assign field officers from their brigade to command each regiment. [8]

As the twenty militiamen from Lexington activated at the end of September were to few to form a company themselves, they were assigned to serve with others under a company commander from neighboring Lincoln.  The resulting company under Captain Farrar, along with another company composed of other men from the 3rd Middlesex County Regiment under the command of John Buttrick of Concord were placed under the command of Colonel Reed of the 6th Middlesex County Regiment.  

While the September resolution was silent in regard to what those who served would be paid, the August resolution authorized a bounty of two pounds, ten shilling per month in addition to “Continental pay” for those who served "well and faithfully".   What's not clear is why Lock and the others from Lexington, who marched on October 2nd and served until November 7th, received "Continental Pay" for thirty rather than thirty-seven days service.  Under the September resolution it was “strongly recommended” the additional militia serve for thirty days after arriving in camp.  Perhaps it was that, rather than calendar days, which was the basis for this portion of their pay.  Either way, their pending discharge also set the stage for deciding which Massachusetts militia units would be assigned to escort the Convention Army from Saratoga to Cambridge after the surrender.

While the Lexington payroll receipt gives us a bit more information on Benjamin Lock, there is still more to learn regarding his service to his country in the Revolutionary War, not to mention that of the other nineteen men listed who he served with.  

Next Time: Benjamin Wellington of Lexington - “The First Armed Man Taken In The Revolution” 

Last Time: A Lexington-Saratoga Connection - “My Return Home From Camp”  

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 

   General Whipple's Journal         Burgoyne in Albany                    Annotated Bibliography 

[1] Receipt for Lexington Militia Payroll, Collections and Archives, Object ID Number 3866, American Revolution Collection, Lexington Historical Society, Lexington, MA: https://lexingtonhistory.pastperfectonline.com/archive/B5D7D503-0E80-4DA8-9F99-095341568532#.  The document is available online, but as at the time of this posting the Historical Society is busy preparing for the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the battle of Lexington, and unable to respond to specific research requests, I'm sharing a link to the document rather than their image of the document itself 
[2] The Militia Act Together With The Rules and Regulations For The Militia (Boston, MA: J. Gill, 1776), 2-6. 
[3] Peter Force, American Archives (Washington, DC: M. St. Clair Clark and Peter Force, 1843), “List of the Field-Officers of the Militia, Chosen by the House at the present Session, Division of the Militia of each County into Regiments, and the rank of each Regiment”, Series 4, Volume 4, 1463-1468.  See: https://digital.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-amarch%3A106148.  Reed would serve as the regiment's colonel since Oliver Prescott, who had been selected, was chosen to be a brigadier-general. (MSSRW, 13:76-77.)

[4] MSSRW, 5:536.

[5] Charles W. Snell, "A Report On The Organization and Numbers Of Gates' Army, September 19, October 7, and October 17, 1777, Including An Appendix With Regimental Data and Notes", Saratoga National Historical Park, Feb. 1, 1951, 29-30.  A return of American troops at Saratoga lists Brickett as having four regiments in his brigade, but it is unclear how that number was arrived at.  Burgoyne, Expedition From Canada, Appendix lix.

[6] Burgoyne, Orderly Book, 101.  "Resolve Providing For A Reinforcement to the Northern Army", Chapter 307, September 22, 1777, The Acts and Resolves Public and Private of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, (Boston, MA: Wright & Potter, 1918),20:125-126.

[7] The Militia Act, 7-8.

[8] "Resolve For Drafting One Sixth Part Of The Militia To Reinforce The Continental Army", Chapter 222, August 9, 1777, The Acts and Resolves Public and Private of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay (Boston, MA: Wright & Potter, 1918),20:88-90.