The Marlborough
Historical Society

Panel 15 - William Dawes - The Other Rider

Additional History and Information

Part 2.  The Revolution in Marlborough

By Paul Brodeur, Trustee Emeritus, Marlborough Historical Society

The town of Marlborough had an exemplary record during the American Revolution, playing a role in the assembly of troops, and contributing to the store of saltpeter for ammunition. In the early and critical engagements of the war, they were particularly important.

At the Battle of Bunker Hill, Marlborough troops were engaged under Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Ward and Major General Edward Barnes of Marlborough. Jeduthan Alexander was killed. In February of 2009, the recreation complex on Hildreth Street was named after Alexander.

In June, 1775, George Washington was placed in command of the Continental Army by the Second Continental Congress. On his way to Boston, he stopped at the Williams Tavern in Marlborough owned by descendants of William Ward. He continued to Boston and took over command from General Artemas Ward of Shrewsbury, another descendant of William Ward.

In late 1775, Henry Knox was commissioned by George Washington to transport over one-hundred cannons from forts captured in upstate New York to help in the siege of Boston. After crossing a frozen Lake George and the Berkshire Mountains, he joined the "Main Road” and came through Marlborough in January 1776. He also passed across the site of the first bridge built by Marlborough across the Sudbury River at Landham in Sudbury. 

In 1926, on the 150th anniversary of Henry Knox’ cannon train, the states of Massachusetts and New York placed fifty-six markers along the Knox route to Boston to commemorate his great engineering feat. One of these markers sits in downtown Marlborough in the small park on Main Street at the corner of Prospect Street. Knox would later ask for compensation for his wartime losses, requesting that he be given the assets of loyalist Henry Barnes, but this request was denied. (See previous installments for more about Barnes).

One of the intriguing stories is the role Marlborough played in the manufacture of saltpeter. It was a prime ingredient of gunpowder and the shortage of saltpeter made the heavy guns brought from New York inoperable. There was a concerted effort to develop local manufacturing of saltpeter and Henry Barnes’ potash ovens were a key asset. As early as 1775, this asset was utilized by the army. In 1775 Amasa Davis, who participated in the Tea Party and later became a quartermaster in the army, visited Marlborough and is mentioned in the letters of Christian Barnes. On May 9, 1776, an advertisement appeared in the New England Chronicle promising four dollars reward for the return of negro Jack to Marlborough, undersigned by Amasa Davis. Was slave labor being used to run the saltpeter works at Marlborough?

Another figure who was likely part of the same effort was famed "night rider” William Dawes who participated in the warning system with Paul Revere on the first Patriot’s Day. He, along with his brother-in-law William Coggswell, were in Marlborough in 1777 for some unspecified reason, but since Dawes was also in the Quartermaster’s Corps, it is likely that he was involved in the saltpeter manufacturing. The Barnes’ former home was used by the army as headquarters for its operations in Marlborough. After the war, Coggswell purchased the Barnes estate and Dawes moved to Marlborough as well, moving to the location now used by Verizon on lower Main Street. He opened a grocery store there and died in 1799 at the age of fifty-three.

One of the darker stories of that time was the terrible plague of dysentery that visited Marlborough in 1775. Historian Charles Hudson said that the average number of deaths in Marlborough for the previous four years was twenty-two. In 1775, seventy-eight died. Numerous families lost more than one child, and Ivory Bigelow, Samuel Hunting, and Paul Brigham each lost three. Daniel Ward, his wife, his son Daniel and cousin Samuel all died. The Ward name never had the same importance in Marlborough after that year.

One of the interesting features of wartime Marlborough is the degree to which the economy adjusted to the new reality. Evaluating the 1781 tax numbers compared to 1771, we see that cider production decreased 10%, swine decreased 43%, shops increased from less than twenty to more than ninety, sheep increased 50%, and horses increased from 218 to 747. The latter concentration on horse breeding may have been driven by wartime demand. In any case, the raising of horses was a major feature in Marlborough well into the 20th century. In the 1950’s, training horses for the racing industry was among the top three occupations in Marlborough, after shoe and apple production.

Originally published in the Marlborough Main St Journal