his horse, he shall not put him off without the consent of his captain."

The powder and balls belonging to the town were not deposited always in the same place; and, March 3, 1746, "Voted that Captain Samuel Brooks shall have the keeping of the town's stock of ammunition."

1668: This year the Court took a step which was not popular. They resolved to exercise the power which they thought they possessed; viz., of nominating all the military officers. The taking away of "so considerable a part of their so long-enjoyed liberty" met with decided opposition; and, when our Medford company was organized, the town did not allow the Court to nominate the officers.

Up to this time, we hear little of "musters; and we presume that large assemblies of soldiers at one place were not common. The military organization must necessarily have been very simple and limited at first; and the idea of "divisions," "battalions," "regiments," as with us, must have been of a much later period.

One fact, however, is clear; and that is, that these habitual preparations for defence and war gradually educated the colonists to that personal courage and military skill which rendered them so powerful in their war with Philip, and thus prepared them for achieving the victories of the Revolution. In 1675, they beat King Philip; in 1775, they beat King George; and, in 1875, they may beat all the kings of the earth.

This deep interest in military affairs made our forefathers wakefully anxious on the subject of the election of officers in the trainbands. It was an event in which every person in town, male and female, felt that his or her safety might be deeply concerned. The law carefully guarded the rights of the people in this act; and, therefore, did not leave so important a trust to be conferred by the members of the company alone, but made it the duty of the whole town to choose the three commanding officers. On the first occasion, when this power was to be exercised by the whole town, the Selectmen issued a warrant for a meeting of all the inhabitants who had a right to vote. The warrant was dated May 18, 1781, and was issued "in the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for the purpose of choosing militia officers, as set forth in the Militia Act." This was the sole business of the meeting. The result was as follows:

Caleb Brooks

Stephen Hall, 4th

Daniel Tufts . .

chosen

Captain.

1st Lieutenant.

2d Lieutenant.

Here appears the great democratic principle of popular election of military leaders, wherein the majority of voters decide the whole case.

It was customary for the newly elected officer, not only to "treat the company," but to treat everybody else who repaired to his house at the appointed time. These were deemed the occasions in which freedom was liberally interpreted. Meat and bread were provided for food; but punch and flip were furnished in such overflowing abundance, that some visitors took many more steps in going home than in coming. It was expected, moreover, that the captain would treat his soldiers on parade-days. This item, added to other necessary expenses, made quite a draft on the chief officer's purse, as well as time. There are some conventional usages whose antiquity can be very safely assumed; and this of "treating the soldiers" is emphatically one. So late as our day it has continued; and the temperance reformation has hardly yet arrested it.

Although we have recorded the organization of a military corps in 1781, whose officers were chosen by the town, according to the laws then existing, there were soldiers in Medford from 1630 to that time. What the exact rules and regulations respecting enlistment were in the middle of the seventeenth century, we cannot discover. There were composition companies; and the associations were often accidental, according to contiguity of place. They in Medford, who were "watchers," were soldiers; and the annual provision of town powder shows that the ammunition was used. There was a company of militia in Medford before the Revolution; and, when troublesome times came, they were ready for duty. It was the eighth company in the first regiment of the first brigade of the third division. Seth Bullard was Captain; William Burbeck, 1st Lieutenant; and Ezekiel Plympton, 2d Lieutenant. It belonged to Colonel Thomas Gardner's regiment. In 1775, it was commanded by Captain Isaac Hall. "This company came out," says the Adjutant-General, "on the 19th of April, 1775, and were in service five days, and were undoubtedly in the battles of Lexington and Concord." The names of the men composing the company on that memorable occasion are all recorded on the muster-roll; and they were all Medford men, as follows:

Isaac Hall, Captain; Caleb Brooks, Lieutenant; Stephen Hall, Ensign; Thomas Pritchard, Isaac Tufts, and Moses Hall, Sergeants; John Tufts, Gersham Teel, and Jonathan Greenleaf, Corporals; Timothy Hall, Drummer; William Farning, Fifer. Privates as follows: David Vinton, John Bucknam, Isaac Watson, Jonathan Lawrence, Jonathan Davis, Abel Richardson, James Tufts, jun., Samuel Tufts, 3d, Andrew Floyd, Benjamin Floyd, Andrew Blanchard, Samuel Tufts, John Francis, jun., Paul Dexter, John Smith, Abel Butterfield, Josiah Cutter, John Kemp, Eleazer Putnam, James Bucknam, jun., Aaron Crowell, Jonathan Tufts, Benjamin Peirce, Thomas Wakefield, Jonathan Teel, Aaron Blanchard, Richard Cole, William Binford, Thomas Bradshaw, Daniel Tufts, Peter Tufts, jun., Ebenezer Tufts, Isaac Cooch, Daniel Conery, Richard Paine, William Polly, Peter Conery, David Hadley, Jacob Bedin, Joseph Clefton, Samuel Hadley, jun., Moses Hadley, John Callender, John Clarke, Andrew Bradshaw, Thomas Savels, Francis Hall, and Benjamin Savils.

Here are fifty-nine Medford men in actual service; and the State paid them for their services £28. 16s. 5d.

Each man received pay for five days' service, except William Polly, who was killed in battle.

Captain Isaac Hall made a report of his company to the heads of the department, Oct. 6, 1775, then stationed on Prospect Hill. He resigned, before the end of the year, for the purpose of taking command of another company; and Lieutenant Caleb Brooks was chosen captain in his stead, and, as such, made a report, January 3, 1776.

The corps which Captain Isaac Hall commanded " was made up of men from Medford, Charlestown, Woburn, Malden, Cambridge, and Stoneham, and were called the eight months' men." They enlisted for that time; and, in addition to their pay, each one was to have a coat at the expiration of his enlistment. Eight of this company belonged to Medford; and they were the following: Isaac Hall, Captain; Caleb Brooks, Lieutenant. The privates were: Benjamin Floyd, James Wyman, Jonah Cutler, John Smith, William Bucknam, and Joseph Bond. The last named was discharged June 7, 1775; the rest served out the eight months, and were on the "coat roll," so called, — which fact secured a pension from the United States. Some took money instead of a coat. Some time afterwards, Captain Hall testified that Samuel Ingalls, one of his company, "has bin imprizoned in Cannedy, and hain't receeved no coat." This company was ordered by General Washington, in March, 1776, to be "marched from

Medford to the Heights in Dorchester."

service there only four days.

They were in The Medford militia, whose trainings we of latter days have witnessed, is mentioned for the first time in the "First Roster," in 1787; but, in the earlier and more confused records, there is recognition of a Medford company in 1781. The names of the officers are erased! A vacuum then occurs. After this, the commanders of the company were as follows:

Until this time, this company had belonged to the first regiment of the first brigade of the third division; but now a new regiment, the fifth, was formed, and Medford, Charlestown, and Malden composed it. The next captain of the Medford company was Rufus Frost, chosen May 12, 1806. He resigned, and was discharged March 10, 1810. He was re-elected April 3, 1810, but he “"refused to qualify." The next captains were:—

It was disbanded under a general order, April 24, 1840. Whatever confusion may seem to belong to one or two of these records, could doubtless be rendered clear if it had been the custom to make prompt and accurate returns, and also to keep the rolls as methodically as they are at present. "Minute-men" were frequently organized, and no official registry made of them. Members of one company would join another for a single campaign of actual service, and, at their return, take their former places in the rank and file.

In 1828, when the Medford Light Infantry had resigned

its charter, Captain John Sparrell was ordered to enroll its members in his company. He did so; and, in that autumn, he appeared at a muster in Malden with one hundred and ninety-six men, rank and file.

Let us now return to our history near the close of the eighteenth century.

In 1797, a "general muster" took place in Concord, Middlesex County; and it engaged the attention of the whole community. The war of the Revolution had made the management of regiments and divisions an easy thing; and the soldier-feeling of '75 and '83 had not much abated. A gathering of several regiments, therefore, was a most joyous event in this community. Medford made it a town matter, and voted to pay each soldier two dollars, and to give each a half-pound of powder. These musters became the occasions of great dissipation. They seemed to be a mustering of all the evils of a community. Egg-pop" was the favorite drink; and "wrestling," the "ring," "pawpaw," "hustling," and "wheel of fortune," the prevalent amusements. Intemperance, gambling, fisticuffs, ribaldry, theft, and noise were in the ascendant; and the injury to youthful spectators was inconceivably great.

66

MEDFORD LIGHT INFANTRY.

The members of this company petitioned the Governor and Council to be organized, as an independent corps, under the law of Nov. 29, 1785. As that law was very peculiar, and gave rights seemingly at variance to general military usage, it may be worth while to extract the two sections which contain the extraordinary provisions. They are as follows:

"Be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That when any Major-General, commander of a division of militia in this Commonwealth, shall certify to the Governor, that, in his opinion, it will be expedient, and for the good of the Commonwealth, that one or more companies of cadets, or other corps, should be raised, in his division, the Governor, with advice and consent of the Council, be, and he is hereby, authorized and empowered (if he judge expedient) to raise such cadet company, companies, or corps; and, when any such company or corps shall be raised, they shall elect their officers in the same manner, and in the same proportion, as is provided for the election of officers of other companies and corps of militia in