at Philadelphia, October 26th, 1774, recommended each and every citizen to prepare himself to stand on the defensive. In conformity with this advice, conventions were holden in many places, and one was called at Exeter, June 25, 1775. From this town Moses Baker was chosen a delegate. In the meantime Walter Robie, Esq., Capt. Nathaniel Emerson, Doct. Samuel Mooers, Mr. Benjamin Cass, Mr. Jacob Worthen were chosen as a committee to inspect all persons who should not conform to the advice of the General Congress. It was voted that the Selectmen should buy one barrel of pow der, "with flints and lead answerable thereto." Fortunately, our Fathers were never compelled to resist invasion so immediate as this vote seemed to contemplate. The powder has long since been resolved into its native and original elements, but the bullets still remain and constitute about the only article of defensive warfare in the fortress civic of the town. Long may they rest undisturbed! Capt. Emerson, Lieut. Baker and Ensign Bean were directed to request all the males in Candia, from sixteen to sixty years of age, to assemble at the meeting house, for reviewing with arms and ammunition, on the 17th day of January, 1776, at one o'clock, P. M. It seems probable that there was about one hundred and fifty men assembled, for we find in the Secretary's office, at Concord, a report of the Selectmen made in October, a copy of which is here given. Males under 16, 232; from 16 to 50, 120; above 50, 19; gone in the army, 27. Females 346. Seventy-two firelocks fit for use, forty-eight wanted. Powder is so inconsiderable, we thought not worth no That first review must have been an occasion of no ordinary moment to the people of Candia. It was no boy's-play, no village muster, with its mock parade of awkward soldiery. One can seem to see them now, those stern old men, here and there a few grey locks, who had seen hard service among the Rangers, or helped drag the cannon through the marshes at Louisburg,— those sober young men, with scanty equipments but full hearts; there were startling thoughts, and purposes of mighty resistance shadowed forth in the knit brow and compressed lip. That REVIEW, what would the people of Candia not give for a complete and perfect engraving — taken from the pencil of some skilful painter — which should represent each face as it was, each manly form as they stood. Alas, no cunning artist can recall from eternal sleep, the features and forms that few remember to have seen, the faces none might recognize. The very ground whereon they stood has been moved away, and the ashes of that temple in whose shadow they were, scattered to the winds of heaven. In February, a Parish meeting was called, by the proceedings of which it appears that the committee of Inspection had attended to their duty. The report which they presented was not placed on record. An addition of four persons was made to the Committee, viz: Nathaniel Burpee, Abraham Fitts, Moses Baker, and Ichabod Robie. Tuesday May 11th, Doct. Samuel Mooers was chosen to represent the town, in Provincial Congress, to be holden at Exeter, on the 17th inst. A committee of seven gave him advice and instructions. Meetings of the citizens were frequent, and held at different houses; every measure was discussed, every act of the mother country watched with much anxiety, and each step debated with that close attention which to this day characterizes the people of Candia. When finally convinced of the justice and necessity of resistance, no people were ever more united, more ardent, more energetic. At a meeting called for the purpose, Nathaniel Emerson, Moses Baker and Doct. Samuel Mooers, were chosen to consult with the officers and committees of other towns as to the best manner of regulating the militia of the regiment. The news of the battle of Lexington, more powerful than the eloquence of a thousand orators, thrilled through the veins of men. The news came to Candia at midnight, and Col. Emerson, who was first to receive it, rode up to the meeting house, firing minute guns as he went, to arouse the inhabitants. When there, he was soon joined by others, and they fired minute guns until day-break, at which time every man was on the ground. Nine volunteered that morning, of whom Capt. Moses Dusten was the first. How many others did, we are not able to tell; as no reliable record can be found, and those who remember these things are few and far between. One winter's evening I talked some hours with Mr. John Buswell, since deceased, about the revolutionary times. Said he, "I remember as well as if it were no longer ago than yesterday, when my father was called up in the night to go to Lexington. I was but eight years old." He remembered the first review at which he was present, and the excitement of that day in comparison with which all days since seemed to him of little importance. He spoke of threatened disunion, and of the time he had not forgotten, when there was no Union, when food and clothing were hard to procure, and only the most rigid economy, and sometimes suffering and hardship, could enable the citizen to meet the demands of Congress on his purse. It will be seen from the statistics of various kinds in this little work, that Candia was in no whit behind her neighbors in affording means, according to and even beyond her strength, for the prosecution of the war. In the tax list of 1778, three years after the declaration of war, there are one hundred and sixty-four names of men; and on the record of soldiers who served, some during the war, and some for a less time, are one hundred and twenty-two. Like Warren, the first great martyr, they left their plows in the furrow, or it may be, hurried to the battle-field, "When the drum beat at dead of night." In 1777, 18 men were called for as the proportion of Candia in the Continental Army, and it was voted by the town that twenty dollars a year should be paid those who enlisted. April 8th, a committee was appointed to ascertain how much money each citizen had expended since Concord fight, in support of the war. The only record made of that report is very incomplete as found on the town book. A copy of it follows. Concord men, 18. per day and extra charges. 8 month men with Lieut. Emerson, 4 Dollars each. Ditto with Lieut. Dusten, 2 Dollars each. Winter Hill men with Capt. Baker, 1 Dollar each. 1 year men to York, 8 Dollars, those to Delaware, 2 Dollars each. Tyconderoga men, 132 Dollars each. New York men last fall, 1 Dollar each. The people were always in a state of readiness at home as well as abroad, to receive an enemy. They seldom went from their dwellings without arms. One time there was a report that the British had come as |