Simeon Goff, the British are Here, Part 1

The budding of the trees and flowers in the first few weeks of spring of 1775 was a testament to the unusually warm winter and spring experienced in the northeastern colonies of British America. While the new growth presaged the start of a new nation, it also offered a stark contrast to the mayhem and destruction of war that was soon to flower. Nine months previous the Port of Boston was closed by British warships and the British now occupied Boston; the first shots of the American Revolution would be heard in Lexington; and Simeon Goff, my wife’s fourth great grandfather and a young man from Rehoboth, of the Massachusetts colony, would volunteer for a Massachusetts militia on April 28, 1775. This is one of a series of blog posts placing Simeon Goff in varied actions of the Revolutionary War.

Birth Record

Simeon Goff, per his pension record, would first serve ten days as a substitute in place of Benjamin Coomes and then enlist. He would, according to the pension records, serve a total of six months in the Massachusetts company under Captain Bliss in 1775. Records differ to a certain degree. The muster roll has him enlisting on April 28 for 3 three months and 11 days.  He notes, in his pension request, that he served as a substitute until about May 10, which means his April 28 enlistment he first served as a substitute before enlisting himself upon the conclusion of the ten days of substitute service. Since it was all volunteer one wonders why the needs to be a substitute? I can only think that he did not know what awaited him, or his memory, by the time of filing the pension request in 1832, had failed him, or a muster roll maybe missing.

Muster Roll, last name was Goff and Goffe

Perhaps the unusually warm spring was the tipping point in moving much of the populace from discontent and civil disobedience to full blown war. Given the many precursors to the first shots fired at Lexington and Concord, war seemed more and more inevitable. It may just have been a matter of time, and that time arrived in April of 1775. History is intractable. After the initial battles of the Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, followed by those of some other colonies, put out a call “for thirty thousand American troops to turn out, and legions left farm, shop and hearth” (Atkinson, p 83). Recruits were promised a coat, or the value of a coat or money in lieu of the coat. Simeon Goff would, near the end of his six months of service, on October, 26, 1775 make a claim for a coat or money-in-lieu. The record does not indicate his choice.

After years of movement toward war, the war had now started. Simeon Goff answered the call of the Provincial Congress and, along with some of his brothers, would assist the colonies in their fight against Great Britain. Simeon, who enrolled in a Massachusetts Militia on April 28,1775, was assigned to a company under the command of Captain Bliss, who like Simeon, hailed from Rehoboth, Bristol County, of the Massachusetts colony. The militia was generally a Rehoboth affair, as the commander of the regiment, Timothy Walker, also hailed from Rehoboth. Simeon’s enrollment was less than ten days following the first battles of what would be an eight year long slog of a war. This, along with other posts, will look at the campaigns or battles in which Simeon Goff would render service during the Revolutionary War.  Essentially, it is an attempt to place his duty to in forming the ideals of freedom and liberty. For over one year the war would rage before the purpose of the war would be laid out with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This post, and the next post will look at and place his first service in this Massachusetts regiment into a historical context.  

Order for Bounty Coat
or Payment in Lieu

 
To set context, however, requires a few qualifiers. First, being during a pandemic this is based primarily on sources readily available online or a book I recently read. For example, I have not used the Wisconsin State Historical Society Library to gather information. Second, the information for Simeon’s service is not heavy on dates, but I have been able to obtain an understanding of his service in at least a few campaigns by working forward to backward from a known date. Simeon would serve four different tours as part of the local militia, some mixed between substitute and his own service. And some for short periods of time. His service in 1775 would be his longest continuous service in one year, and his next longest was four months and 21 days from early July to Dec 1, in the year 1776. It would be interesting to know what he thought when answering that first call to duty in April of 1775. Perhaps being a substitute for ten days allowed him to gauge the life of being a soldier, or he was tentative about taking time away from the farm. Being young he would have had the stamina and ideals of a young man wishing to make an impact and have a part in an event which would come to change the world.

Muster Roll

While the Provincial Congress call of men to arms is thought to be the precursor to the continental army, the latter came into being by legislative action of the continental congress on June 14, 1775. Commander of the Army, General George Washington liked to complain about the state militias. He would note their lack of training, their short-term service agreements, and his dislike of what he called their slovenly behavior. For many years historians tended to agree with Washington, but over time many have come to understand and appreciate the role the militia units played in this conflict.

Part of Pension Record which indicates served
10 days as a substitute  and then enlisted for six months

To appreciate the effort of the militias, one only needs to look at Lexington and Concord and the important role played by the minutemen, which were state militia. The unit Simeon would join was originally chartered in 1774. By early 1775, the force would be 210 men strong. Minutemen were a special type of Militia, ready to advance at a moment’s notice. While this unit was not involved at Lexington and Concord, to which closer units responded following the call of Paul Revere and others, the unit did play a role. In anticipation of violence, on April 9, 1775 they were sent to Freetown, Massachusetts where they, without firing a shot, seized over 40 stands of British arms, and munitions and other related items. Clearly, there was provocation on the part of the colonialist rebels. On 19 April the regiment moved to the Roxbury and Dorchester areas near Boston where, in 1776. They would come under the overall command of General Washington, with many authority layers in between. Boston was the refuge of the British command, fully isolated but for the sea. It was these non-professional, these first of American citizen soldiers, who helped win the war. Yet, even with this success, they came under the scrutiny of the Colonial commander. Simeon’s first two of four tours would be with this company, first known as the 22nd regiment and later, with reorganization, as the 13th regiment.

Siege of Boston, Gen Washington
Google images

These posts are not intended to a full recounting of the battles in which he was engaged.  There are plenty of books and other sources which document battle details.  Rather, it is an attempt to give an idea of what life was like for Simeon in the militia and army of the colonies. The regiment to which Simeon's company was attached served its full service in 1775 as part of the Observation of Boston. This action would go until March of 1776, when Washington would pull out from the siege. Part two, of "Simeon Goff, the British are Here," will examine life around June 1775, with the Battle of Bunker Hill.  

Sources:
History.com
Historyisfun.org
Atkinson, Rick, 2019, The British Are Coming, Henry Holt & Co. NY NY
https://www.historyisfun.org/yorktown-victory-center/militia-in-the-revolutionary-war/

Simeon Goff Pension Record and Muster Records, from Ancestry.com

www.ralstongenealogy.com

Unless otherwise noted, images from Ancestry.com

Landscaping

Thirty years ago we landscaped our yard. When landscaping around the house, I attempted to follow the best practices to enhance energy efficiency for the house. Our house is not properly situated on either a north to south, or east to west axis.  Instead the front of the house faces northeast, and the back southwest. Normally, this orientation would not pose much of an issue, but when I examined doing solar panels, I found an issue.

Aerial view of my house showing tree cover of most of the
southwest roof. The pin (teardrop) is on the peak of the roof
Source:  Google Images

While landscaping, I tried to make the best of this orientation. For example, I know that the strongest winds are generally from the west and northwest, and hence the side of the house that faces the northwest (about 323 degrees) I planted  arborvitaes which act as a windbreak, they also screen the house next door. I placed an evergreen tree to the northeast corner of the house to also help block wind. To limit sun gain in the summer time I planted shade trees in the back yard near the house. The back side of the house faces southwest (about 233 degrees).  The trees to the direct southwest of the house which I planted are locust trees which have a smaller leaf, but a large canopy with both able to extend about half way over the house roof.  I last had the trees trimmed in June 2020, to better form and keep branches from hitting the roof or the house edge. Having them trimmed is rather expensive.  However, the trees provide value in shade which provides comfort to people and reduces cooling costs of the house, lessens area of lawn that is fully exposed to the sun, and hence the grass stays more green in times of drought and/or hot temperatures. The downside is that many of the nice flowers for garden beds like more sun than shade, so it is a balancing act.  The canopies are sufficiently large so that, as the trees have grown, half of my rose and flower bed is mostly shaded, which has taken down the quality of the flower blooms.  Or, as in some cases, the sun loving plants just gradually fade away.

Two Locust Trees along back of House

Due to house orientation the front lawn does not get much sun.  The lawn is shaded by the house, a large ash tree in the front yard, and a street tree that is a locust tree. The street tree was not in place when we moved in the house, and was planted a few years after we bought the structure. I would have thought the realtor would have mentioned it, or they would have had something in their deed restrictions (like I required of developers in Fitchburg when we started to require street trees).  Hence, I have two shade trees in the front of the house rather than my anticipated one shade tree in the front of the house. The area of the front lawn closest to the house does not get much sun, and the lack of grass shows this to be true.  It also shows how trees break up the rain fall, as this part of the lawn seems dryer, even though it is shadier.  

My thoughts on how I landscaped to reduce climatic effects on the house--lower cooling and heating costs, came to mind when I was examining, a couple weeks ago, the possible placement of solar panels on the house. This is where the house orientation poses a problem. The roof on which the panels are best placed, unless a ground mount is used, is best south and then oriented within 90 degrees of south. If south is at 180 degrees, that means it should range from 90 degrees (which is east) to 270 degrees, which is west. My roof line is oriented with the long alignment of the house, which means I have one good roof location for solar, and that is the southwest roof which gets shade from the trees I planted thirty years ago. I really do not want to cut down the trees, nor is it likely financially feasible to place the panels on my northeast facing roof, as the solar efficiency factor is just not  present. 

Northwest edge of the house and arborvitaes
planted to reduce wind to the house. 

My last several years as a planner, as photovoltaic was becoming more affordable, I attempted to get subdividers to position the main lengths of streets east to west so that homes would have much of the roof face south or north. This was based on the fact that many homes have their roof line run with the main axis of the house, and the main axis is often along the street frontage, although it does not need be that way. However, given the 90 degree ability from true south an orientation north to south may be better as you would have, if the house roof ridge ran that direction, two roof faces for solar.  If my house was at a north to south orientation, I would be able to place solar panels on my east roof, say above the garage which does not get much shade at all.  As it is, I am limited to a roof that has the most shade from my passive energy designed landscaping.

Evergreen landscaping planted in the
northwest corner of the yard.

This of course, raises the issue of what passive use of landscaping verse keeping solar. Without shade, a house will get much warmer leading to more cooling costs.  The house in which I grew up, which my Dad designed, had a larger overhang to the south, such that the heat of the sun was blocked from the south windows from, say mid-spring to mid-fall, but was able to get in  the south rooms during the other times of the year to reduce heat cost. House builders have gotten away from such simple measures to reduce the sun affect on a house. Instead of simple design techniques you have energy efficiency requirements which depend on insulation and windows and door openings. By requiring such overhangs, would probably limit the creativity of architects or designers, although that does not mean such passive techniques cannot be used.

Of course, rooftop solar poses an issue too. If a house lacks shade, you may get energy from the sun, but you are also likely paying more to cool the house due to the energy gain from the sun. Not to mention days when you may not need cooling due to the trees, but would need cooling if the trees were not present. In addition, landscaping, trees, shrubs and flowers all provide a non-tangible benefits to the human mind, body and soul.  It is all a balance.

As to the orientation of our house, for me, it means if I wish to go solar I will likely have to explore other options than panels on the roof.  Given the size panels required to offset our electric usage, which by the way is low for other comparable houses, I doubt I wish to see that size freestanding in my yard. After all, I still need a place to play football, even though my body, and my wife, will tell me not to. I do, however, take comfort in the way I landscaped the yard to obtain benefits to the house, ourselves, and our energy bills.

Lincoln's Assassination

It was on this day, April 15, in 1865 that President Lincoln died after being shot by John Wilkes Booth on the night of April 14, Good Friday. Abraham Lincoln is one of the most written about persons in history. Lincoln was shot while attending Ford's Theater in Washington, DC, on what was a pleasant day. After four years of Civil War, and experiencing personal loss, he was finally able to smile.

Ford's Theater, Washington, DC

General Ulysses S Grant, who commanded the forces of the US Military which defeated the states in rebellion attended the scheduled cabinet meeting that day, although without word of Southern General Joseph Johnston's surrender to General Sherman, which would not occur for almost two more weeks.  Yet, historians and others often recognize the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia by General Robert E. Lee to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on Sunday the 9th of April as the date the Civil War ended. Fire works would go off in Washington, DC, at the same time Booth and his accomplices were planning their efforts of assassination of the President and other officials.

Lincoln Memorial
Washington, DC

Lincoln was happy to have had time earlier in the day to visit with his oldest son, Robert, 22 years of age and who had been a staff officer to General Grant. He had suggested that Robert complete his education, which was interrupted by the war, and perhaps take up the law. I suppose, the youngest son, Tad, was having fun and running around the White House enjoying himself and perhaps playing pranks on the cabinet secretaries as they arrived for the scheduled cabinet meeting.  

The cabinet members, and General Grant, found Lincoln in good spirits that morning, and why not?  The war was, for all intents and purposes, over.  Congress was not in session, which Lincoln thought was a good thing as he could approach his idea of reconstruction. Walking out of the meeting Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War and the Attorney General James Speed, would comment on how good their "Chief" looked.  Clean shaven, a nice suit and a warm disposition and hearty smile.  This was in strong contrast to the rumbled clothes, the dreary eyes, and the long sad face experienced over four long years of war. The presidency takes a toll on many of the office, one only need to look at before and after photos of Presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama. Lincoln faced perhaps the greatest difficulties of any president, a Civil War, and one can only imagine the heartache he faced. 

Ford's Theater booth where Lincoln was shot

The heartache was not only the personal loss, but the huge loss of men which became evident during the Civil War.  This war was fought with the then conventional tactics, but newer, more advanced weaponry was occurring throughout the war, and the tactics did not have time to adapt to the changing technologies. In addition, medical care had not sufficiently advanced beyond cutting off limbs, not to mention that they really did  not understand sterilization or sterile environments. More soldiers died of disease than they did from wounds of war. Life was different in the 19th century before the sanitary revolution. Thus, the Civil War is known for its death toll due to the lack of proper sanitation, and its advancement of the instruments of war. Many a family lost a loved one, or had a family member maimed.  Whether disease, or the shot from a bullet, neither brought back a husband or son lost to war.  The whole thing is that Lincoln understood what he called the terrible arithmetic, that the north could lose and replace many more soldiers than could the south.  The north's resources were so much greater that what the south had in material, and men. Nonetheless, families would grieve. 

Peterson House, where Lincoln Died
Washington, DC

Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln had four sons, only two of which survived Abraham.  Only one of which, that being Robert, would outlive Mary Todd. Eddie passed away in 1850.  Add to this the death of Willie (William) while they occupied the White House. Willie died of Typhoid fever on 20 February 1862. Mary Todd would never really come to grips with what the death of Willie. Tad (Thomas Lincoln III) died at age 18 in 1870 with causes of death varying from pneumonia to tuberculosis, or heart failure. 

Robert Lincoln would be the only surviving child to Mary Todd Lincoln. Mary Todd Lincoln would have a difficult life, after the death of her husband.  He already fragile mental state, due to the deaths of Eddie and Willie, had reached the breaking point. Back in that time, of course, she was derided for her mental state, and history.com says she became a laughing stock.  Edwin Stanton, ordered her out of the Peterson house, the home across the street from Ford's Theater where Lincoln was taken after being shot and where he died the following morning.  She may have been bi-polar, or some other mental disease, not then recognized.  I know Stanton thought highly of himself, but I often wondered who he thought he was to order Lincoln's wife out of the room?  

The Lincoln Memorial
Washington, DC

The thing is, Mary Todd did love the spotlight and enjoyed being the wife of the President.  This attitude did not help her after her husband's death when people though she was over-extravagant in her grief. History.com provides the following: 

Mary’s servant, dressmaker, and confidante Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley recalled “the wails of a broken heart, the unearthly shrieks, the terrible convulsions” of the bereft widow. Though those reactions might seem appropriate for a woman who witnessed her husband’s traumatic assassination at close range, they were seen as indicative of an unladylike craving for attention at the time.

Frederick Douglass, understood that Lincoln's time had been unfortunately cut short. Douglass in a lengthy eulogy to Lincoln at Cooper's Union in New York, (you can read his address here) made this comment late in the address:

While willing to give, he was equally willing to receive: and so far from feeling ustracised (sic) in his presence, he acted upon me as all truly great men act upon their fellow men, as a Liberator,—He set me at perfect Liberty—to state where I differed from him as freely, as where I agreed with him. From the first five minutes I seemed to myself, to have been acquainted with him during all my life. He was one of the most solid men I ever met, and one of the most transparent.

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln would have a significant effect during the aftermath of the Civil War. If he had lived, his Vice President, Andrew Johnson, would likely never have become President. (Meaning he never would have been impeached.) The President earned political capital from the war, leverage of which he was never to use. Perhaps Mary Todd would have been better too, having her husband at her side and his ability to put up with, but yet manager her. His was a life cut short, and a country to really never know his smile, or to further appreciate his wit. 

Photos by author, April 2007

From Freetown to Freedom

On this day (April 9) in history, 246 years ago, there was no United States of America, but the American Colonies of the British Empire. The town of Freetown in the Massachusetts colony was similar in many respects to other small Massachusetts colonial towns of the era, but there was one big difference.  Freetown was the home of Colonel Thomas Gilbert. Events at Freetown on this date would shape the event that occurred ten days later. In other words, the engagement at Freetown in 1775 was a step of many on the way to freedom, and independence for the colonies.  

Rehoboth Militia Unit Reenactment

Thomas Gilbert was a loyalist, that is, he was loyal to King George III, and the British Empire. Gilbert had served with some distinction during the French and Indian war.  In 1775 he was, however, the head of the second regiment of a loyal group, to which other loyalists in the Freetown area belonged.  He abhorred the growing movement for independence. His loyalty to the crown could not be questioned. He would represent the town in what was called the General Court, in which he served as the chair of the committee which advanced resolutions expressing dismay at the Boston tea party. Under the direction of British Commander General Thomas Gage, he would create stores of war material in his house at Freetown in the first few months of 1775. 

Unit Creation, Nov 1, 1774

Knowing that war was on the horizon, the British needed to have stores of ammunition, powder, and other material for the coming engagement with the American colonialists. To help protect the stands of war material, Gilbert organized a contingent of 300 men of the area to put down any attempt to confiscate the accumulated war material.

American history often tells us that the British started the Revolutionary War.  Of course, the colonies took different actions to get up the British temper.  Freetown was one such event, and perhaps the last event before Lexington and Concord ten days later.  At Freetown, a large group of colonial militias would confiscate some of this war material so well horded by Colonel Gilbert. Gilbert had learned of a coming uprising by the colonial militias and he and part of his small group of 300 men would take some of the material to an English war ship in Newport. However, this agglomeration of colonial militias was 2,000 members strong, and would raid Gilbert's house and in the process take 29 men prisoner, and confiscate over 40 stands of arms and other material which Gilbert was unable to hustle out of town. Those 29 men, who were part of the 300 organized by Gilbert, would later be freed provided they pledged to engage in better behavior. This idea of better behavior probably meant to not take part in any loyalist behavior, if not support the colonial cause. Part of the group of Massachusetts militias to make the raid on Freetown was one from Rehoboth, of Bristol county in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Rehoboth militia company, comprised of men from Rehoboth and other adjoining communities, was chartered in 1774 for the express purpose of an ability to wage war and protect the local population.  By the time of the raid it consisted of 210 men willing to act at a moment's notice.

Freetown Raid Description

Even though during the raid no shot was fired and the prisoners were released, this attack on the military stores housed at Freetown would be a precursor to the first major battle of the Revolutionary War.  The colonialists too were preparing for war, by accumulating war goods and supplies, some of which came from raids, such as at Freetown. The colonialists attacked theses stores ten days before the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord. The colonialists likely knew how many men had been engaged to protect the ammunition dump, and gathered a large, overwhelming force of 2,000 to attack and claim the goods. A march of 2,000 men did not go unnoticed leading Gilbert to save some of the material and goods. 

My wife's 4th great grandfather, Simeon Goff, hailed from Rehoboth, and while he was not part of this Rehoboth Minuteman militia company to raid the stores 246 years past, he would, in short order, join this same militia unit and see involvement in the Revolutionary War. This post will be part of a journey of tracing, through a few different blog posts, this primeval American war and and the engagements and battles of which Simeon would be apart.  In the end, we cannot look through Simeon's eyes, or see what was in his mind, but yet I hope to provide a general sense of what life was like for Simeon.  He was a part of the war in the fight from Freetown to freedom for the American Colonies.  It is the journey of an early American story.

Sources:

https://www.sailsinc.org/durfee/fenner1906-3.pdf

Historyisfun.org

Atkinson, Rick, 2019, The British Are Coming, Henry Holt & Co. NY NY

http://www.13thcontinentalregiment.org/unit-timeline.html