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| A statue of Gen. John Stark at the Bennington Monument |
Elias Hasket Derby is a name I know from Salem,
Massachusetts history. The first Elias
Hasket Derby (1739 – 1812) was a merchant who became one of the first American
millionaires through trade with China and the far east. His ship Grand
Turk was the first New England ship to enter China for trade. His mansion in Salem is now a museum house, and it
is across the street from the famous Derby Wharf. He married Elizabeth Crowninshield, had ten
children, and his grandson was the Elias Hasket Derby III who gave the lecture described below.
General Elias Hasket Derby, Jr. was born in Salem, Massachusetts on
10 January 1766, and removed to Londonderry in 1815 (soon after this Derry
split from Londonderry, New Hampshire). He died there on 16 September 1826 and is
buried at Forest Hill Cemetery. He had followed
his father’s footsteps into trade, but was a financial failure after a trade voyage to Brazil
and London from 1809 – 1811. He was a colonel of the Salem militia, and served
in the War of 1812. He was responsible
for fitting out the privateers of Salem that preyed on the British during that
war. After the war he removed to Derry
and had a 400 acre estate on Lane Road where he raised merino sheep. The house is no longer standing. When General Lafayette came to Derry on 1
September 1824 he stayed with Gen. Derby at his house on Lane Road. He was married to Lucy Brown, and had six
children, including the author of the lecture Elias Hasket Derby (1803 – 1880).
Elias Haskett Derby, III, was born in Salem on 24 Sept 1803
and was raised in Derry. He attended the
Pinkerton Academy in Derry and the Boston Latin School. He graduated from
Harvard College in 1824 and studied law with Daniel Webster. He was married to Eloise Floyd Strong and had
five children. He died in Boston on 31
March 1880 and is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. His obituary is on page 198
of volume 35 of the NEHGS Register,
along with a short genealogy of his descent from the original immigrant Roger
Derby, who arrived in Massachusetts from Topsham, England about 1665.
The Derby family papers are in the collections of the
Phillips Library, under the auspices of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem,
Massachusetts.
The following article was transcribed from the newspaper Portsmouth Journal of Literature
and Politics, Saturday, April 24, 1875, Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
Volume LXXXV, Issue, 17, page 1
“NEW HAMPSHIRE IN THE REVOLUTION
At a late monthly meeting of the New England Historic
Genealogical Society, held in Boston, E. H. Derby, Esq. read a paper on “The
Services of New Hampshire and her Scotch Colonists in the Heroic Age of the
Republic.” In beginning, he adverted to
the courage and resolution of the Scotch who settled the province of Ulster in
Ireland, and he then traced a colony of this race to Nutfield, afterward Londonderry,
in New Hampshire. This settlement was
for many years a frontier post, but subsequently founded many of the hill towns
of New Hampshire and produced brave and hardy men, who were distinguished in
our French wars and long conflict with England.
Among these were the partisan Rogers, Colonels Stark, Reed and Cilley,
and that Matthew Thornton who signed with so bold a hand the Declaration of
Independence. Had due prominence been
given to these men and their associates in our history of the great drama of
the Revolution? he asked. When the news
of the battle of Lexington aroused New England, New Hampshire had only seventy
five thousand people east of the Connecticut, but she soon hurried to Cambridge
two full regiments, both of which took an active part in the battle of Bunker
Hill. Full justice had been done by
history to the deeds of Massachusetts and Connecticut in that memorable
conflict, but few were aware that a large portion of the original force of
Prescott, exhausted by the fatigues of the night or hunger, had left the
battle-field or fallen back to a spot on higher ground where Prescott had
marked out another redoubt; that the principal part of the American forces who
met the first assault consisted of men from the hills of New Hampshire, chiefly
under Stark and Reid. Without detracting
in the least from the fame of Prescott, Warren, Putnam and their companions,
New Hampshire should have her portion of the laurels won on that well-fought
field to form a part of her regalia. The
evidence was conclusive that the number of troops from New Hampshire on the
ground at the commencement of this battle under Stark, Reed and Prescott, who
fought independently, must have reached a thousand. If history was correct, there were not at any
time more than fifteen hundred engaged.
If such was the case, New Hampshire must have furnished two-thirds of
the men that took part in the battle from its beginning to its close, or until
they fell at the post of duty. Under
these circumstances, Massachusetts and Connecticut, with less numbers, should
not have the major part of the glory of the day. Mr. Derby presented a vivid sketch of the
battle of Bunker Hill remembering the special [illegible] the service of the
New Hampshire troops. He then followed
them to the battles of Trenton and Princeton, and the capture of the
Hessians. When the battle of Bennington
was fought, New Hampshire had a brigade of three regiments in the field at
Saratoga. They were especially
distinguished in one of the battles at Saratoga, where they three times charged
and took the British artillery, after losing heavily. He spoke also of the formation of General
Stark’s brigade from the hay-field. His
force was organized with raw recruits in less than a week, and with it he
marched for Bennington. He had neither
cartridges nor bayonets, but one bullet mould, and but one small piece of artillery
without cannon balls. With fresh men
from the field he attacked a body of regular troops well provided with bayonets
and cannon, stormed three intrenchments and killed or captured most of them,
although nearly as many in number as his own troops. In a few hours afterward he attacked and
defeated a similar force, and thus cut off the supplies and foragers of
Burgoyne, and soon after encamping in his rear, prevented his retreat to
Canada. Such, he said, in closing ere
the services of New Hampshire in the four great decisive conflicts of the
Revolution. The first taught our militia to face the veteran troops of England,
and those veterans to respect their foes.
The second and third contests in the darkest hour of the struggle at
Trenton and Princeton turned the tide of war and revived the drooping courage
of the country. The fourth led to the
surrender of Burgoyne and led the French alliance, which terminated the
war. The paper of Mr. Derby was
sustained by copious notes, giving the authorities he collated.”
This newspaper account made me curious to see if there was a
mention of Mr. Derby’s lecture in the NEHGS Register. Online I found Volume 29 (1875) of the Register, and on pages 119 - 120 this
account of the 7 October 1874 quarterly meeting of the New England Historic
Genealogical Society at their headquarters on 18 Somerset Street in Boston:
“Elias Hasket Derby, of Boston, then read a paper entitled, “Services
of New Hampshire and her Scotch Colonists in the Heroic Age of the Republic”. He adverted to the courage and resolution of
the Scotch who settled in the province of Ulster, Ireland, and then traced a colony
from that province across the ocean to New Hampshire, which produced brave and
hardy men who were distinguished in the French wars and the American revolution,
among whom were the partizan Rogers, and Cols. Stark, Reed, Cilley and that
Matthew Thornton who signed the Declaration of Independence.
Mr. Derby produced statistics to show that at the battle of
Bunker Hill the troops from New-Hampshire, among who those of Scotch Irish
descent were prominent, on the ground at the commencement of the battle, were at
least a thousand. If history be correct,
he said, there were not at any time more than fifteen hundred Americans
engaged, so that New-Hampshire must have furnished two-thirds of the men who
took part in the battle from the beginning to the close. He followed the New-Hampshire troops to
Trenton, Princeton, Saratoga, and other battles where they rendered service. Remarks
on this subject were made by the Hon. George W. Warren, Frederic Kidder, Joseph
Leeds and the Hon. Thomas C. Amory.”
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "New Hampshire Men who Fought the American Revolution", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 2, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/04/new-hampshire-men-who-fought-american.html: accessed [access date]).
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