Daniel Jackson, b. 1742, April 2; m. Roby Hawkins, 1765, Nov. 4. He died 1806, May 21. His will mentions children Samuel, John T. (father of Daniel, Ephraim and Benjamin M., etc.), Benjamin M., Amey (wife of Bernon Dun), Ruth (wife of Lewis Bosworth), and Polly.
THE AFFAIR AT FORT WILLIAM AND MARY.
BY THE REV. THOMAS GREGORY.
Just before sunset on the afternoon of December 13, 1774, Paul Revere jumped from his foam-covered steed in front of a house in Durham, New Hampshire, rushed in and informed its owner, Major John Sullivan, that two regiments of British regulars were about to march from Boston to occupy Portsmouth and the fort in its harbor. In an instant Sullivan made up his mind as to what it was his duty to do, and within less than two hours he had gathered his force and was ready for business.
The party, sixteen in number, boarded an unwieldy, sloop-rigged old craft and darted off down the river to Portsmouth. It was a clear, cold moonlight night, and presently the crude masonry of old Fort William and Mary loomed up in the distance, reminding them of the fact that they were close on to their quarry. When within a rod or so of the shore their vessel grounded in the shallow water, and in silence they waded to land, mounted the fort, surprised the garrison and found themselves victorious without the loss of a man or even of a drop of blood.
Securing the prisoners, the patriots at once broke into the magazine, where they found one hundred pounds of powder. The powder, along with one hundred stand of small arms, was put aboard of their craft and taken back to Durham, where it was buried under the pulpit of the old meeting-house in front of Major Sullivan’s house.
Six months later the battle of Bunker Hill came off, and it was this same powder, captured by Major Sullivan at Fort William and Mary, that enabled the Americans to kill so many of the British in that historic encounter. Powder was exceedingly scarce in the patriot army, and Sullivan, anticipating that such might be the case, filled “old John Demerett’s ox-cart” with the powder he had buried under Parson Adams’ pulpit and sent it over the sixty-odd miles of rocky road to Boston, where it was destined to do such good service in the cause of liberty.
It was the news of Sullivan’s capture of Fort William and Mary that precipitated the Revolution. After such a daring deed Lexington was a foregone conclusion. In the words of another, “Sullivan was the first man in active rebellion against the British government, and he drew with him the province he lived in.” In an address on the history of this part of New Hampshire, Rev. Quint, of Dover, referring to the attack on the fort, said: “The daring character of the assault cannot be over-estimated. It was an organized investment of a royal fortress where the king’s flag was flying and where the king’s garrison met them with muskets and artillery. It was four months before Lexington, and Lexington was resistance to attack, while this was deliberate assault.”
DOMINICK LYNCH AND HIS FAMILY.
Compiled from Various Sources.