tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post7192031682575508055..comments2024-03-28T04:26:30.557-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: The Court Martial of Lt. Col. Abijah BrownUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-88625993708117087362021-05-06T22:27:00.573-05:002021-05-06T22:27:00.573-05:00Yes, there’s definitely a deeper story here. Brown...Yes, there’s definitely a deeper story here. Brown definitely lodged a complaint against Woodbridge. Did the colonel retaliate with an accusation against Brown? Or was Brown’s complaint an attempt to preempt Woodbridge’s action against him? <br /><br />Brown was from Waltham (though ultimately he died in Lincoln). It looks like he brought one company from that town to the siege lines in May 1775, but it’s not clear what happened with those men next. According to Frank Gardner’s <i>Massachusetts Magazine</i> series on the province’s regiments, Woodbridge’s regiment included six companies from Hampshire County, two from Berkshire, one from Hampshire and Worcester, and one from Essex. No companies from Middlesex. <br /><br />And yet <i>Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors</i> lists an Amos Harrington of Waltham who served in Col. Gardner’s militia regiment in April 1775 and then joined Capt. Seth Murray’s company of Col. Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge’s regiment at Prospect Hill later in the year. This is the only Harrington linked to that regiment, so he was probably Brown’s farmworker. <br /><br />There are multiple men named Clark or Clarke listed in Woodbridge’s regiment, none with a link to Waltham. J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-79913914280700810322021-05-06T14:34:13.970-05:002021-05-06T14:34:13.970-05:00On 29 September 1775, Lt Col Brown (Lincoln) lodge... On 29 September 1775, Lt Col Brown (Lincoln) lodges a complaint against his regimental Commander, Col Woodbridge (Hampshire County) and a Court of Inquiry is held. All of the court members are from Eastern Massachusetts. Complaint and outcome unknown. One week later, a general court martial, presided over by an officer from Rhode Island, is held and Lt Col Brown is found guilty of employing two of the men from a Western Massachusetts regiment on his farm for roughly two weeks. This is not exactly Bernie Madoff fraud and rather picayune by 18th century British army standards, or, indeed by Continental Army standards. Yet Washington uses the term "atrocious" to describe Lt Col Brown's "fraud." One wonders if there isn't more to this.EJWitekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05796418061787943596noreply@blogger.com