‘Westfield Off to War 1775′ at the Old Burying Grounds on June 14
WESTFIELD — The Historical Commission is sponsoring an event on the Old Burying Grounds on June 14 at 1 p.m. as part of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
'Westfield Off to War 1775' will be a demonstration by trained reenactors of the drilling and muster of the Westfield militia men who left Westfield in April and June of 1775 after the Lexington Concord Battle.
Westfield reenactor Samuel MacMunn, who is creating the event and will be portraying Second Lt. Richard Falley, Jr., said reenactors from around Massachusetts will be participating. Named roles local to Westfield include Lt. Col. William Shepard played by Mike Knapik, Capt. Warham Parks played by Dick Baldwin and the Reverend John Ballantine, played by John West of Northampton. Other reenactors will be filling the roles of militiamen of the period.
MacMunn said an interesting fact is that when the company marched, William Shepard and Warham Parks were not yet generals and Richard Falley Jr. was not yet a lieutenant. At the time, William Shepard was a lieutenant colonel, Warham Parks was a captain and Richard Falley Jr. was a second lieutenant.
MacMunn referenced information on the muster from the book, 'Westfield and its Historic Influences 1669-1919: The life of an early town with a survey of events in New England and bordering regions to which it was related in colonial and revolutionary times: Volume 1' by Reverend John Hoyt Lockwood, 1922:
'According to the roster of Mr. Bartlett, taken from the Provincial records, the company which then started from Westfield consisted of fifty-two men, including the following officers: first lieutenant, John Shepard; second lieutenant, Zechariah Bush; sergeants, Benjamin Dewey, Moses Dewey, Gideon Shepard, Asa Noble; corporals, Israel Sackett, Roger Noble, Benjamin Winchell, James Nimocks. The drummer was Ruggles Winchell, and the fifer was Jedediah Taylor.
'There were a few Westfield men, Russel Dewey, David Shepard, Richard Falley and his son Frederick, but could not have been many besides, in the famous battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, when for the first time the raw Provincial militia, faint of body from hours of arduous toil and fasting, under a broiling summer sun, stood to their breastwork and twice repulsed the trained veterans of European campaigns. The Hampshire regiment, on duty on the other side of Boston, was not called into action on that day.'
'Westfield Off to War 1775' is free and open to the public, and will be held rain or shine.
Read the original article on MassLive.
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