Military History. 



255 



one having in view the capture of Crown Point on Lake Cham- 

 plain. To this end a large number of men were recruited in New 

 England, New York, and New Jersey, the burden, as usual, fall- 

 ing principally upon Massachusetts, which voted both troops and 

 money with a liberal hand. To William Johnson, afterwards 

 knighted for his services, was given the command. On Sep- 

 tember 8, Baron Dieskau, with a force of French and Indians, 

 attacked Johnson near the head of Lake George, but was 

 defeated. The attempt upon Crown Point was however aban- 

 doned for the time, and the troops went into winter quarters at 

 Fort William Henry. For this expedition there was enlisted in 

 Hingham a company commanded by Capt. Samuel Thaxter, and 

 attached to Col. Richard Gridley's regiment. A note in Hon. 

 Solomon Lincoln's private copy of the " History of Hingham " 

 says that this company marched September 23, 1755, with fifty- 

 live men, and that they were at Fort Edward. Besides the 

 Hingham men there were undoubtedly many from Weymouth 

 and other towns in the neighborhood. 



Those from Hingham were 



Samuel Thaxter, captain, 

 Thomas Gill, Jr.. sergeant, 

 Samuel Joy, clerk, 

 Thomas Hollis, corporal, 

 Lot Lincoln, corporal, 

 Hosea Dunbar, corporal, 

 Nehemiah Blancher, private, 

 Thomas Chubbuck, 

 Joseph Carrel, 

 Joseph Dunbar, 

 Seth French, 

 Thomas Hearsey, 

 Mathias Hartman, 



a 

 a 



Joseph Jones, private, 

 Joseph Lyon, " 



Silas Lovell, 

 Geo. McLaughlin, " 

 William Magnor. " 

 Richard Newcoinb, " 

 John Sprague, " 



Stephen Saulsbury, " 

 Benjamin Tirrell, " 

 Abel Wilder, 

 Jonathan Whitton, " 

 Samuel Trask, " 



In the mean time the expedition which finally resulted in the 

 Acadian tragedy had been planned by Gov. Shirley, and sailed 

 from Boston May 22, 1755. It consisted, in the main, of some 

 two thousand men, under the immediate command of its lieu- 

 tenant-colonel, John Winslow, Shirley himself being its nominal 

 colonel. On the 1st of June the fleet and transports anchored 

 off Beausejour, the French fort at the small isthmus connecting 

 Nova Scotia with the main land, and on the 16th the fort and 

 garrison surrendered to the English. Within a few days after, all 

 of Acadia fell into British hands. Then followed the removal of 

 the unhappy people of this province from their homes, and their 

 dispersion among the English colonies from Massachusetts to 

 Georgia. The sad story has been the subject of poetry and 

 romance ; the best and most just account is to be found in Park- 

 man's pages, but there are local associations with the events 

 whose relation properly belongs here. One of the most inter- 



