CHAPTER XIV. 



THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 



THE independence of this community from its mother 

 town had been gained only five years before that 

 greater independence of the American colonies from their 

 mother nation was begun. In that mighty revolt against 

 a foreign tyrant the town of Cohasset bore a humble 

 part. In the blood of our citizens who were slain, and in 

 the hard-earned money we poured into the war, was a 

 pledge of our devotion fully commensurate with our 

 strength. The hardships of war had already been learned 

 by some of our citizens, for, during the wars between 

 France and England in America, many Cohasset young 

 men had borne arms for the king of England. 



The famous capture of Louisburg, that massive French 

 fort upon the island of Cape Breton, on June 17, 1745, 

 was no doubt participated in by one or more men from 

 Cohasset. 



The rolls of New England troops of that expedition 

 have been lost from the State archives, but John Stephen- 

 son, who afterwards married Nathaniel Nichols' daughter, 

 was on the pay roll for assisting in " wooding the garrison." 



Another young man who was present at that " glorious 

 victory" is Ebenezer Beal, of North Cohasset, for that 

 name occurs upon the list of men who volunteered to 

 .storm the Island Battery in the harbor of Louisburg. 



A third is John Wheelwright,* afterwards the tanner of 

 Beechwood, whose old bayonet used at Louisburg is now 

 in the possession of Edward Wheelwright, of Boston. 



* He enlisted in 1745 at twenty-six years of age under Pepperell as a private in 

 the 7th Massachusetts Regiment, Shubael Gorham colonel, 4th company, Elisha 

 Doane captain. November 20, 1745, he was in one of" the 3 Companies that Doe 

 Duty in the town." (See the original Pepperell Papers, Massachusetts Historical 

 Society, Vol. H, p. 51.) 



