THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 



279 



be ascertained, have been picked out of the list of the 

 company, which includes many from the two other pre- 

 cincts of the town : — 



In another company Noah Nichols was first corporal, 

 and the following from Cohasset were privates : — 



Thomas Lothrop 

 Uriah Oakes . . 



19 



28 



Caleb Joy . 

 Obadiah Beal 



26 



27 



Some Hingham soldiers had already gone to the front 

 and were in danger of being annihilated by the over- 

 whelming army of French and Indians about Lake 

 George. It was partly the hope of rescuing these friends 

 or at least of gaining a soldier's revenge that mustered 

 out twenty young men from this little precinct of one 

 hundred and fifty. 



The oldest of the privates was only thirty-one and the 

 youngest was eighteen, so that between these ages there 

 could not have been left in town a dozen men. 



They started the march on the fifteenth of August, 

 1757; but the purpose of the expedition was dead before 

 they started. Fort William Henry had already surren- 

 dered, after a brave resistance, on August 9 ; and on the 

 next day fell that savage butchery of helpless captives 

 that usually attended the victories of the French with 

 their Indian allies. The relief expedition was therefore 

 of no avail. In eight days after leaving they returned to 

 their homes. 



But the war was not ended, and this taste of army life 

 was for some the beginning of a soldier's career. 



