Patriotically named Independence Booth was born on July 4, 1776 in Enfield, Connecticut, to Captain Joseph and Mary Hale Booth. Perhaps Independence (did she have a shorter nickname?) got her name because her father Captain Joseph Booth was a patriotic soldier. His grave in Enfield, Connecticut, includes the information that he "served in the French and Indian Wars from 1755-1762 and the War of the Revolution from 1775-1777 and received his commission as Captain Mar. 21st, 1777."
Independence married twice. Her first husband Danforth Charles, whom she married in 1802, died prematurely in 1807. They had a daughter Hannah, who was born after her father's death. Independence married a second time to Lewis Barber in 1817. Her grave can be found in Ludlow's Fuller Cemetery at the corner of Church and Center Streets.
Independence had several gravestone carvers in her family, including Enos Booth, who signed a stone in the Fuller cemetery–a rare find made more unusual as the signature appears on the back of the stone. Cousin Enos didn't carve her stone, though, nor her cousin Hanan Cooley, who also has a signed stone in the same cemetery, since they both pre-deceased her. A third carver, Herman Newell also signed a stone in Fuller Cemetery; he is a possible carver for her stone.
As this gravestone attests, patriots faced danger at home as well as on the battlefield. This stone stands in Longmeadow Cemetery, describing the untimely death of 18 year-old Solomon Burt, "Who was suddenly Kill'd by the Blowing up of a Powder Mill."
Two years before this catastrophe, Longmeadow's minister Stephen Williams wrote about the growing conflict with Great Britain in his diary. On April 20th, 1775, the Reverend Stephen Williams wrote (Vol. 8): "this morning–as Soon as it was light, ye Drum beat & three Gun/fired an Alarm–the Story is that Some of ye troops had marched from Boston to Seize Some military Stores, at Lexington, or Concord–& that Some men had been Killed..." On April 21st, Captain David Burt led 22 Longmeadow minute men to the Lexington alarm. On the 26th, Reverend Williams, upon hearing of various conflicts occurring in New England, prayed "to God to Give wisdom, prudence, discretion and moderation to all his people." In May, he bemoaned the state of affairs: "the nation in a ferment; Some are for violent and coercive measures, with ye colonies, & provinces; some few for lenient, & moderation measures–destruction both to the parent country & the colonies Seems inevitable..."
While Williams seems to have been torn about the rift with Great Britain, the Burt family's sympathies were clearly on the side of the patriots. Solomon Burt worked at a powder mill situated on the Mill River in Springfield. The mill, owned by his father David, supplied powder to the American army.
On May 7, 1777, the powder mill exploded, with predictably disastrous results. Sabotage was suspected, but powder mills were by their very nature extremely volatile, and any spark could have set it off. The Reverend Williams wrote about the event in his diary (Vol. 9): "this day ye powdr Mill blew up & Solomon Burt (Son to Lt. David Burt) was Kill'd- was cari'd over ye Mill River - Severall rod/ & upon ye Hill - his leggs broke - & his Body much Bruis'd- Asahell Bliss - yt was in ye mill with him - was flung into ye River & one of his legs broke de [ditto]- de [ditto]- a very awefull & affecting providence - ..."
David Burt continued the powder mill business even after the explosion, as detailed in the following document from 1781 in the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum in Springfield, MA.
Other local cemeteries record similar dramatic explosions, including Southwick and Glastonbury, CT.
Prior to arriving at Fort Ticonderoga, Caesar lived and worked at a vast estate known as Forty Acres in Hadley, Massachusetts. His enslaver, Charles Phelps, Jr, was a man of high status in the community, and had him sent to fight in his place. It was common for white men, when called up to serve in the army, to send their enslaved servants as a substitute. Though they would receive the same wages as their white counterparts, they were required to give half or more to their owner. Caesar wrote to Charles in September of 1776, complaining that he had not received his wages. While lack of pay was frequently an issue for American soldiers during the Revolution, Caesar’s poignant letter reveals the complicated and precarious nature of his life as an enslaved person. He strives for some control over his living situation and meager personal possessions even as he acknowledges his status and that Charles has the power to sell him at any time.
The “stock and buckel” Caesar requests in his letter would have been his neck stock and buckle, a clasp that held a tightly wrapped piece of fabric around the neck. They would have been some or all of the possessions he would have been able to own. Enslaved persons were able to purchase small items like this, usually with the exchange of labor.Journal from ye 1st of March 1773
1773--- Mar 1st- Went with Mr Cutler in ye Morning to Leiut
Fields drank Egg Pop and from there to Hoyts
drank Cherry and then back to Lt Fields & dined &
in ye Afternoon to Dickinsons Shop drank Cherry from
there we went to Joiners and in ye Evening we had
a dance and I waited upon Mr C Williams the Co
were Doctr Barnard et lexor J Williams & Sister T. Cutler
Murray Dickinson Cooley Peggy Ingersoll & Vira do
with several other Gentleman and Ladies a very fine
Dance, the Co braking up I came and Lodged wth Murray
Tuesday Majr Murray paid ye fine of 10/0 to
Colo Thos Williams Esq for riding of a
Sunday from Hubbards in Sunderland to Deerfield he
complaind of himself up & ye Afternoon I began
to read Van Swietens Commentaries upon Boerhaaves
Aphorisms drank Tea with ye Ladies, in ye Evening
went to Lt Fields to get an order of Abatement wc he
promised he would make when he saw ye Selectmen
from there I went to Ensn Barnards & from there
went to Catlins wth Murray, and from Catlins we
went to Doctr Barnards and playd Checkers, Murray
married me to Vira and I married him to Peggy after
which Murray and Peggy in truth like married People
went to Bed in presence of Theod Barnard & Vira & myself
where I left them when I came away Theod took Vira away
& into ye Kitchen and them I see no more---