JOSEPH FRYE

JOSEPH FRYE


http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/9211/FRYE.htm

b. 19 Mar. 1712 Andover, MA

m. 20 Mar. 1732 MEHITABLE POOR (b. 4 Apr. 1714 Andover, d. 4 Jan. 1788 Fryeburg, ME)

d. 25 July 1794 Fryeburg, Maine

bur. Pine Grove Cemetery

Most of the information on Joseph is from the thesis "Major General Joseph Frye of Maine" by Kenneth E. Thompson of Portland.

As a younger member of a large family Joseph did not inherit a large portion of his father's estate and consequently he became a surveyor. He built his house on part of his father's land and praticed his trade in Andover.

In 1738 the Great Throat Distemper struck the Frye family killing all of their children. Over the course of this epidemic of diptheria or scarlet fever 5,000 children and young adults died in New England with 1,400 deaths in Essex Co. alone.(1)

In 1744 the War of the Austrian Succession finally dragged England and France into conflict. This war was known as King George's War in the Colonies and the prime threat in the area was from the French stronghold at Louisbourg. In 1745 Gov. William Shirley of Massachusetts pushed for an attack on the fortress. The General Court agreed and enlisted 3,000 men. On 7 Feb. 1745 Joseph was commissioned an ensign in Col. Robert Hale's 5th Massachusetts Regiment in the 5th Co. commanded by Capt. Jonathan Bagley with Lieut. Caleb Swan.(2)

The soldiers were put on board the transports in Boston in Mar. awaiting departure. On 22 Mar. Col. Hale ordered his regiment ashore and "Drawed up in a Battalion & Exercised till about 2 in the afternoon"(3) Then the men "Returned on Bord to be Refrest & Rest our weary Bodeys."(4) The expedition left on the 24th and arrived at the Sheepscot River in Maine on the 26th. They stayed there until a favorable wind arrived on the 29th but encountered more stormy weather. The ships "Lay Rowling in ye Seas with our Sails Furl'd with Prodigious wave."(5) Major Seth Pomeroy stated: "All yt I Took To Eat or Drink vomit up again Sick Day & night So bad yt I have not words To Set it Forth, nor Can I give any Body an Idea of it yt hath not Felt ye Same or Some thinge like it..."(6)

The ships arrived at Canso, NS during the first eleven days of April with Commodore Warren arriving from the West Indies on the 23rd.(7) The expedition sailed from Canso on the 29th and arrived at Gabarus Bay near Louisbourg the next day.(8)

The troops landed and met only minor resistance from the French. Hale's regiment set up camp at Green Hill to protect several artillery batteries set up in the area before finally moving to the fifth battery known as Titcomb's battery. The French had not finished the land defenses as they did not expect a siege from this direction due to the terrain. Besides this error the French garrison had mutineed the previous fall and was too small to withstand a prolonged siege. On 1 May the French foolishly abandoned the Grand Battery after trying to destroy the cannon which the provincials easily repaired and turned towards the city. The next battery was constructed on Green Hill, 1500 yards from the city but, this was too far for their artillery and another battery was constructed 900 yards from the fort on Rabasse Heights on 10 May. On 16 May another battery was built only 440 yards from the West Gate. Another stoke of luck at this time was the discovery of 23 cannon in the harbor which had been left there years before. The next day the Advanced Battery was constructed 230 yards from the West Gate and with the large guns from the Grand Battery succeeded in penetrating the West Gate and the adjoining wall. Commodore Warren captured the Vigilant with her 64 guns, 500 man crew and provisions for the city thus sealing the city's fate. Hale's regiment then built Titcomb's Battery 800 yards from the West Gate and on 4 June this battery fired red-hot shot into the city setting fire to many buildings. Col. Hale's troops then moved closer to Titcomb's Battery: "Our men finished our Camp, fenced in the Colls Garden, and our men Brought Garden Roots from the gardens Below and set out the Colls garden."(9) [Benjamin Cleaves' Journal of the Expedition to Louisbourg, 1745- NEHGR, LXVI, p.121]

Further warships arrived and a combined land/sea assault was planned for the 16th but, the French seeing the hopeless situation surrendered on the 15th. On the 17th: "our Army Marcht To ye Citty the Colours were flying the Drums Beating Trumpets Sounding Flutes & Vials Playing Colo Bradstreet att ye Head of the Army The Genl Lt Genl and Gentry in ye Rear."(10)

During the first of July the French were placed on transports and sent home as were many of the Provincials.

On 7 Aug. Lieut. Col. Eveleth left Louisbourg for the garrison at Canso, Joseph probably was among these men. Conditions here were primitive at best. Eveleth wrote to Pepperrell on 9 Sept. that: "we are the greatest part of us in health but hope you will now Release the men they have not cloaths to ware sum of them have not a Shoe nor Stocking to ware & Few provisions we have not any bread & no rum but we hope for relief soon."(11) Three days later he wrote that: "at present there is not Barracks suitable for men to Lodge in- the rain beats in so that we can Scarcely keep the Ammunition dry there must be Boards & Shingles & a prety deal of work done if men Live here the Winter... We have here Eleven Barrels of Burlington Pork in the Store. We opened one Barrel but it was such that no body would touch it..."(12) The troops here stayed until the late fall, Joseph being one of those who left at that time.

On 14 June 1746 Joseph was commissioned a lieut. in Maj. Titcomb's company in Brigadier Gen. Waldo's new regiment.(13) Many men were sent to Crown Point, NY to capture the French Fort there. Joseph remained in Boston at this time awaiting his assignment. Things had gone badly for the English in Nova Scotia and the expedition to Crown Point was postponed. The threat of invasion became greater and Joseph was sent to Falmouth, ME to pursue the marauding Indians and stayed there until the fall of 1747.

Ref:

(1) True History of the Terrible Epidemic Vulgarly Called the Throat Distemper- Ernest Caulfield, Yale Journal of Biology & Medicine, Vol.XI, pp.67,103

(2) Louisbourg Soldiers- Charles Hudson, NEHGR, XXIV, pp.368-78

(3) Benjamin Cleaves' Journal of the Expedition to Louisbourg, 1745- NEHGR, LXVI, p.114

(4) Journal Kept by Lieutenant Daniel Giddings- Essex Institute Collections, LXVIII, p.294

(5) The Journals and Papers of Seth Pomeroy- Louis E. de Forest, p.15

(6) Ibid

(7) Ibid-pp.8,16,19

(8) Ibid- p.20

(9) Benjamin Cleaves' Journal of the Expedition to Louisbourg, 1745- NEHGR, LXVI, p.121

(10) Diary Kept by Lieut. Dudley Bradstreet- Samuel A. Green, p.21

(11) Pepperrell Papers- Mass. Hist. Soc., Vol.I, p.295

(12) letter from Eveleth to Pepperrell, Belknap Collection, MSS at Mass. Hist. Soc., B, p.167

[See also: http://imaginemaine.com/Features/Archives/Frye.html - For the times, a very ordinary life. Then, in 1745, King George's War began and New England acted to end economic competition with the French by attacking Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. Participation in the siege and defeat of the French stronghold marked a sea change in the life of 33-year old Frye who enlisted in Hale's Fifth Massachusetts as an ensign. Apparently he found military life more exciting than Andover. The following year found Frye serving in Falmouth, Maine this time as a lieutenant. From 1747 to late 1749 when the war ended, he was captain of a company posted in Scarborough ... Of the remaining sixty fourth parts, Frye kept eight parts for himself, and one each for his son Joseph Jr., his nephew Simon Frye, and his niece's husband Caleb Swan who had served with him at Louisbourg. Fore a price of twenty pounds sterling, each of the remaining 49 parts went to 39 non-family members, many of whom had some military connection to Frye. ]