The twelve pound cannon

There are times when the average person is plunged into a very difficult situation by pure chance. It is the actions of this average person that determines the outcome of a significant event. Such was the case on a cold February day two hundred forty-four years ago as our Continental Army under the command of General George Washington fought a bitter war. The well organized and trained soldiers from England engaged the Continental Army time and time again with some success and ultimate failure.

On February 25th, 1777 orders were sent from General Washington to two men in New Hampshire, Colonels Stark and Poore. This important message requested troops be recruited and immediately dispatched to Ticonderoga, New York. Many of our ancestors, simple men that worked as farmers and merchants, were recruited into the Continental Army serving with troops from New Hampshire. By the first of March, 1777, the roads contained less mud and allowed for more efficient travel, especially with cannons, troops and Conestoga Wagons being transported west. The last location to stop along this journey west to Ticonderoga was Fort Number 4, followed by nothing but wilderness after. The freshly recruited New Hampshire men signed up for service with the expectation they would serve under the beloved General John Stark, but as history states, Stark was passed over for a promotion to Brigadier with the position being awarded to Colonel Poor. The troops marched and marched, not reaching Ticonderoga until late in the month of May when they made camp at Saratoga under the command of Colonels Scammel and Dearborn reporting to Brigadier General Poor. The British army, under Burgoyne, found themselves surrounded by the Continental Army and the battle erupted. The New Hampshire soldiers under Brigadier General Poor were ordered to attack on the enemies left, charging the British line, the British soldiers broke and fled leaving their cannon behind. So began the struggle to hold the twelve-pound brass cannon by both the British and Continental Armies. Named a twelve-pound cannon for the weight of the cannonball fired.

Our very own Colonel Cilley, Major Gilman and Colonel Morgan gallantly managed the troops instructing the New Hampshire soldiers to hold tightly to the twelve-pound British cannon. British troops rallied and once again secured their cannon, but New Hampshire soldiers quickly responded regaining possession of the cannon with Colonel Cilley, charging forward and landing atop the cannon. Cilley and his men immediately loaded the British cannon and turned it around, firing upon the British troops. New Hampshire First Regiment Soldier Thomas Haines courageously defended the cannon for the remainder of the battle, Haines was recruited out of Loudon, New Hampshire, living in Concord, New Hampshire in the years following the war.

The battle continued to rage, Colonel Cilley ordered Thomas Haines to hold the cannon and not surrender it back to the British. Many men died in the defense of this twelve-pound British cannon, but Thomas Haines refused to leave his post. With hand-to-hand combat at close range and the use of bayonets, Thomas Haines was struck by a musket ball in the face.  The ball entered near his right cheekbone, passing through his mouth while removing eleven teeth, a portion of his tongue, the musket ball then exited near his left ear. Thomas Haines remained on the field of battle for two days after the war, only discovered to be alive when the dead were retrieved.

Thomas Haines was hospitalized and survived his very serious wounds. Months later he returned to duty with the First New Hampshire Regiment fulfilling his three-year enlistment contract.

The British twelve-pound brass cannon remained in the possession of the Continental Army where it fired time and again upon British Troops. Our New Hampshire Continental Army Soldier Thomas Haines returned to Concord as an average person that had encountered a significant event. After the war he lived a peaceful life into his ninth decade as a Revolutionary War Hero in our little town.  

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