NEPM

In 18th century WMass, people were 'active in efforts for American independence'

New England Public Media | By Jill Kaufman

Published May 30, 2025 at 1:39 PM EDT

1 of 3 — porter phelps sign and building.jpeg

Generations of a single family lived in the Porter-Phelps-Huntington house (now museum) in Hadley, Massachusetts, between the 18 and 20th centuries.

courtesy / www.pphmuseum.org

2 of 3 — PPH-Bx4-F12-Sezor-Phelps-to-Chas-Phelps-1776.jpg

In 1776, Charles Phelps sent Sezor Phelps (also spelled Cesar) in his place to fight in the Continental Army. According to the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, "it was common for white men, when called up to serve in the army, to send enslaved people as substitutes. Though enslaved soldiers would receive the same wages as their white counterparts, they were required to give half or more to their owner. Cesar, however, wrote to Charles in September of 1776, complaining that he had not received his wages."

courtesy / Porter-Phelps-Huntington House Museum

3 of 3 — porter phelps huntintgon diary of elizabeth.jpg

Above, among the papers of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington family, which document the history of one extended family, laborers and others who lived in the Hadley, Mass., home over 270 years. The Porter-Phelps-Huntington House Museum is among the cultural organizations documenting events that took place during the years leading up to, and during, the American Revolution.

Porter Phelps Huntintong House Museum / Courtesy

About 100 miles west of Lexington, Massachusetts, where one of the best known battles of the American Revolution played out, is a historic house in Hadley, Mass.

It's among the many locations where people lived and labored and played lesser known roles leading up to 1776, according to historians at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House and Museum

For a new exhibit they have been digging deeper into who was at the homestead and farm in the 1770s, telling a broader story said the museum's Elizabeth Pangburn.

In addition to the history of Elizabeth and Charles Porter Phelps, and their role in stewarding this site, "we tell the story of John Morrison a prisoner of war from Scotland, who reinvented himself as an ornamental gardener, once he was indentured here in 1777," Pangburn said.

"We [also] tell the story of George and Mary Andres, who were Hessian soldiers, probably captured and then marched over a thousand miles, eventually to Cambridge, and then indentured here," Pangburn explained.

The new exhibit also tells the story of people who were enslaved at the Hadley homestead.

Historians say that Sezor Phelps (also spelled Cesar) at some point left the Hadley home for Fort Ticonderoga in New York, a location that played a significant role in the American Revolution.

In that same time period, Peg Bowen went to Bennington, Vermont, after negotiating her own sale to the leader of the Green Mountain Boys — a regiment instrumental in taking Fort Ticonderoga from the British.

"This sale is unusual," according to the museum, "in that it seems that Peg had a personal say in it, as it sought to benefit her in a small but powerful way. Elizabeth [Phelps] wrote in her diary that Peg was sold along with 'a Negro man from this town al [sic] for the sake of being his wife.'"

The historic research suggests, "that Peg and Sezor were as active in efforts for American independence as were the people we commonly hear about," Pangburn said.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington exhibit "Forty Acres and the American Revolution: Stories of Independence and Servitude," which opens May 31, is part of a statewide observance of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, being told and re-enacted this and next year.

For other American Revolution stories around western Mass., the website Revolution Happened Here, has a collection of historical resources contributed by museums and organizations around the region, developed by the Pioneer Valley History Network.

The Porter-Phelps Huntington House and Museum is an underwriter of NEPM, which is is not a factor in how we cover them.