town, and henceforth assumed its share of responsibility with the other
towns in adopting measures for the general welfare, and contributed its
proportion of men and supplies for the common defence. Through the
stormy period preceding the War of the Revolution, the public sentiment
of Worcester sustained the rights of the Colonies, and when, on the 19th
of April, 1773, the messenger of war, on his white horse, dashed through
the town, shouting, "To arms! to arms! the war is begun," the response
was immediate; the bell was rung, cannon fired, and the minute-men, true
to name, rallied on the Common, where they were paraded by Capt. Timothy
Bigelow. At about five o'clock in the afternoon they took up their line
of march. Capt. Benjamin Flagg soon followed, with thirty-one men,--a
total of one hundred and eight men. Capt. Bigelow having halted at
Sudbury, to rest his men, was met by Capt. Flagg, when they both pushed
on to Cambridge, where the organization of the army was being made.
Timothy Bigelow, whose abilities were at once recognized, was appointed
Major in Col. Jonathan Ward's regiment. On the 24th of April another
company, of fifty-nine men, all from Worcester, enlisted under Capt.
Jonas Hubbard. During the seven dark years that followed, this town
never wavered in its devotion to the cause of liberty, and was
represented on many of the most important battle-fields, as well
as at the surrender of Yorktown, which terminated the struggle for
independence. Saturday, the 14th of July, 1776, the Declaration of
Independence was received. It was publicly read, for the first time on
Massachusetts soil, from the porch of the Old South Church, by Isaiah
Thomas, to the assembled crowd. On Sunday, after divine service, it was
read in the church. Measures were adopted for a proper celebration of
the event, and on the Monday following, the earliest commemoration of
the occasion, since hallowed as the national anniversary, took place in
the town.