The Four Generals - A Brief History
The statue pictured on the front of the ornament is called
the Four Generals and is located in Nottingham Square, at the corner of Route
156 and Ledge Farm Road. It is a granite monument, standing at 16 feet, with a
minuteman on top and lists the last name of the four Generals, each engraved
on a side of the square base. The names are Butler, Cilley, Dearborn, and
Bartlett. The statue was dedicated July 4th, 1917 by the Else Cilley
Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
General Joseph Cilley is probably the most renowned of the four
generals. He took part in the 1774 raid on Fort William and Mary and the
following year was appointed Major in Colonel Poor’s Regiment. He led a group
of 100 men from Nottingham to Boston, upon hearing of the Battle of Lexington. He
went on to fight at Monmouth and other crucial battles and was made Major of
the First NH Regiment. Cilley was presented with two pistols after the war by
the NH Assembly and they are on display at the NH State House.
The second general named on the monument is Henry Dearborn. Dearborn
was a doctor in Nottingham before the start of the Revolution. When fighting at
Lexington and Concord began in 1775, he led 60 men from Nottingham to fight in
the Battle of Bunker Hill under General Stark. Later that year, Dearborn fought
with Benedict Arnold and General Richard Montgomery, where Dearborn was taken
prisoner until May of 1776. On March 19, 1777 he was appointed General of the
3rd NH Regiment. He went on to serve under General Cilley and fought at
Ticonderoga, Burgoyne and other battles. During the War of 1812 he was ranked
Major General and then served under Thomas Jefferson as the Secretary of War.
General Henry Butler is the third person listed on the Four
Generals statue. The son of Reverend Benjamin Butler, the minister in
Nottingham, Henry Butler was Captain of a company at West Point in 1780, under
Colonel Thomas Bartlett. He followed Bartlett to the 1st NH Militia
where he served as Major General for many years. He went on to hold many town
and state offices and became Nottingham’s first postmaster.
The fourth of the Generals that appear on the statue is
Thomas Bartlett. Bartlett was born and raised in Nottingham and served as town
clerk for 26 years. He also served as Lieutenant Colonel in several regiments ranging
from 1776 to 1780. When Benedict Arnold betrayed the Continental Army, he was Colonel
of a regiment at West Point. He went on to serve many different positions
within Nottingham and in 1790 was appointed Justice of the Court of Common
Pleas. He held that position until his death in 1805.
The back side of the ornament shows some of Nottingham’s
flora and fauna as well as some stacked timber. Several small dams in the town
provided water-power enabling the building of mills for cutting lumber,
grinding grain as well as ‘fulling’, a process of cleaning and creating a nap
on coarse, woolen homespun cloth. Nottingham at one point had seventeen running mills.
To learn more about the statue and Nottingham’s history please
refer to:
https://www.nottingham-nh.gov/about-nottingham