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From: "Emmert Bittinger" <>
Subject: RE: Revolution
Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2000 17:26:17 -0500
In-Reply-To: <012f01c05a21$2688e420$101e8fa8@p3bf>




Dear Richard Weber,

You asked for some sources or documentation, such as what I
used for my article regarding Brethren and Mennonites during the Rev. War.
There are several good ones, but none are very clear as to the actual
mechanics of the “draft” procedures. It is likely that no official “draft”
as such was actually set into effect. You will notice according to the
quotes below that neighborhood officials were asked to list men of fighting
age, and this was also requested for the Mennonites and Brethren. So it is
clear that lists were prepared. Then muster days were announced, and the men
were supposed to come. There is terminology used such as asking men to
enroll, and this presumably would happen on muster days when they showed up.
They would need to sign in. However, I am not exactly sure about those
details. There may never have been what we would call today a formal draft
procedure.

One principal source that I used for the Md article (listed in
the footnotes of the article) was John Wayland’s series published in the
years 1914-16 in the Maryland Historical Magazine. This contains the lists
of Brethren and Mennonites who refused to muster and were fined. It is clear
that they had been “drafted” (were on lists consisting of men who were
supposed to appear) but would not attend and were fined specific amounts.
The areas maintained lists of those who had and had not taken the required
oath of allegience, which many Brethren and Mennonites could not willingly
sign. So those lists of non-associators were also crucial..



From James O Lehman, Mennonites of Maryland during the Rev. War.,
Mennonite Quarterly Review, July 1976.

In 1775, the Provincial Convention (of Md.) directed county
committees of observation to obtain the signature of each citizen to a
pledge of support to the patriot cause and to give names of nonassociators
to the Convention. A new militia call was issued to every able-bodied
freeman; to be exempted were Clergymen and such persons who from their
religious principles cannot bear arms in any case. Local committees were
directed to send the names of those who refused to enroll to the convention
or to the Council of Safety. {However, local areas were much more radical
than the Convention, and it was not long until some “Companies” threatened
to go to the homes and pull them out by force (Dunkers and Mennonites
resisters). The words in parenthesis represent a summary rather than a
quote. This article is a basic source for Maryland resisters.



A quotation from Mennonite historian Richard McMasters article
“Christian Obedience in Revolutionary Times,” p. 19 (A Mennonite Central
Committee Publication, 1976). Prior to the Rev. War, numerous local
communities had chosen Mennonite to township offices (Pa), but during the
war some of their duties conflicted with their religious views, and they
resigned. The following quote is revealing: “Mennonites, Brethren and
Quakers found it difficult to serve in township offices, when wartime
demands for militia fines and taxes compromised them. Lanc. Co. Commisioners
found it impossible to levy taxes in 1777 because so many local officials
resigned or failed to do their duty. The necessity of seizing property from
a brother who could not pay fines or taxes for reasons of conscience forced
many officials to resign. Other Mennonite constables refused TO PROVIDE
MILITIA OFFICERS WITH THE NAMES OF MEN OF MILITARY AGE IN THEIR TOWNSHIP
AND PAID HEAVY FINES AS A RESULT. Since the county officials had need of the
same lists to levy the special taxes imposed by the Assembly, Mennonites
could not cooperate with them.”

This quote indicates some of the mechanism by which names got
on the official lists which made up the “companies.”

Another important source is Durnbaugh, The Brethren in
Colonial America, 1967, the chapter on the Revolutionary War.

Emmert F. Bittinger


[Emmert Bittinger]


-----Original Message-----
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Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 11:27 AM
To: Emmert Bittinger
Subject: Revolution



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