New memorial honors Chatham families who fought, worked during the Revolutionary War
CHATHAM — There is power in remembering. That was the message given by Rev. Douglas Warren Sears at the dedication of an American Revolutionary War Memorial at Chase Park on Monday.
We are able to call the past back to life, Sears said to a crowd gathered around a granite stone at the base of a hill where the Godfrey Windmill stands. On the stone, a bronze plaque lists the names of 50 Chatham families who sent men to fight in the Revolutionary War. Some were killed in the war, some survived. All will now be remembered.
Sears spoke of the women who contributed to the war effort by caring for farms and fields and businesses while the men were gone. Women sustained the homes and communities.
“We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses,” he said.
Bill Cullinane, dressed in period clothes and acting the part of Col. Benjamin Godfrey, gave a short history lesson. Godfrey was at the Siege of Boston with the Barnstable militia during the Revolutionary War.
Chatham was a hardscrabble town with a population of about 1,000 people at the time, he said. The Brits tried to steal boats in Chatham Harbor but Chatham patriots successfully fought them off.
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Cullinane, quoting George Washington and Thomas Paine, said the community fought together, the men with arms, the women making clothes, fishing and farming and melting lead to make bullets.
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered," he said quoting Paine
One quarter million men served in the Revolutionary War and about 7,000 were killed in action, according to Cullinane. Another 17,000 died of disease.
“We still have that spirit today,” he said.
He asked that the monument be a reminder of the families who fought and worked to make the country what it is.
“They fought to make this Republic. It’s up to you to keep it,” he said, pointing out at the crowd.
The memorial took seven years to come to fruition, said Select Board member Dean Nicastro. He named a long list of committees, commissions, societies, departments and a working group of seven people who toiled to make it happen.
“That’s why it took seven years,” he quipped.
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Boy Scout Troop 71 and Girl Scout Troop 80727 served as honor guards. Sarah Marchio played “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipe. Angelica Velasquez and Simon McBride from Monomoy Regional High School played the flute and drum respectively.
A separate 10-year celebration of the restoration of the Godfrey Windmill was held later in the morning. Originally built in 1797, the windmill is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Chatham Windmill Group had attached sails to the arms of the windmill and corn was ground into meal. The group planned to grind corn kernels as long as the wind cooperated.
Contact Denise Coffey at dcoffey@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @DeniseCoffeyCCT.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Chatham erects memorial to families who fought in Revolutionary War
