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| 131 7 Recruiting Gone for a Soldier As in almost all military systems throughout history, the provincial governments of Massachusetts and New Hamp­ shire employed both a carrot and a stick in their efforts to find soldiers for active duty. They attempted to encourage or entice volunteers with wages and special incentives tied to the type of service involved, such as scalp money for scouting and plunder for expeditions. Underscored by a foundation of propaganda appealing to various tastes and inclinations, these “encouragements” did produce numerous volunteers, but not always in the numbers needed to get the job done. The colonial governments prepared for such shortages by providing the legal means to press reluctant recruits for service. Thus by use of both the carrot (reward) and the stick (compulsion), the provincial governments found the soldiers to fight their wars. According to Kyle F. Zelner, in King Philip’s War, Massachusetts impressed the majority of its soldiers. Facing a catastrophic war with a suspect militia system, Massachusetts forced men to serve through laws that granted committees of militia broad powers. Operating on their own without direct help from England and with a small population, Massachusetts had little means and little time for experimentation.1 Although the press remained, the imperial wars brought change. England’s increasing ability to support war efforts within the empire, the stabilization of government in Massachusetts, with a growing economy and population, enabled Massachusetts to do what Harold E. Selesky found in Connecticut, to base “military service on economic selfinterest .”2 Economic incentives would provide the primary means for finding more volunteers. Although varying in amount according to both time and place, almost all soldiers employed in “His Majesty’s service” received wages. (The only exceptions were the scalp hunters who received no regular wages, performing their services on speculation.) The standard wage during the early French wars in 132 | Recruiting both New Hampshire and Massachusetts graduated between forty shillings per month for privates to £7 per month for captains, to be paid from the time of “detachment” (from the militia, or civilian life) until an orderly discharge, including a “reasonable time allowed them to repair to their usual place of abode.”3 While this may be considered a standard, the provincial governments exhibited a great degree of flexibility in wages offered for services rendered . Soldiers performing short-term service, such as patrols, and garrison duty in coastal forts, especially in peacetime, often received considerably less. For example, soldiers stationed at the Castle in Boston Harbor during King William’s and Queen Anne’s Wars received five shillings per week for their efforts, exactly half the normal pay.4 The captain or officer commanding the individual companies received the money and had to provide a receipt to the government. He in turn paid the men.5 Soldiers performing long-term duty often were paid a month’s wages in advance, but scouting parties had to wait until the completion of their task.6 Officers of scouts submitted their journals and accounts to the assemblies, generally in person, then received the money and returned to distribute it. Occasionally deductions were made, such as the four pence per week for the use of a provincial weapon,7 but the practice never approached the level of the English army where the meager pay of the redcoats was consumed by deductions. Of the eight pence sterling paid to British soldiers per day, two were subtracted as “off-reckonings” and basically went to pay for the soldier’s clothing and to profit the colonel of the regiment. The rest, known as “subsistence ,” paid for his provisions and other neces­ saries. Any money left over could be pocketed by the soldier.8 Colonial soldiers rarely, if ever, paid for their provisions. During the summer of 1709, provincial soldiers waiting in vain for British support to attack Quebec had eight pence per day “punctually payd him for his victuals” over and above the nine shillings per week provided as wages.9 Similarly, soldiers involved in the aborted Montreal campaign of 1747 were paid off at a rate of six pence sterling per day “clear of stoppages for provisions or billeting money.”10 Unfortunately, provincial governments were not always able to pay their soldiers “punctually.” Payment for scouting duty depended on how quickly the officer in command could get his accounts together and present them to the assembly, and also on how expeditiously that body could accept the accounts and supply the funds.11 Soldiers...

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