Framingham Legends & Lore by James L. Parr

Author:James L. Parr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-09-28T16:00:00+00:00

THE ORDEAL OF JONATHAN MAYNARD

Jonathan Maynard was born on January 22, 1752, the son of Jonathan and Martha (Gleason) Maynard. His parents’ house was located on the north side of Salem End Road, a few hundred yards to the east of the Temple Street intersection. His grandfather, also named Jonathan Maynard, had moved to Framingham from Sudbury in 1713 and established a tavern in the house that he bought from John Towne that still stands on the north side of Maple Street. (Towne was the nephew of the three sisters tried as witches at Salem whom we met in Chapter Two.)

Jonathan graduated from Harvard College with the class of 1775, just in time for the outbreak of the American Revolution. He was still in Cambridge in April 1775, and therefore missed the Battle of Lexington and Concord, unlike his older brother William and cousins John and Needham Maynard, who were Minutemen from Framingham. He enlisted within the week, however, and served alongside the three of them at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June of that year.

Maynard served in the army throughout the war. He participated in the Battles of Stillwater and Saratoga, but the most famous incident of his military career occurred at the little-known Battle of Cobleskill in central New York on May 30, 1778. There Mohawk and Tories under the command of Chief Joseph Brant burned the settlement to the ground, and Maynard’s unit, which was trying to relieve the settlers, was driven back with heavy casualties. The rest of his company was killed but, as he was a lieutenant and wore a sword, he was taken captive and brought before Brant himself. According to lore, the chieftain had determined that Maynard would be burned alive, but as he was being tied to the stake, the Masonic symbols on his arms became visible. Brant recognized Maynard as a fellow Freemason and stayed his execution, instead conveying him as a prisoner to British-held Quebec. There he remained for well over two years until he was exchanged on December 26, 1780. He was promoted to the rank of captain before finally leaving the service on November 19, 1782.

Variations of this tale are told about three other American officers. According to various Masonic and Revolutionary histories, Colonel John McKinstry, Major John Wood and Lieutenant Thomas Boyd all employed the lifesaving Mason’s distress signal to avoid a horrid death at the hands of Chief Brant. While we will not try to evaluate the credibility of the stories regarding the other officers, there is some evidence supporting Maynard’s tale.

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