Adams Papers

Saturday July 1st. 1786.

Saturday July 1st. 1786.

The military company, having obtained a promise of 60 stand of arms, met immediately after Dinner, and chose their officers, and agreed to a Code of Laws. They were upon the business more than two hours. Vose, was chosen Captain, Fiske, and Packard lieutenants, and Chandler 1st. Ensign.1

1This was the college military company, founded in 1770, and named the Marti-Mercurian Band because of its motto, “tam marti quam mercurio.” It was an association for exercise and recreation which marched and maneuvered with fife and drum, though it did not see service in the Revolution. The company was reformed in 1786, procured arms on loan from Gov. Bowdoin, and flourished for a year before it died away again. It was not reestablished thereafter until 1811. During the Shays’ uprising the arms loaned to the band were returned and used by a regular infantry company against the insurgents (Columbian Centinel, 2 April 1828; Morison, Three Centuries of Harvard, description begins Samuel Eliot Morison, Three Centuries of Harvard, 1636-1936, Cambridge, 1936. description ends p. 141).

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