Most Saugus residents have passed by the old Cheever mansion on Essex Street near Route One. It is still an imposing building, now housing a series of attractive condo apartments. At one time it was the home of Abijah Cheever, Revolutionary War veteran who was a surgeon and prisoner of war when the British captured his ship the “Tarter” in the last few years of the war.

In February of 1836 Charles Cheever, 44, came to Saugus and wrote down his father’s memoirs. This material was found among some old family papers by David Cheever, the great, great grandson of the revolutionary hero. In addition to the memoirs, material by Abijah’s grandson was found concerning the great man’s background and childhood. Several years ago, David Cheever gave me copies of both the memoirs and the writing of the grandson.

As far as I know, the memoirs first appeared in print in the 1970’s when I presented excerpts from them in my columns for the old Saugus Town Crier but the material written by the grandson has never appeared in print. Below is an account from this material which tells of a very young Abijah and how he met British “regulars” for the first time. This of course was many years before the outbreak of the Revolution.

According to this early account, young Abijah was sent by his father to the mill some distance away. He rode on a high spirited mare between two sacks of corn. For a while, all went well and the boy was well satisfied with the way the horse was behaving. When they got to the top of a hill, however, the heard the sound of martial music and soon came in full sight of an entire British regiment “which, with harness flying, bayonets gleaming, and music playing” was on the march from Salem to Boston. The mare rose up and unseated young Abijah and the corn and took off. The boy, minding his manners and without wiping the blood streaming from his nose, climbed a stone wall and “taking off the remnants of his cap, made his best bow to the astonished ‘reg’lars’.”

We continue the tale in the exact words of the account:

“The sight of a little urchin, with torn clothes and bloody face, pulling away at his forelock with the politeness of despair, was so excessively ludicrous that officers and men simultaneously paused, and indulged in a hearty laugh. The Commander, compassionating his misfortune, sent two privates to catch the mare, while the men collected pennies enough to fill his pockets. He was then replaced on his horse, with that portion of the scattered grist which could be hastily collected, and bade adieu to the British, with a light heart, a damaged nose, and a mine of copper in his breeches.”

The account then reads “That was how my Grandfather first met the enemy…” In my opinion, the story reflects well on both the British soldiers and the boy who later became their foe!