{"id":17013,"date":"2024-04-03T14:56:26","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T14:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freedomsway.org\/staging\/6553\/?post_type=place&p=17013"},"modified":"2024-07-08T13:46:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T13:46:49","slug":"prudence-wright-memorial-stone","status":"publish","type":"place","link":"https:\/\/freedomsway.org\/staging\/6553\/place\/prudence-wright-memorial-stone\/","title":{"rendered":"Prudence Wright Memorial Stone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd on the scroll where heroes\u2019 names Appear in shining light;<\/strong>
\nWith names our country proudly claims, Gleams that of Prudence Wright.\u201d<\/strong>
\n\u2014Susan H. Wixton, \u201cPrudence Wright,” The American Monthly Magazine,<\/i> November, 1899<\/p>\n

According to legend, Prudence Cummings Wright<\/strong><\/a> was visiting her mother in Hollis, New Hampshire<\/strong><\/a> when she overheard a conspiratorial conversation between two loyalists: Benjamin Whiting and her brother Samuel Cummings. The pair intended to send Leonard Whiting with a message to the British in Boston, revealing the location of gunpowder kept by Patriot forces. As a fervid Patriot, Prudence Cummings Wright would not allow this to happen easily.<\/p>\n

Wright gathered an assembly of thirty to forty local women known as \u201cMrs. David Wright\u2019s Guard” to form a militia and foil the loyalists\u2019 plan. With Wright as captain and Sarah Hartwell Shattuck of Groton<\/a><\/strong> as her lieutenant, they gathered at Jewett\u2019s Bridge. Wearing their husbands’ clothing and, according to Butler\u2019s History of the Town of Groton, \u201c<\/em>armed with muskets, pitchforks and other such weapons as they could find,\u201d the women captured two men they believed to be spies and confiscated the documents they were carrying.<\/p>\n

Commemorating its namesake and the militiawomen under her command, the Prudence Wright Memorial Stone is sited near the Nemiah Jewett Bridge<\/a><\/strong> in Pepperell, Massachusetts.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The memorial stone was one of several proposed by Pepperell\u2019s Lunar Club to commemorate historical events in the town. In 1887 they held an art exhibition to generate interest in the project and raise funding. This attracted the attention of Sarah E. Peaver (Mrs. H.A. Peaver), Wright\u2019s great granddaughter who summered in Shirley, Massachusetts<\/a><\/strong> and, with her husband, was active in civic affairs. She pledged her support and in November of 1889 the memorial stone was erected.<\/p>\n

Its inscription reads:<\/p>\n

Near this spot a party<\/em>
\nof patriotic women, under<\/em>
\nthe leadership of Mrs.\u00a0David Wright, of Pepperell, in<\/em>
\nApril, 1775, captured Leonard<\/em>
\nWhiting, a Tory who was<\/em>
\ncarrying treasonable dispatches<\/em>
\nto the enemy at Boston. He<\/em>
\nwas taken a prisoner to Groton<\/em>
\nand the dispatches were sent<\/em>
\nto the committee of safety<\/em>
\nat Cambridge.<\/em><\/p>\n

Both Prudence and her husband continued to fight for independence throughout the war while raising 11 children. Prudence died in 1823. In 1898, The Prudence Wright Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution<\/a><\/strong>, was named in her honor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t
\n\t\t\tThis story is featured in <\/em>How<\/span> We<\/span> Remember<\/span>: Monuments, Memorials & Markers in the Freedom\u2019s Way National Heritage Area<\/strong>, part of our semiquincentennial initiative, Freedom’s Way 250<\/a>, made possible with support from the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati and the National Park Service.<\/em>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd on the scroll where heroes\u2019 names Appear in shining light; With names our country proudly claims, Gleams that of Prudence Wright.\u201d \u2014Susan H. Wixton, \u201cPrudence Wright,” The American Monthly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21032,"template":"","tag":[64,113],"class_list":["post-17013","place","type-place","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-revolutionary-stories","tag-monuments-memorials"],"acf":{"website_url":"","vw_url":"https:\/\/freedomsway.visitwidget.com\/places\/prudence-wright-memorial-stone","location":"Groton Street, Pepperell, MA","slider":false,"latitude":"42.66941131498428","longitude":"-71.57463191239059","explore_list_featured_select":"2","select_experience":[{"ID":1864,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2021-09-01 17:34:03","post_date_gmt":"2021-09-01 17:34:03","post_content":"","post_title":"Places to Go","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"places-to-go","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2021-09-01 17:34:03","post_modified_gmt":"2021-09-01 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