icon for Home page
icon for Kid's Home page
icon for Digital Collection
icon for Activities
icon for Turns Exhibit
icon for In the Classroom
icon for Chronologies
icon for My Collection

Online Collection
Select a page:

Page 1
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
Contact us for information about using this image.



label levels:

Elihu Ashley was a physician from Deerfield, Massachusetts, and a member of a prominent family known for their Tory affiliation. These pages of his journal show Ashley's changing views of the political unrest in the American colonies as the Revolutionary War drew closer. While his early entries from 1773 focus on his social life and the courtship of his future wife, later pages reveal how Ashley became involved as the political climate grew more volatile in the months before the Revolution. In 1775, he cut down Deerfield's Liberty Pole, a symbol of dissent towards Great Britain, which had been erected by neighboring Whigs (or Patriots). He goes on to report the local response and outcome of the Battle of Lexington, the first open conflict in the war. As the war raged on and his friends took up arms for the colonists, Elihu distanced himself from Tory activities by refusing to meet with and assist English prisoners of war.

 

top of page

Pages from Journal of Dr. Elihu Ashley

author   Dr. Elihu Ashley (1750-1817)
date   1773-1775
location   Deerfield, Massachusetts
height   7.0"
width   4.25"
process/materials   manuscript, paper, ink
item type   Personal Documents/Journal
accession #   #L99.171


Look Closer icon My Collection icon Transcription icon Detailed info icon


ecard icon Send an e-Postcard of this object



See Also...

Letter to Nathaniel Dwight from Dr. Elihu Ashley

Letter to Dr. Elihu Ashley

High Chest of Drawers


button for Side by Side Viewingbutton for Glossarybutton for Printing Helpbutton for How to Read Old Documents

 

Home | Online Collection | Things To Do | Turns Exhibit | Classroom | Chronologies | My Collection
About This Site | Site Index | Site Search | Feedback