Lucius R. Paige, History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1877, with a genealogical register

The war against Great Britain, which was proclaimed on the 19th of June, 1812, was unpopular in Cambridge, as in New England generally. The muster rolls are not within my reach; and I am unable to furnish a full list of volunteers who may have entered the army. A certificate remains on file, however, that the Cambridge Light Infantry were in camp at South Boston fifty-one days, commencing Sept. 10, 1814. The company consisted of Captain Samuel Child, Jr.; Lieutenant Jonathan C. Prentiss; Ensign Eliab W. Metcalf; Sergeants, John Ruggles, William Hunnewell, Oliver L. Child, Rufus Roberts; Corporals, Jacob H. Bates, Asa Wyman; Fifer, Nathaniel Munroe; Privates, William Bates, Elijah Bellows, David Bowtell, John Brackett, William Brown, James Child, Nathaniel Colburn, Charles Everett, John Fillebrown, Timothy Flagg, Abraham J. Gould, Henry Greenwood, Sewall Hadley, Isaac Herrick, William Hollis, Isaac Kilburn, Richard Larrabee, Cyrus Morse, Harris Munroe, Seth Sanderson, Buckley Stone, Moses Thompson, Charles Walton, Galen Ware, Jonas Wyeth 3d. Besides these, William Burges, James Gilson, John Wheeler 2d, Samuel S. Willard, and Stephen Wyeth, were drafted into the service in August, 1814, and Samuel Carpenter, Peter G. Conant, William C. Davis, Thomas Dean, Jr., Edmund Morrill, Seth Tinkham, and John Wyman, served as substitutes for other drafted men.

To Cambridge rightfully belongs the honor of organizing the first company of militia in the United States, which was enlisted expressly for the defence of the government in the War of the Rebellion, 1861. Soon after the Presidential election in 1860, many who carefully watched the signs of the times were confident that the Southern States would soon be in open rebellion, and that the national government could only be preserved by force of arms. Among those who foresaw the peril and did not shrink from it was James P. Richardson, Esq.,¹ an attorney at law in Cambridgeport. In anticipation of the impending struggle, he issued the following notice:—