History of the Dighton Community Church
Captain John Clouston was in command of the “Privateer Freedom.” His cruising ground was the British Channel where he took many prizes, rendering great service to the American cause. When Lafayette rode through Dighton on his ride from Newport to Boston to secure help from the French fleet, he stayed at Captain Clouston’s house, now the home of the Charles Harris family. He was later captured and put in a British prison for years which ruined his health.
Nathaniel and Thomas Rose enlisted in the Revolutionary War army and navy. Thomas was captured and sent to Dartmouth Prison in England where the news of Cornwall’s capture was brought into the prison on a piece of paper baked into a loaf of bread. Later they managed to reach home.
Colonel Thomas Church came to Dighton from Seconet on much the same route that the weary Rose brothers had taken. He was a descendant of the celebrated warrior Benjamin Church. He was active in town affairs and was Colonel of a Rhode Island regiment.
Ebenezer Stetson, a sexton of the church, was sergeant of Marines on a private armed ship named the Viper. He was so badly wounded that his leg had to be amputated. Years later he is remembered as he stood in the church with the stump of one leg resting on a chair while he pulled lustily on the bell rope of the Revere bell.
Perhaps the richest man in the Town of Dighton in the early days was Elkanah Andrews who built Muddy Cove Bridge in 1772. He helped to raise considerable money to carry on the war. Two of his sons served in the Continental Army. He had owned several slaves who must have sat in the slave pews still to be seen at the church. One of his servants named Neot, town records show, was freed so that he could fight in the war. He enlisted for three years. Later Mr. Andrews freed all of his slaves but they stayed on as servants as long as they lived.