Cambridge
City, and one of the county seats of Middlesex county. Mass., separated from Boston by the Charles River; was founded in 1631 under the name of Newtown; and is noted as the place where Washington took command of the Continental army on July 2, 1775; as the seat of Harvard University (q. v.); and as the place where the sons of Alvan Clark carry on the manufacture of astronomical instruments which have a world-wide reputation. In 1900 the city had a total assessed valuation of taxable property of $94,467,930, and the net city and water [39] debt was $6,226,182. The population in 1890 was 70,028; in 1900, 91,886.The second Synod of Massachusetts met at Cambridge in 1646, and was not dissolved until 1648. The synod composed and adopted a system of church discipline called “The Cambridge platform,” and recommended it, together with the Westminster Confession of Faith, to the general court and to the churches. The latter, in New England, generally complied with the recommendation, and “The Cambridge platform,” with the ecclesiastical laws, formed the theological constitution of the New England colonies.
The seeming apathy of Congress in respect to the army besieging Boston greatly perplexed Washington. The cool season was approaching, and not only powder and artillery were wanting, but fuel, shelter, clothing, provisions, and the wages of the soldiers. Washington, wearied by ineffectual remonstrances, at length wrote a letter to Congress, implying his sense that the neglect of that body had brought matters in his army to a crisis. He submitted to their consideration the wants of the army, a mutinous spirit prevailing among them, and the danger that, when the terms of enlistment of all the troops excepting the regulars should expire in December, it would be difficult to re-enlist them or get new recruits. Congress had really no power to provide an adequate remedy for this state of things; therefore it appointed a committee (Sept. 30, 1775), consisting of Dr. Franklin, Lynch, and Harrison, to repair to the camp, and, with the New England colonies and Washington, devise a plan for renovating the army. They arrived at Cambridge, Oct. 15. With such a representative of Congress as Franklin and such a military leader as Washington, the New England commissioners worked harmoniously; and they devised a scheme for forming, governing, and supplying a new army of about 23,000 men, whom the general was authorized to enlist without delay. See army; Washington, George.
