1775 – 1783 American Revolutionary War

The French and Indian War (the American theater of the Seven Years War) was a battle for colonial domination in North America, the Caribbean and India between England and France. England eventually came to control the colonial outposts, but the staggering debt was so high that it nearly destroyed the English government. This debt caused the escalation of tensions leading up to the Revolutionary War, as Parliament continued to levy taxes in the hopes of recovering the monies expended on this conflict” – Boston Teaparty Time Line

  • AMENIA PRECINCT. The signers to the “Articles of Association,” June and July, 1775. – included Benjamin, David, Moses and Zedekiah Brown and others from our family surnames – Cornwell, Dickinson  Gillett, Wheeler – from THE HISTORY OF DUTCHESS COUNTY NEW YORK, Edited by FRANK HASBROUCK Published by S. A. MATTHIEU, POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y. 1909 CHAPTER IX. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. – see also Chapter X – a lot of records to be reviewed and these may not be our Brown’s
  • Brown’s, Calkins, Gifford, Knapp, Sherwood, 1776  Dutchess New York  – 1776 6th Militia Regiment – 1, 2, 3,
  • Joel Brown 1738 – 1812 and Joel Brown 1778 – 1838 – some have attributed the younger Joel as having served in the Revolutionary War and participating in the War of Saratoga of 1777 – see Findagrave with gravestone – however the younger Joel was not born till 1778 – was it the older Joel who served in the War? eg with Van Vegheten”s? – also may not be our Joel Brown

Captain Joel Gillett

http://gillettfamilyhistory.com/Gillett%20Ancestors.htm

Compulsory Service During the American Revolutionary War? Continental Army – Militia and the Irregulars Minute Men

Also an article published in 2000 in Armed Forces and Society on the issue of compulsory military service in the USA from  “Citizen service was first realized in the United States during the American Revolution, but not, as might be expected, in the compulsory militia dating from the colonial period. Rather, citizen service was realized first in the form of the federally mandated conscription of American national citizens into the Continental Army, a peculiarly Revolutionary contribution to the War of Independence“.

Also from Wikipedia :”During the American Revolutionary War, the states sometimes drafted men for militia duty or to fill state Continental Army units, but the central government did not have the authority to conscript except for purposes of naval impressment. “

From Lumen – the American Revolution 1775 – 1783 : “On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress established the Continental Army, raising 22,000 troops from the Boston area and 5,000 from New York. Many of these troops had little training or military experience; the minimum enlistment age was 16. On June 15, 1775, George Washington was elected as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army…. Eighty-eight Battalion Resolve: Passed on September 16, 1776, by the Continental Congress, it called for each state to contribute regiments in proportion to their population….. Though the war against the British required the discipline and organization of a modern military, many Patriots objected to maintaining a standing army…. Recruitment depended on the voluntary enlistment of Patriots from each of the 13 states. Early in the war, rising patriotism contributed to high rates of enlistment, however, as the war dragged on, bounties and other incentives became increasingly commonplace…. Congress’ hesitance to establish a standing army resulted in short, one-year enlistment periods in the beginning of the war. In 1777, enlistment terms were extended to three years or “the length of the war.”

From Smithsonian Website: “As 1776 progressed, many colonies were compelled to entice soldiers with offers of cash bounties, clothing, blankets and extended furloughs or enlistments shorter than the one-year term of service established by Congress….  In April 1777, Congress recommended a draft to the states. By the end of 1778, most states were conscripting men when Congress’ voluntary enlistment quotas were not met… For three-quarters of the war, few middle-class Americans bore arms in the Continental Army, although thousands did serve in militias…. The nation’s first settlers adopted the British militia system, which required all able-bodied men between 16 and 60 to bear arms. Some 100,000 men served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Probably twice that number soldiered as militiamen, for the most part defending the home front, functioning as a police force and occasionally engaging in enemy surveillance. If a militia company was summoned to active duty and sent to the front lines to augment the Continentals, it usually remained mobilized for no more than 90 days… A third turning point occurred when Congress abandoned one-year enlistments and transformed the Continental Army into a standing army, made up of regulars who volunteered—or were conscripted—for long-term service.”

From PBS website – Timeline of Conscription – Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783) – “A regular army is raised by offering enlisted men cash bonuses and a promise of free western land after the war is over“. Note  – this was a better promise than the fate of those who served on the British side after losing the War. British military other ranks were demobilised onto the streets with a small payout. This exacerbated unemployment in Britain and contributed to the crime rate which would see the creation of a settlement in the Colony of NSW, some of whom who had served on the British side in the American Revolutionary War.

From Ammo : “Throughout the Revolutionary War, the Minutemen model increasingly became the standard for irregular militia fighters. This provided the Continental Army with swelled numbers on short notice. While the Minutemen weren’t known as great marksmen, the psychological impact and distraction of their presence certainly helped win the Patriots’ cause. Scores of militias were culled from each of the newly independent 13 states“

Noah Brown and his son Noah Brown served in the American Revolutionary War

From American Prisoners of the Revolution – By Danske Dandridge. Reprinted for the web.

“THE CASE OF JONATHAN GILLETT OF WEST HARFORD

This man with seven others was captured on Long Island on the 27th of August, 1776, before they could take to their boats. He was at first confined in a prison ship, but a Masonic brother named John Archer procured him the liberty of the city on parole. His rank, we believe, was that of a lieutenant. He was a prisoner two years, then was allowed to go home to die. He exhibited every symptom of poison as well as starvation.

When he was dying he said to his son, Jonathan Gillett, Junior, “Should you enlist and be taken prisoner as I was, inquire for Mr. John Archer, a man with whom I boarded. He will assist you.”

In course of time his son enlisted, was taken prisoner, and confined in the Old Sugar House on Liberty Street. Here he was nearly starved to death. The prisoners ate mice, rats, and insects. He one day found in the prison yard the dry parings of a turnip which seemed to him a delicious banquet. It is recorded that Jonathan Gillet, Jr., was finally freed from captivity through the efforts of the same gentleman, Mr. John Archer, who had aided his father.

In 1852 Jacob Barker offered to present survivors who had been confined in the Old Sugar House with canes made from the lumber used in its construction. Four of these survivors were found. Their names were William Clark, Samuel Moulton, Levi Hanford, and Jonathan Gillett, Jr. The letter’s father during his confinement wrote a letter to his friends which has been preserved, and is as follows:

My Friends,

No doubt my misfortunes have reached your ears. Sad as it is, it is true as sad. I was made prisoner the 27th day of August past by a people called heshens, and by a party called Yagers the most Inhuman of all Mortals. I cant give Room to picture them here but thus much–I at first Resolved not to be taken, but by the Impertunity of the Seven taken with me, and being surrounded on all sides I unhapily surendered; would to God I never had–then I should never (have) known their unmerciful cruelties; they first disarmed me, then plundered me of all I had, watch, Buckles, money, and sum Clothing, after which they abused me by bruising my flesh with the butts of there (guns). They knocked me down; I got up and they (kept on) beating me almost all the way to there (camp) where I got shot of them–the next thing I was allmost starved to death by them. I was keept here 8 days and then sent on board a ship, where I continued 39 days and by (them was treated) much worse than when on shore–after I was set on (shore) at New York (I was) confined (under) a strong guard till the 20th day of November, after which I have had my liberty to walk part over the City between sun and sun, notwithstanding there generous allowance of food I must inevitably have perished with hunger had not sum friends in this (city) Relieved my extreme necessity, but I cant expect they can always do it–what I shall do next I know not, being naked for clothes and void of money, and winter present, and provisions very skerce; fresh meat one shilling per pound, Butter three shillings per pound, Cheese two shillings, Turnips and potatoes at a shilling a half peck, milk 15 Coppers per quart, bread equally as dear; and the General says he cant find us fuel thro’ the winter, tho’ at present we receive sum cole.*

“I was after put on board siezed violently with the disentarry–it followed me hard upwards of six weeks–after that a slow fever, bot now arm vastly better * * * my sincere love to you and my children. May God keep and preserve you at all times from sin, sickness, and death * * * I will Endeavor to faintly lead you into the poor cituation the soldiers are in, espechally those taken at Long Island where I was; in fact these cases are deplorable and they are Real objects of pitty–they are still confined and in houses where there is no fire–poor mortals, with little or no clothes–perishing with hunger, offering eight dollars in paper for one in silver to Relieve there distressing hunger; occasioned for want of food–there natures are broke and gone, some almost loose there voices and some there hearing–they are crouded into churches and there guarded night and day. I cant paint the horable appearance they make–it is shocking to human nature to behold them. Could I draw the curtain from before you; there expose to your view a lean Jawd mortal, hunger laid his skinny hand (upon him) and whet to keenest Edge his stomach cravings, sorounded with tattred garments, Rotten Rags, close beset with unwelcome vermin. Could I do this, I say, possable I might in some (small) manner fix your idea with what appearance sum hundreds of these poor creatures make in houses where once people attempted to Implore God’s Blessings, and c, but I must say no more of there calamities. God be merciful to them–I cant afford them no Relief. If I had money I soon would do it, but I have none for myself.–I wrote to you by Mr. Wells to see if some one would help me to hard money under my present necessity I write no more, if I had the General would not allow it to go out, and if ever you write to me write very short or else I will never see it–what the heshens robbed me of that day amounted to the value of seventy two dollars at least. * * * I will give you as near an exact amount of how many prisoners the enemy have taken as I can. They took on Long Island of the Huntington Regiment 64, and of officers 40, of other Regiments about 60. On Moulogin Island 14, Stratton Island (Staten) 7, at Fort Washington 2200 officers and men. On the Jersey side about 28 officers and men. In all 3135 and how many killed I do not know. Many died of there wounds. Of those that went out withme of sickness occasioned by hunger eight and more lie at the point of death.

“Roger Filer hath lost one of his legs and part of a Thigh, it was his left. John Moody died here a prisoner.

“So now to conclude my little Ragged History * * * I as you know did ever impress on your mind to look to God, for so still I continue to do the same–think less of me but more of your Creator, * * * So in this I wish you well and bid you farewell and subscribe myself your nearest friend and well wisher for Ever.

John’a Gillett
New York, Dec. 2nd, 1776
To Eliza Gillett at West Harford

The figures given in this pathetic letter may be inaccurate, but the description of the sufferings of the prisoners is unexaggerated. Of all the places of torment provided for these poor men the churches seem to have been the worst, and they were probably the scenes of the most brutal cruelty that was inflicted upon these unfortunate beings by the wicked and heartless men, in whose power they found themselves. Whether it was because the knowledge that they were thus desecrating buildings dedicated to the worship of God and instruction in the Christian duties of mercy and charity, had a peculiarly hardening effect upon the jailers and guards employed by the British, or whether it was merely because of their unfitness for human habitation the men confined in these buildings perished fast and miserably. We cannot assert that no prisoners shut up in the churches in New York lived to tell the awful tale of their sufferings, but we do assert that in all our researches we have never yet happened upon any record of a single instance of a survivor living to reach his home. All the information we have gained on this subject we shall lay before the reader, and then he may form his own opinion of the justice of these remarks.”

APPENDIX A List of 8000 Men Who Were Prisoners On Board The Old Jersey

APPENDIX B The Prison Ship Martyrs Of The Revolution And An Unpublished Diary Of One Of Them, William Slade, New Canaan, Conn., Later Of Cornwall, Vt.

  • Abner Gillett (son of Mary Foote) (1741 – 1835)  married Hannah Culver. Abner served in the American Revolutionary War. He was commissioned as an Ensign, First Company, Regiment 6 of Dutchess County New York State. (See history of the Town of Amenia, page 345).
  • William Gillett (1758 – 1838) – served in the American Revolutionary War

Benjamin Grant Loomis served in the American Revolutionary War

Connecticut Continental Troops – Thrid Regiment- 1775

  • Simon Loomis, Samuel Fitch, Rufus Fitch, Andrew Fitch, Asa Loomis, Ichabod Fitch Jnr, Jesse Loomis, Nathaniel Porter, Abel Fitch, Ezekiel Fitch, John Terry, Elias Fitch, Thomas Loomis, Jacob Gillett, Jonathan Loomis, Zephaniah Tucker, John Wadsworth, 
  • Notes on Bunker Hill