April 5, 2016
You probably don’t know me – but “on the memorable 19th April, 1775, [I] was at [my] plough, in Sharon [Massachusetts], when [I] received the intelligence of the slaughter at Lexington… [I] immediately took [my] horse from the plough and proceeded to muster the minute men [I] commanded, and marched to drive in the enemy.”
My story is told in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives.
Earlier, as a young man, I fought in three campaigns in the French & Indian War – and along with my two sons, fought in the American Revolutionary War.
I was so dedicated to the Revolution that I “sold [my] farm [and] loaned the money to the town to pay her quota [to finance] soldiers.”
There are more details of my story in this article.
And in this article.
Later in life I lived in Hope, Maine, and died there in 1819, at age 85.
Did your ancestors fight at the Battle of Lexington?
Find their stories in GenealogyBank.
Related Revolutionary War Articles:
Capt. Samuel Payson and his company of militia from Stoughton & Stoughtonham (Sharon), part of Colonel John Graton’s regiment, did march in response to the word of fighting at Lexington and Concord, but like most of the militia companies from outside Middlesex and Essex counties, didn’t make it in time to actually fight the British on April 19. 1775. His company, however, did serve in the siege of Boston. See: Coburn, Frank William, “Muster Rolls of the Participating Companies of American Militia and Minute-Men in The Battle of April 19, 1775”, Boston, 1912.