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My Name Is Capt. Samuel Payson, and I Fought at the Battle of Lexington

Painting: "Washington Crossing the Delaware," by Emanuel Leutze. Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Wikimedia Commons.

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.

Hampden Federalist (Springfield, Massachusetts), 21 July 1819, page 3

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.

Franklin Gazette (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 22 July 1819, page 2

And in this article.

Hallowell Gazette (Hallowell, Maine), 21 July 1819, page 4

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.

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