The 1777 March of the Saratoga Convention Army

Sixteen year old Ezra Ross of Ipswich, Massachusetts, likely feared he might die on several occasions before July 2, 1778.  On December 19, 1775, he had enlisted in Colonel Loammi Baldwin's 26th Continental Regiment.  In the year that followed, his regiment would take part in the Siege of Boston, Washington's unsuccessful attempt to defend New York City from a British invasion, and the Battle of Trenton before their enlistments expired on December 31, 1776.  In August of 1777, Ross would either volunteer or be drafted to serve again, one of the two-thousand Massachusetts militiamen called for to reinforce the Northern Army under the command of Major-General Horatio Gates. [1]    Eight months later, and just a few weeks before his seventeenth birthday, he faced certain death. [2]   Ross, along with Sergeant James Buchannon and Private William Brooks of the British 9th Regiment of Foot, and Bathsheba Spooner of Brookfield, Massachusetts , had been convi...

As the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution continues, a recreation of the Battle of Bunker Hill has been planned for the weekend of June 21 and 22, 2025, (albeit in Gloucester, Massachusetts, twenty-five miles northeast of the actual site, due to the urban nature of Charlestown in the 21st century, its organizers indicate).  As is the case with the Battle of  Lexington  and Concord , there are multiple connection between the events of June 17, 1775, and the Massachusetts militiamen who escorted the Convention Army from Saratoga to Massachusetts in 1777. Perhaps the most dramatic of these connections is one of the men associated with the order  "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes."   Historian and author J.L. Bell, creator of the Boston 1775 blog, examined the origin of this quote in detail in a June 17, 2020, article in the Journal of the American Revolution .  Bell traces the Bunker Hill order story back to 180...

The connections between the 1777 march of the Convention Army and the Massachusetts militia are not limited to Middlesex County, including some who fought at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 .  Militia from Essex County escorted the British column of the Convention Army from Saratoga to Prospect Hill in 1777, and faced off against the British Army, including the 47th Regiment of Foot , at the Battle of Bunker Hill.   Massachusetts militiamen, whether they served in 1775 or in 1777, were expected to provide their own firearms.  Under the August 1777 call for men to support Major-General Horatio Gates at Saratoga, each man was to come equipped with  "a good Fire Arm and also a Bayonet if to be had, Cartridge Box, Knapsack and Blanket, with 1/2 lb Powder, twenty Balls suitable for his Gun..." .   In September, when more of the Massachusetts militia was mobilized, including those who would escort the Convention Army, those who volunteered or were ...

How many connections are there between Concord and Lexington, and the 1777 march of the Convention Army?  On the American side, countless Massachusetts militiamen who answered the call on April 19th, 1775, did so again in the summer and fall of 1777.  On the British side just one unit, the 47th Regiment of Foot , took part in both the 1775 raid on Concord, and Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne's 1777 expedition from Canada.   The militia troops who mobilized on April 19th came from towns and villages in Essex County, as well as Middlesex County .  The Reverend Manasseh Cutler of Ipswich, Massachusetts, would note in his diary: "... At sunset [on April 19, 1775] we got almost into Cambridge, and met with our people just after they fired their last gun.  The British fought upon a retreat from Concord to Cambridge, where they had boats to take them on board for Boston.  It is not known how many were killed on either side..." [1]  Fortunately, the Ma...

How many connections are there between Lexington, Concord, and the 1777 march of the Convention Army?  On the American side, countless Massachusetts militiamen who answered the call on April 19th, 1775, did so again in the summer and fall of 1777.   During the Saratoga campaign, twenty militiamen from Lexington served in Captain Samuel Farrar's company with Colonel Jonathan Reed's Middlesex County militia regiment and escorted the German column of the Convention Army to Winter Hill.  The  pay receipt they signed   is now in the collection of the Lexington Historical Society.  Benjamin Lock, one of those men, kept a  journal of his march to Saratoga and back .  Another , Benjamin Wellington , is said to be the first armed man taken by the British in the Revolutionary War .  Militiamen from Concord and neighboring Acton also served in Reed's Middlesex County regiment during the Saratoga campaign.  According to Lemuel Shattuck, i...

How many connections are there between Concord and Lexington, and the 1777 march of the Convention Army?  On the American side, countless Massachusetts militiamen who answered the call on April 19th, 1775, did so again in the summer and fall of 1777.  Benjamin Lock of Lexington appears to be one of them, as evidenced by a deposition he signed on April 25, 1775,  the journal he kept in 1777  documenting his  journey to Saratoga and his return home after the surrender as a guard with the German column of the Convention Army, and a   pay receipt for service during the Saratoga campaign   that is now in the collection of the Lexington Historical Society.  Was Benjamin Lock among the men on Lexington Green who were fired upon by British troops on the morning of April 19th, 1775, as pictured here in an engraving by Ralph Earl and Amos Dolittle? [1]   When Lock submitted his claim for a pension in 1833, he did not mention that he was on Lexingt...

How many connections are there between Concord and Lexington, and the 1777 march of the Convention Army?  On the American side, countless Massachusetts militiamen who answered the call on April 19th, 1775, did so again in the summer and fall of 1777.  Benjamin Lock of Lexington is said to be one of them, as evidenced by  the journal he kept in 1777  documenting his  journey to Saratoga, and his return home after the surrender as a guard with the German column of the Convention Army, as well as the pay receipt he signed in Lincoln in 1778 seven months later.    Benjamin Wellington, eighth on the Lexington list , has an interesting story of his own.  A bronze plaque (pictured here) at the corner of Follen Road and Pleasant Street in Lexington, on the lawn of Scared Heart Church, notes his capture with the words:  "Near this spot at early dawn on the 19th of April 1775, Benjamin Wellington, a minute man, was surprised by British scouts and...