How many connections are there between Concord and Lexington, and the 1777 march of the Convention Army? One British unit, the 47th Regiment of Foot, fought both on April 19, 1775, and two years later in 1777 as part of Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne’s army, in a campaign which culminated in the surrender at Saratoga.
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. Several primary sources place him with the Convention Army, including two in his own hand. One is the journal he kept in 1777 on his way to Saratoga, and his return home after the surrender, which he submitted with his claim for a pension in 1833. The second is a receipt in the collection of the Lexington Historical Society that he and others from Lexington who served in Captain Samuel Farrar's company with Colonel Jonathan Reed's 6th Middlesex County Regiment of the Massachusetts militia signed in June of 1778, acknowledging receipt of their “Continental Pay” for their service.
The journal which Lock kept in 1777 (shown here in an image from the website of the National Archives) is labeled with the intriguing title: “My March From Home into the army in ye year of our Lord King Hancock – 1777”. [1] In it he lists the towns he either passed through or stopped in beginning with Lexington, then west on to Worcester, before heading northwest to Rutland, and on to cross the Connecticut River by way of Northampton. After reaching Williamstown, he passed through Pownal and Bennington in Vermont, before he reached St. Croix, and Cambridge (New York), “... and then head quarter’s att Saratoga a place called … Batenrill”.
Lock’s march journal makes no mention of Burgoyne’s surrender. In his 1833 pension application he stated that after he reached Cambridge, he went: “...thence to Batten Kill & encamped, and from thence to Saratoga ...". Lock also indicated in his application "... he was in no battle..", but that on his return home to Lexington, he "... was one of the guards of the Hessians from Stillwater, New York, to Winter Hill, Charlestown, Mass.". [2]
Lock’s account of his return to Massachusetts begins in the middle of the third page of his journal, under the heading: "My Return from the Camp home”. What follows is a list of thirty-three towns from Stillwater, New York, to Charlestown, Massachusetts, eighteen with a notation that suggests he stopped (“cam’pt” or “camp’t”) there.
Lock’s lists only two dates in the journal of his service in 1777. He began his account under the heading “Oct ye 2nd 1777 My March from Lexington”, and concluded the list of places he passed through or stopped in with “I arrived home November ye 7th 1777”. As the German column spent twenty-one nights on the road in the period from the surrender on October 17th, until it reached its barracks at Winter Hill on November 7th, and halted for a second night on two occasions, Lock’s list of eighteen listed stops suggests he joined the column on October 19th, after spending the night of the 18th at Stillwater.
Lock’s account, though it is brief, offers a bit of insight on his experience, and how things have changed since 1777. “Newcity”, the first stop he lists after Stillwater, and “Lowding” where he stopped after leaving Great Barrington, reflect his spelling for “New City”, the town of Lansingburgh, New York (now a part of Troy), and “Loudon”, now Otis, Massachusetts. He lists his next stop after Lansingburgh as “Ranselermanor”, a corruption of Rensselaer Manor, and an indicator that Dutch influence was still strong in an area most sources refer to as Greenbush. The names of two of the towns he passed through are undecipherable.
Lock indicates that he passed through the towns Wilbraham and Brimfield (and Palmer) before he reached what he called “Weston”, a common misspelling for what was Western in 1777, and the town of Warren now. While several other accounts mention that the German column of the Convention Army was following the post road, which would have taken them this way, Lock is the only source with them encountered to date who specifically notes these two towns.
Reading backward from Lock’s arrival at Winter Hill, it appears he was traveling ahead of the column on several occasions, and that he stopped in two towns, Shrewsbury and Waltham, which aren’t listed as stops in other accounts of the German column. Although Lock indicates that he camped along the way, that probably shouldn’t be taken literally. Even German accounts of the march reflect that they received quarters each night after they reached Worcester. They also note that some of their militia guards rode ahead of the column in order to obtain the best quarters, which may explain why Lock reached several towns before the column itself did. [3]
Here, in its entirety, is Lock’s original account, and an annotated transcription of his return from Saratoga:
My Return from the Camp home
Saratoga Cam'pt “ [4]
Botinril [5]
Stillwater Camp't [6]
Scatercook [7]
(undecipherable)
Halfmoon [8]
Newcity Cam'pt [9]
Ranselermanor Cam'pt [10]
Canterhook Cam'pt [11]
(undecipherable) [12]
Nobletown Cam'pt [13]
Agremount [14]
Greatbarrington Cam'pt
Tirringham
Lowding Cam'pt [15]
Blandford Cam'pt
Westfield Cam'pt
Springfield Cam'pt [16]
Wilbraham [17]
Palmer Cam'pt
Brimfield [18]
Weston [19]
Brookfield Camp'pt [20]
Spencer
Leicester Cam'pt [21]
Worcester Cam'pt [22]
Shrewsbury Cam'pt [23]
Northborough
Marlborough Cam'pt [24]
Sudbury
Weston
Waltham Cam'pt [25]
Watertown
Cambridge
Charlestown
Menotomy
Lexington
I arrived home November ye 7th 1777
On a separate page, Lock offers us a bit more insight on his service, but not much more. In a few lines he noted: “The Money that I took With Me Was twentay Nine Dollars Four Shillings and Som pence and the Money that I Spent Was Twelve Dollars and Sixpence and i was three weaks on my march to Cambridge from Saratoga in ye year 1777". [26]
Next Time: A Lexington-Saratoga Connection Continued - “Our Continental Pay”
For more on the Convention Army's 1777 march from Saratoga to Boston, see:
1777 March Blog Home Overnight Stopping Points Towns and Villages Along the Way
General Whipple's Journal Burgoyne in Albany Annotated Bibliography
[1] JOURNAL OF BENJAMIN LOCK (file of Benjamin Lock, SI8492), 8 p., Oct. 2-Nov. 7, 1777 (roll 1575, frames 117-122), available online at: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/196193964?objectPage=35. His choice of words to title his journal is likely worth additional study. [2] File of Benjamin Lock, image 113 and 115. [3] A Brunswick diary noted that Colonel Reed, the commander of the regiment Lock's company served with: "... arranged his marches according to the positions of the best taverns. In short a man who took no notice of all General v. Riedesel's judicious remonstrances, and whom we had to follow when he set out with his brigade [sic], which he quartered in the houses in front of the tete [head, from the French] of the column and in the rear of the same at night." (Official Diary of the Braunschweig Troops, Robert M. Webler, "Braunschweig and Hessen-Hanua Captives From Burgoyne's Army Marching Through New England to Prisons August-November 1777", JJSHA, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2003, 8.)
[4] Lock may have crossed over to the west bank of the Hudson River and arrived in Saratoga after the surrender, as he indicated that he camped at Batten Kill after arriving in New York. Joshua Pillsbury, who served with another company from Reed’s regiment, indicates that after spending several days on a scout up to Fort George, on Friday, October 17th, "our Rigement & the whole Armey on this Side the River was drawnup and Saw our Enemis Our Armey that was on that Side the River marched on to Their ground and took posision." The following day he marched to Stillwater, and on Sunday, October 19th, began guarding the German column and marched to Schaghticoke. (Pillsbury, 787.) [5] This is likely what is likely this is a misspelling of “Batten Kill”. Lieutenant Abraham Fitts of the New Hampshire militia for example indicated that he and his unit were positioned at “Botten kills”, which he later spelled as “Bottenkil” and “Bottenkell”, from October 9th to the 17th. (Fitts, 936-937.) It’s not clear why Lock lists it as his next stop after Saratoga, before reaching Stillwater to the south.
[6] Likely on October 18th before crossing the Hudson River.
[7] Lock’s missing overnight stop was likely one of the locations listed between Stillwater and “New City”, also known as Lansingburgh. Lock may have spent the night of October 19th in Schaghticoke.
[8] Halfmoon is on the west bank of the Hudson. This may simply be a reference to where along the Hudson River he was, rather than an indication that he was traveling down or crossed over to the west bank of the river.
[9] New City, also known as Lansingburgh, where the German column, and likely Lock as well, stopped on October 20th.
[10] Lock’s use of the name Rensselaer Manor reflects the influence Dutch settlement had on the Hudson River valley, as most sources use the name
Greenbush, for where the column stopped on October 21st.
[11]
Kinderhook, where the column stopped on October 22nd and remained the 23rd, departing on the 24th.
[12] Perhaps
Claverack, but Lock’s handwriting and spelling make this an educated guess at best.
[13] Other accounts of the march of the German column indicate they spent two nights in Kinderhook. It’s likely that Lock did so too. However, as Lock doesn’t indicate how many nights he stopped in either Kinderhook or before crossing the Connecticut River (where most others halted as well), it’s hard to say at this time when he stopped where between these two points.
[14] Egremont, Massachusetts. Pillsbury, also with Reed’s regiment, indicates that he stopped in Egremont on Friday, October 24th.
[15] Loudon, now Otis, Massachusetts. Other sources for the German column refer to this location as “Green Woods”, and indicate that they stopped there on October 26th.
[16] Lock may be referring to Springfield or
West Springfield, as the towns had only recently separated, leading to the settlements on both sides of the river being referred to as “Springfield" in several sources. Lock may have
crossed over the Connecticut River and into Springfield without stopping in West Springfield, as Pillsbury did on October 29th. Regardless, Lock most likely stopped for two days at this point, before advancing on to his next stop at Palmer.
[17] Lock’s noting of Wilbraham is significant, as others with the German column make no mention of the town on their 1777 march. Wilbraham’s northern border runs along the
Post Road, making it easy to overlook.
[18] Lock’s mentioning of Brimfield is significant as well, as he is the first source encountered who did so. Period maps appear to indicate that the Post Road ran through a corner of Brimfield before entering Western, now Warren.
[19] Western, not "Weston", another town on the route of march but to the east in
Middlesex County as Lock notes later.
[20] Lock’s list of the towns he passed through after leaving Brimfield aligns with other accounts. His arrival in
Brookfield on November 1st (based on the rest of the stops he lists before his arrival at Winter Hill on November 7th) puts him there a day ahead of others from the German column, who stopped in Brookfield on November 2nd.
[21] November 2nd, based on his arrival at Winter Hill on November 7th. Others from the German column did not stop in Leicester until November 3rd.
[22] November 3rd, based on his arrival at Winter Hill on November 7th. Others from the German column did not stop in Worcester until November 4th.
[23] November 4th, based on his arrival at Winter Hill on November 7th. Others from the German column spent the night in Worcester, where Lock indicates he stopped the previous night, which was the 3rd. While others with the German column marched from Worcester to
Marlborough without stopping, British Lieutenant Francis (Lord) Napier indicates that he marched from Worcester and stopped in Shrewsbury on November 3rd.
[24] November 5th, based on his arrival at Winter Hill on November 7th. This aligns with other accounts of the march.
[25] November 6th, based on his arrival at Winter Hill on November 7th. This puts Lock one town east of others who stopped in
Weston on November 6th.
[26] File of Benjamin Lock, image 141.
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