This coming Saturday, April 19th, marks the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Given the current circumstances of tyranny, this anniversary holds even greater significance.

I have revised my previous list of ancestors who served during the American Revolutionary War. It now contains ten individuals: six ancestors of my father’s great-grandmother, Cordelia Pickering, and four of my maternal grandfather, James M. Dobbs, Jr. I have also included additional details about their service and sources.

I now count four ancestors who “answered the alarm on April 19th, 1775.” However, only one appears to have seen action that day at Lexington Green or the Old North Bridge. I’ll start on my father’s side with the oldest to have served. Due to the man’s age, I was unsure about this one, but thanks again to Google Books, I found confirmation in a 1915 DAR Lineage Book that it was the same guy.

Samuel Stearns (6X gGF) was 49 years old in 1775. According to the DAR Lineage Book Vol 137: “Samuel Stearns (1726-1801) served as a private at the Battle of Lexington in Captain Pollard’s Massachusetts company.” His home was in Billerica, about 10 miles from the Old North Bridge. From Fold3.com and the National Archives, I learned he enlisted for three years in the 15th Massachusetts Regiment. In the winter of 1777/78, he was at Valley Forge and fought in at least two battles. According to Wikipedia, the 15th Massachusetts was at the Battle of Bemis Heights (1777 – part of the Saratoga campaign) and the Battle of Monmouth (1778 – last battle of the Philadelphia Campaign). For Samuel, I found 10 muster roll cards on record at Fold 3.com, and with one other exception, most of the men on the list only had one or two pay cards on file, attesting to the briefness of their time in the military. Like many men, Samuel likely had no problem enlisting for three years, as they believed the war would end soon.

Edward Pickering, Jr. (5X gGF) was 43 years old in 1775. He was a veteran of the Seven Years’ War. He was listed in the Annals of Mendon, Massachusetts, as having served as one of the “Three Months Men” during the Crisis of 1775 that began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and his term of service ending that August. According to Massachusetts Soldiers & Sailors of the American Revolution, he was in “Capt. Joseph Daniels’s (3d Mendon) Co. of Colonel Read’s Regiment at the battles of Lexington and Concord.”

Jonathan Pickering (5X gGF) was 39 years old in 1775. He is recorded as having served in 1778. From the Annals of Mendon: “During the year 1778, there were two special calls for troops, one for New York and one for the northern army, to both of which the town records show Mendon responded.” Jonathan Pickering is on the list of “nine months men” without designation to their place of service, probably to reinforce the Northern Army.” Northern Army meant he was in the Massachusetts militia attached to the Continental Army, which opposed the British along the Canadian border near Fort Ticonderoga.

Richard Denney (5X gGF) was 28 years old in 1775. According to the National Archives muster rolls, he served in Peekskill and Fishkill, New York, in Co. D, Hopkins’ Regiment of the New York Militia. He was tasked with guarding Hessian POWs captured during the Battles of Saratoga in 1777.

Eldad Corbet (5X gGF) was 23 years old in 1775. According to the National Archives muster rolls, he served in Major John Brown’s Detachment of Militia for New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts in the summer of 1777. He was at the Battle of Bennington. The battle occurred in New York over the border from Bennington, Vermont.

Jotham Pickering (4X gGF) was 14 years old in 1775. Served in the 6th Massachusetts Regiment in Lieut. Col. Daniel Whiting’s Co. of Colonel Thomas Nixon’s Regiment. He served four months and 19 days. In the summer of 1780, his unit marched to the sprawling Continental Army encampment at Fishkill, New York, and at the end of the summer, marched back to Mendon, Massachusetts.

Here are my mother’s four ancestors who served during the American Revolutionary War:

Solomon Morgan (5X gGF) was 40 years old in 1775. According to the “Roster of South Carolina Patriots,”: “He served in the militia from November 15th 1780 to July 15th 1781 under Lt. John Baxter and Gen. [Francis] Marion, making horseman swords and gunsmithing.”

John McMullan (5X gGF) was 35 years old in 1775. He served in the 11th Virginia Regiment (1776/77). In 1778, the 11th & 15th Virginia Regiments (1778) were folded into a reorganized 7th Virginia Regiment under the command of Daniel Morgan. He is said to have served for five years, from 1776 to 1780. According to family lore, he was hospitalized and nearly died while at Valley Forge. Years before the Revolution, he married my 5x great-grandmother, Theodosia Beazely, and by her, he had five children, including my ancestor Patrick McMullan. At some point, after not hearing from John and believing him to be dead, Theodosia left John for another man. While most have only two muster roll cards, John’s pay record in the National Archives consists of 24 records. He was at the Battle of Brandywine. Other places mentioned in the muster rolls are Valley Forge, PA; Camp White Plains, NY; Camp Pompton Plains, NJ; Camp New Ark (Newark), NJ; and Camp Middlebrook, NJ.

Evan Prothro (5X gGF) was 33 years old in 1775. According to the Roster of South Carolina Patriots, Evan “served in the militia during 1781 and was a hog driver during 1782. A family lore says he served under Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox. In 1781/82, Marion was made a brigadier general and placed in command of a South Carolina militia brigade. Battles fought in South Carolina during Evan’s time in service were the Battle of Cowpens (Jan 1781) and the Battle of Guilford Court House (Mar 1781).

Josiah Dobbs (4X gGF) was reportedly 10 years old in 1775. He was born in Virginia or North Carolina and would have been in his teens during the war. It appears that he did serve in some capacity, as he is shown receiving payment for military service in December 1784 for 20 pounds and five shillings in Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. It is understood that he received a land grant in Georgia along the Savannah River for his service.