More than two thousand sailors and soldiers from both fleets fought in the American Revolution on Lake Champlain. We may never know all their stories, but history has preserved a few fragments. Explore what we’ve uncovered and meet some of the people who were in the Champlain Valley during the American Revolution.
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John Starke
Unknown– 1793
An Embittered British Officer
John Starke was an officer in the British fleet on Lake Champlain. He was active at the Battle of Valcour Island and in the days leading up to the battle. While a Lieutenant on the warship Maria, he encountered a difficult situation, although Starke was captain of the vessel, Maria was also the flagship of the fleet. Captain Thomas Pringle and General Guy Carleton, also aboard, outranked him.
After the battle, John Starke and two other British captains wrote a letter contesting Pringle’s account of events and questioning his competence and his bravery. This letter was never published, but it shows the competition and bitterness among British officers. Many officers in charge of the British vessels were junior officers, promoted to command positions for the first time, including Captain Pringle. Captains like Starke, formerly equal in rank to Pringle, may have felt that he had been unfairly promoted.
Starke remained commander of Maria after the events of October 1776. His vessel became a prison ship, housing captured soldiers and residents of the Champlain Valley. After the American Revolution, he returned to England and struggled to gain promotion in the Navy, ultimately dying in obscurity in 1793.
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John Starke
Age unknown in 1776
Why did a British officer challenge accounts of the events on the lake? Tap the image to read John’s story.
Sarah “Sally” Gold Kellogg Markham
(1766–1850)
A War-Torn Family
“We shoved out into the Lake and fell in between Arnold’s fleet and the British fleet. The Royal George at the foremost of the British ships played away on the shattered vessels of Arnold’s fleet, but happy for us the balls went over us. We heard them whiz.” –from an 1844 pension application, as recorded in the “Minute Book of Conversation,” by Phillip Battell, Collection of Henry Sheldon Museum, Middlebury, VT
Sally was born as Sarah Kellogg in 1767 in Canaan, CT. The first of many enduring mysteries is why she preferred the name Sally. However, we know that is what Philip Battell called her when he took notes on their interview later in life, and so we will call her Sally here.
As a toddler, Sally’s parents, Benjamin Kellogg and Comfort Thompson Kellogg, moved the family to what is now Addison, VT by way of Albany, NY, and Skeenesborough, NY (then part of the New Hampshire land grants). They were some of the first white people to settle in this region. She was the youngest of six children, and grew up with three sisters (Pamelia, Philomela, and Comfort) and one brother (Isaac). Her older brother, Samuel, died at age two, well before Sally’s birth.
Sometime after moving to this region in 1770 and before 1776, Sally spent a year in the care of the Richardson family while her mother Comfort was ill. Mr. Richardson had been a British soldier and Sally described being a joy to Mrs. Richardson (whose first name may have been Kate), who was distraught after the loss of a child around her age. Phillip’s notes say that Sally “became much attached to her friends, and could only be taken from them afterwards by force.” That said, we know that Sally eventually returned to live with her family.
In October 1776, Sally was living with her family near Arnold’s Bay. They fled the scene of the Battle of Arnold’s Bay by rowing a bateau between the two fleets, still actively exchanging cannon fire. A few weeks earlier, Sally had celebrated her tenth birthday.
Sally’s young life was not spared any relief from violence, however. Her father was taken by the British prisoner of war in late 1777 while spying on British troops near Arnold’s Bay. He later died from exposure to the elements, probably in St. John’s, QC. Her brother was taken prisoner as well and spent time in a Quebec jail. Her family’s furniture, clothing, and food stores were stolen and their home burned during an attack of her family’s and neighboring homesteads in the fall of 1778 by Indigenous people. Sally, her sisters, and her mother fled to Fort Ann, NY; her brother was taken prisoner and spent time in a Quebec jail.
On their way to Fort Ann, Sally, her sisters, and her mother joined a group of women, children, and, inexplicably, two British soldiers (fifty-two souls in total) paddling southward. Sally described the women taking shifts rowing as there was “not a boy with [them] to handle an ore.” Soaking wet and cold, the group sought refuge from the one small log house along the way still occupied – although by British soldiers who did not want to allow the refugees to spend the night. Sally recalled that her mother, Comfort, forced the issue (calling the place “Pandemonium Hall”), and the British eventually relented. They spent the night without food and made a fire to warm themselves and dry their clothing (despite the British soldiers refusing them wood). Sally reported that her mother told the American soldiers about this last British stronghold upon their arrival in Fort Ann. We include this anecdote as a reminder of how closely the two sides intermixed amongst each other during the American Revolution.
As all this violence and upheaval unfolded, Sally had not yet reached her teenage years.
In her 1844 pension application, Sally testified that her family never lived together in their own home again after 1778.
At the age of 22, she married Ebenezer Markham, then 45, and twenty-three years her senior. If the marriage and birth records are accurate, their first child, Catherine, was born nine months and three weeks after their wedding day.
Ebenezer had been a sea captain before and during the American Revolution and was captured and imprisoned by the British for aiding the Americans. After his release and the death of his first wife, Catharine Lydius, Ebenezer married Sally and established a factory near Shoreham, VT manufacturing nails.
Sally and Ebenezer had three children who lived to adulthood: Catherine (1790-1885), David (1793-1883), and Isaac (1795-1885). Isaac may have been named after Sally’s surviving brother. Sally may have had other children who died as infants, as her brother Samuel did, but that knowledge is lost to history.
We don’t know much about what Sally’s married life was like, but we theorize that her daily tasks were similar to those of other eighteenth century women – preparing food, cultivating a garden, making clothing, creating soaps and candles, and performing household labor like cleaning, dusting, and laundry. All these tasks were labor intensive and took several hours to a full day without modern conveniences like washing machines, kitchen gadgets, and vacuum cleaners.
Child rearing would have been among her primary responsibilities. Sally also would have been responsible for managing household finances and stepping in to assist Ebenezer’s factory work. Like many women of the area, Sally likely would have been trained to replace his labor when he was unavailable.
Ebenezer died in 1813, and in her 1844 pension application, Sally wrote that he died without leaving property, so it is unlikely her finances improved much as a widow.
Sally was interviewed by Philip Battell in Middlebury several times in the last years of her life, and notes from these interviews largely informed this entry (they are housed at the Henry Sheldon Museum, more information at henrysheldonmuseum.org). Philip’s notes primarily covered stories about Sally’s youth, her parents and siblings, and her experiences during the Revolution: including and especially her and her family’s commitment to the American cause. We don’t know how if it was Sally or Philip who felt the need to record that patriotic commitment, but we do know that Sally closed out her 1844 pension application with the sobering phrase, “my whole life has been a political warfare.” Perhaps this interpretation is best left to the reader.
Details about Sally’s later life experiences are frustratingly absent. Navigating this gap is a common challenge for today’s researchers – records that chronicled the lives of “ordinary” historical characters are notoriously hard to find. We don’t know whether Philip didn’t ask those questions, chose not to record those answers, or even if later archivists deemed those notes unimportant and discarded them. Somehow, that knowledge is lost to history.
Still, Philip did write down something of Sally’s personality in his notes after hearing of her death in January 1850 – she was “a remarkable woman…clear quick and forcible in mind…her discernment of character bold and decided.” Even two hundred and fifty years later, we remember her as such.
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Sally Markham
10 years old in 1776
What was it like growing up during the American Revolution? Tap the image to read Sally’s story.
Daniel McCay
(1756– ca. 1816)
Survivor of The Cannon Explosion
“…[H]e has a large family of small children, to support them he was forced to sell his land—the only reward of his country which he was able to keep after his discharge. [Daniel McCay] saith as long as he was able to labour he never intended to ask or receive any further assistance…. he now finds it impossible to support his family.” –Pension Petition of Daniel McCay, October 25, 1814
On October 11, 1776, a deafening sound rang out on the gunboat New York. One of the cannons exploded, erupting the already panicked crew into chaos. One man was dead, and two men survived with serious injuries. Daniel McCay was one of the survivors.
Lieutenant Daniel McCay enlisted in Massachusetts on April 19, 1775. He served several terms in multiple regiments. He would periodically split off into smaller detachments to support areas that needed more soldiers. One of these detachments brought him aboard New York during the conflict on Lake Champlain. When the cannon exploded, one of the fragments hit him in his right hip, a wound that spread nearly to his ribs. While he was evaluated and treated for this injury, it wouldn’t be his last. After a brief recovery, Daniel went on to fight at Saratoga, NY the following autumn. There, he sustained a major break to his right knee and another injury to the left side of his chest. These attacks would never heal correctly.
Following his honorable discharge on January 1, 1783, in New York, he and his family moved to South Carolina. Daniel tried his best to take care of his family, but the growing pain in his knee made it impossible to perform hard labor. They relied on their eldest son to help around the house and provide for the family. The family managed until the boy enlisted during the War of 1812 and left home. His departure left Daniel, his wife, and their four younger children unable to care for themselves.
In 1814, Daniel reluctantly petitioned the Court of Pendleton, SC to receive a pension for his service. He had been against the idea of requesting the government for aid for years. Daniel wanted to take care of his family on his own. But after six years of being physically unable to perform manual labor, he knew there was nothing else he could do. He told the Court of his injuries and gave references from Dr. John Hunter, who initially treated him, and Colonel Joseph Vose, his military superior.
The Pension Act, which allowed most soldiers of the American Revolution to receive payment for their service for the rest of their lives, would not be passed for another eighteen years. Daniel’s petition for pension would not be approved until 1816. As so often happens with this research, the trail stops here. We don’t know how long he lived after receiving his pension. We can’t confirm his wife’s or children’s names. This pension application is the last fragment of Daniel’s life to survive.
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Daniel McCay
20 years old in 1776
How did a young Patriot soldier survive a cannon explosion? Tap the image to read Daniel’s story.
Lieutenant Colonel John Peters III
(1740–1788)
A War-Torn Family
“He rushed on me with his bayonet which entered just below my left breast, but was turned by the bones; by this time I was loaded and I saw that it was a rebel captain, Jeremiah Post by name, an old playmate and schoolfellow, and a cousin of my wife; though his bayonet was in my body I felt regret at being obliged to destroy him.” – from a letter John Peters wrote to a friend, June 1786
John Peters was born in Hebron, CT in 1740, the oldest son of Lydia Phelps and John Peters II. John’s parents were from wealthy, politically prominent families in Britain, and his father was a colonel in the British militia. His family, like many others in the colonies at this time, had both loyalists and Patriots in its tree. John decided, along with several of his uncles, to support the Loyalist cause and the British crown. His father, brother Absalom, and many of his sisters, however, chose the other side.
John was educated at Yale College, graduating in 1759 with a bachelor’s degree. He married Anna Barnett in 1761, and together they had eight sons and one daughter. They settled in Piermont, NH, in 1763 where John operated a sawmill and served as Deputy Surveyor of the King’s Woods, a position given to him by British officials. Later, in 1770, John was appointed “Colonial of Militia, Justice of the Peace, judge of probate,” among other titles, and the family moved to what is now known as Bradford, VT.
In 1774, as tensions that would later lead to the American Revolution started to rise, John and several of his uncles were attacked by Patriots as they traveled to Philadelphia to attend a political meeting. He, his uncles, and his wife and children, were all affected by these attacks at one point or another throughout the early years of the American Revolution, and John detailed several separate instances when he shared information about Patriot troops’ movements or plans with British officials. In 1776, John was a volunteer British soldier during the conflict on Lake Champlain, and he led a regiment at the Battle of Bennington in 1777 (where he was wounded as his wife’s cousin and “old playmate” stabbed him in the chest with a bayonet, as described in the quote on the wall behind you).
In January 1777, in the coldest part of the winter, John’s wife, Anna, was forced from her home with her young children as colonial troops seized the Peters’ property. They fled one hundred and forty miles to Ticonderoga, where the Patriot troops allowed them to stay until April, until they brought them thirty miles north to a deserted house with only three weeks’ worth of food. Although navigating extreme weather and isolated terrain, they arrived hungry and cold in early Mary 1777 in Saint John’s, Quebec.
After John was injured at the Battle of Bennington in 1777, he and several others left the battlefield (with permission from their commanders) and made the perilous journey back to Montreal. John did not rejoin the battlefield afterward and made many attempts to receive payment for his service to the Crown. Eventually, he and his family left Montreal and moved to Cape Breton, NS. John describes mistreatment at the hands of a British General, Haldiman, as the motivation behind their move (apparently, Haldiman did not look kindly on Loyalists). In August 1785, John returned to England where he finally received some payment for his military service – one hundred pounds a year (today, that sum would be worth just under fourteen thousand pounds annually).
John died in England in January 1788 at the age of 47. He is buried in Saint George’s churchyard in Hanover Square.
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John Peters
36 years old in 1776
Why did a Connecticut-born man choose to fight for the Loyalist side? Tap the image to read John’s story.
Jeduthan Baldwin
(1732–1788)
The Engineer of the Patriot Fleet
“…as there is no Quartermaster Genl. at present with this army, I have that duty to do in part, & I have the intire direction of all the House & ship Carpenters, the Smiths, Amourers, Roap makers, the Wheel & Carriage makers, Miners Turnes, Coalyers, Saywers & Shimgle makers, which are all togeather 286… I have my hands & mind constantly employed night & Day except when I am a Sleep & then sometimes I dream.” – Journal of Jeduthan Baldwin, pp 62-63, July 28, 1776.
Jeduthan Balwin was born in Woburn, MA on January 13, 1732, and spent most of his life in Brookfield, MA. He married Lucy Parkman in 1757. During the French and Indian War, he traveled to Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point on Lake Champlain in 1759, where he suffered a severe leg wound. When surgeons suggested amputating it, he threatened them with a bayonet. After the war, he built a successful career as a merchant, trading goods in western Massachusetts. His business profited, at least in part, by enslaving other human beings, with records showing that he purchased at least one person.
Jeduthan joined the Patriot cause around Boston in 1775 and was appointed an assistant engineer with a rank of Captain, helping maintain the siege Boston. His brother Isaac was killed during the Battle of Bunker Hill. In the spring of 1776, Jeduthan was promoted again and sent to Canada where he suffered during the smallpox outbreak. When the Patriot army retreated down Lake Champlain, Baldwin was placed in charge of constructing the Patriot fleet at Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence.
Records describe Jeduthan as hardworking but burdened with responsibility and the uncertainty of the Patriot position. At times he considered resigning.
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Jeduthan Baldwin
44 years old in 1776
What was it like overseeing the construction of the Patriot fleet? Tap the image to read Jeduthan’s story.
Molly Rogers
(1755–1829)
Mother and Widow
“This monument is erected to the memory of Lieut. Thomas Rogers by Mrs. Molly his sorrowful widow. He was killed…on the 11th day of Oct 1776 in the Continental Army in the serves of his county and in the cause of liberty.” – Thomas Rogers’ cenotaph, Fairview Cemetery, Westford, MA
On October 11, 1776, Molly Rogers became a widow. Her husband, Thomas Rogers, had been killed in a tragic accident on the gunboat New York. A cannon exploded, killing Thomas and injuring two others. Molly had already been mourning the loss of her first daughter, who had likely died from disease spread by the military camps. Her second daughter would be born in January of the following year. She, too, would die very young from illness.
Molly was born in August 1755 in Westford, MA. She married Thomas shortly before the war began. Their daughters would be born in 1774 and 1777. Neither of them would live long past their first birthdays. Molly lost her entire family in four years.
Soon after Thomas’ death, Molly commissioned a cenotaph in his honor. His remains were likely not recovered from the attack. Regardless, his memorial would be placed next to his two infant daughters, allowing them all to be together.
In 1782, Molly Rogers became Molly Monroe. She married a tavernkeeper named William Monroe in Lexington, MA. She likely worked with him in maintaining the business among her other daily chores in the household. She hosted revolutionaries, such as George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, at the tavern.
Molly lived a long life, dying in 1829. More information about Molly and the tavern can be found at the Lexington History Museums at lexingtonhistory.org.
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Molly Rogers
21 years old in 1776
After losing her husband to a ship cannon explosion, how does a widow persist? Tap the image to read Molly’s story.
Primas Storms
(1735–1842)
Buying Freedom and a Legacy
Primas Storms was born in 1735, likely in Fishkill, NY. We don’t know who his parents were, nor if he had siblings. He was enslaved by the family of Captain Thomas Storm for roughly half of his life, which makes records of his first fifty years scarce. Captain Storm was among the staff of George Washington during the American Revolution. While we can’t confirm that Primas ever saw or took part in a battle firsthand, it is possible that Primas or his wife Parmelia met General Washington during one of his visits to Captain Storm’s home in Fishkill.
Primas and Parmelia’s names aren’t seen in public records until 1789. Primas was 54 and Parmelia was 34. They had moved to Vergennes, VT with Platt Rogers, to whom the family had been sold prior to leaving New York. Primus was the only free member of his family. He continued working for Platt Rogers until he bought the freedom of his wife and three young children, Nancy, Susannah, and Joseph. The Storms family continued living in Vergennes and Panton, VT following their freedom.
Primus and Parmelia went on to have five more children, Phillip, Henry, John, Primus, and Pamelia, all becoming important members of respective communities throughout Vermont. For example, Primas’ eldest daughter Susannah, born in 1788, inherited 56 acres of land in Panton, VT. She sold a portion of this land to build the Panton Stone School. This building is now standing here at the Museum. Primas’ youngest daughter Pamelia, born in 1812, worked at the Stevens Hotel in Vergennes, and was regarded as “…the best cook in all of the region…”. As the Storms children moved throughout Vermont and had their own families, their presence accounted for about a third of black landowners in the state of Vermont. Primas passed away at the remarkable age of 107 on May 23, 1842. He was buried in Basin Harbor Cemetery alongside his wife Parmelia and eldest daughter Susannah.
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Primas Storms
41 years old in 1776
How did a man free his family and build a legacy in Vermont after the revolution? Tap the image to read Primas’ story.
Edward Pellew
(1757–1833)
A Young Hero
Young Edward Pellew, who eventually became an important admiral in Napoleonic-Era Britain, served as Midshipman during the American Revolution on Lake Champlain.
Born to a sea-going family in Cornwall, UK, Pellew ran off to sea at age fourteen, leaving school behind and starting a life on the water. He served for five years as a midshipman, the youngest officer to serve aboard British vessel. He earned a reputation as a daring sailor. Fellow sailors saw him stand on his head while balancing on the yardarm of his ship, and records show he rescued a shipmate from the ocean.
In October 1776 he was appointed to the schooner Carleton with another midshipman under captain James Dacres. On the first day of the conflict on Lake Champlain, Carleton sailed too close to the Patriot fleet, and Captain Dacres was wounded and knocked unconscious, leaving nineteen-year-old Pellew in command. Pellew tried moving the ship. He climbed out to the bowsprit to handle rigging and passed lines to rowboats so they could tow the Carleton away, all while under heavy fire.
Celebrated as a hero after the battle, Edward was rewarded with promotion. He received many honorary titles in his lifetime, was made a Baron and a Viscount, and eventually rose to Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom. He died in 1833.
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Edward Pellew
19 years old in 1776
How did one of Britain’s youngest officers save his ship and many crew during the Battle of Lake Champlain? Tap the image to read Edward’s story.
Squire Ferris
(1767–1849)
Witness, Scout, Prisoner
Squire Ferris was born in Dutchess County, NY, then a part of what was called the “Nine Partners Patent,” to Peter Ferris and Hester Everest. Some accounts put him as being born in 1763; others in 1767. By 1776, his father Peter Ferris had moved the family north to the shores of Lake Champlain, where they established one of the first farms in what would become the town of Panton, VT. Ferris Bay, as the place they settled was known for a time, was well protected and became an important stopover along the lake during the American Revolution. Benedict Arnold, for whom the bay would eventually be renamed, stay over at the Ferris’ home on occasion, as did Benjamin Franklin in spring of 1776, while on a failed commission to bring Lower Canada over to the Patriot cause.
By 1776, when Squire Ferris was either 9 or 14 years old, war came to the Champlain Valley. In October of 1776, the Ferris farm became a center of action when Arnold crashed and scuttled his fleet in the bay during his retreat from Valcour Island. Squire Ferris recalled witnessing this event, including the tragic instance of the death of Lieutenant Goldsmith. Goldsmith had been severely wounded in the thigh by grape shot at the Battle of Valcour Island but had managed to survive for two days aboard the Row Galley Congress when it was run aground by Arnold. As the wounded were evacuated ashore, Goldsmith was somehow forgotten. He was noticed at the last moment by the ship’s gunner, who was lighting a charge to destroy Congress. But the gunner refused to help him and he was killed in the explosion, in view of both the Americans and British as “his body was seen blown into the air.” Ferris recalled that Arnold threatened to “run the gunner through on the spot” after the incident (Swift, p.89).
But Squire and his family were not simply witnesses to tragedy that day. The British fired cannons at their farmhouse and, when they eventually came ashore, they killed the Ferris’ animals, cut down their orchard, “swept off everything of value both buildings, fences and personal property” and even “tore up [their] feather beds and cast them to the four winds” (Pension, p.1-3). Nonetheless, after having fled south with Arnold’s army that fall, Squire and his father Peter soon returned north to Panton to repair what they could. But the war was still raging: the British fleet occupied the majority of the lake and used Ferris bay for shelter. Late in the autumn of 1776, Peter and Squire Ferris helped two Patriot partisans escape from the British ship Maria while it was anchored at their farm, using a small canoe and the cover of dark. That winter, Squire participated in further partisan activity when he helped capture two Englishmen “supposed to be spies” near the mouth of Otter Creek and brought them to Ticonderoga (Swift, p90). Then, in June of 1777, a British Army under General Frasier again landed at the Ferris farm: “Two hundred horses were turned into his meadows and grain fields, and they were wholly ruined. Gen. Frasier had the civility to promise indemnity, but that promise yet waits for its fulfillment” (Swift, p.89).
By 1778, the valley had been at war for two years and the civilians who remained were direct combatants in the eyes of the British due to their partisan activity. Neighbors had been pitted against one another as they were forced to choose sides to preserve life and limb within this corridor of conflict. In November of 1778, Peter and Squire set off deer hunting along Putnam Creek, near Crown Point, when they were captured by a group of soldiers and Tories commanded by Colonel Carleton, who were beginning a campaign against the residents of the valley. That same night, Carleton “burnt nearly all the houses along the lake from Bridport to Ferrisburgh, making prisoners of the male inhabitants, and leaving the women and children to suffering and starvation” (Swift, p.90). Squire and his father found themselves imprisoned aboard the familiar prison ship Maria, and they were soon joined by more than two hundred and forty other prisoners from Addison County including Benjamin Kellog, father of Sally Kellogg Markham, detailed elsewhere in this exhibit.
This group of prisoners was brought north aboard the British ships into Lower Canada, where they were soon met with terrible winter weather. Their march to Quebec was halted by snow. For the next three years, this group of prisoners was moved from place to place, sometimes employed in work and sometimes locked away in terrible conditions. Ferris and his father twice attempted to escape, once successfully making it to St. Johns before lack of supplies and cold forced their recapture. Finally, in June of 1782 (three years and eight months after their capture) the Ferris father and son were brought again by boat down to Skenesborough (Whitehall), at the southern end of Lake Champlain, and exchanged with the Patriots for British prisoners. Only forty-eight of the original two hundred and forty-four prisoners were left alive by the time of the exchange. As Squire recorded in his pension application, “the greater part died in prison from the most inhuman treatment of the British” (pp.2-3).
After the war, Squire married Diademia Callender about whom little is known. His father Peter died around 1816, in his nineties In 1833, Squire Ferris applied for a pension from the government for his experiences during the war, particularly for his scouting efforts and subsequent teenage imprisonment. His pension was never approved. Squire Ferris lived much of his later life in Chazy, NY, beside Lake Champlain where he had witnessed such brutality in his youth. In 1845, when Ferris was in his eighties, he gave an extensive interview about his experiences to Vermont Historian and Journalist Philip C. Tucker, who recorded the stories in local newspapers. Other writers like Middlebury’s Samuel Swift continued to record his story long after Squire died on March 17th, 1849 in Vergennes, where he is buried.
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Squire Ferris
9 or 14 years old in 1776
What was it like being a teenage prisoner of the British and escaping? Tap the image to read Squire’s story.
Indigenous Perspectives
Alliances and Neutrality
Identifying individual Native soldiers involved in the American Revolution on Lake Champlain is difficult, but members of many tribes participated on both sides of the conflict. They served aboard vessels and as scouts and skirmishers comfortable navigating the valley’s dense forests. As they had long done, people made personal choices about allegiance. Most Abenaki people remained neutral, while many of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, living predominantly along the Housatonic River in western Massachusetts, joined the Patriot forces. Many Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people, including most Mohawks and others in the St. Lawrence region joined the British in an alliance called The Seven Nations of Canada.
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Indigenous Perspectives
What do we know about the alliances and stance of indigenous communities on the lake? Tap the image to read more.
Lyman Noble
(1758–1840)
Crewmember Aboard the Row Galley Washington
In October of 1776, a young man sat imprisoned in a British ship on Lake Champlain. Cold, hungry, and exhausted from days of violence, he did not know when he would be released. He was barely eighteen years old. Lyman Noble had been captured by the British alongside the crew of Row Galley Washington. Although the British released him just two days after his capture, Lyman’s life was dominated by war. Very little is known about his life outside of military service.
Lyman Noble was born on March 5, 1758, in New Milford, CT. Lyman was the sixth of nine children of Gideon Noble and Martha Prime. Gideon Noble served in the military under Captain Botswick until December 1775. Written records of Lyman Noble’s childhood in New Milford are scarce. Record keeping, such as birth certificates and censuses, in the United States was rare in this era.
He joined the military at age fifteen and would live as a volunteer soldier in the United States revolutionary military for ten years. He first enlisted in 1772 in his hometown of New Milford. He worked for short terms, hardly more than six months at a time. As he grew accustomed to this way of life, he would join companies for longer periods. In the summer of 1776, he enlisted under Captain Bottsford who led his company to Fort Ann. NY and eventually Fort Ticonderoga. From there, Lyman became part of the crew of Row Galley Washington. In October of that year, the row galleys pursued the British down Lake Champlain until Otter Creek. Both parties received significant damage to their vessels.
The crew of Washington became overwhelmed and were swiftly captured and imprisoned. Although he was released from the British ship two days later, Lyman was not paroled until 1778. Probably because he could not legally rejoin the military until he was paroled, Lyman did not reenlist until November of 1778, when he joined a military company in New Milford and continued to serve until 1782.
There is little known about Lyman’s life immediately following his discharge. Even in a family history and genealogy book published in 1878, it only states that “[h]e was in the Revolutionary war, and afterwards a pensioner”. He likely took jobs in his community to support himself and his family until the passing of the 1832 Pension Act. Noble married Elizabeth Roice, a young woman from New York on January 6, 1789. She was half his age, being only sixteen and him thirty-one. They would move to Albany, NY, where they would have ten children. Two of these young ones, Thirza and John, would not make it into adulthood. Their oldest son Curtis would be murdered at the age of twenty-five while traveling in Kentucky in 1817. In 1818, Lyman, Elizabeth, and their children moved to Warsaw, NY. They would live there until his death on October 12, 1840, at the age of eighty-two. After Lyman’s death, Elizabeth attempted to become the pensioner for Lyman’s service as she would then be able to live off his full pay. However, because she had already remarried to a man named William Whiting, Elizabeth was ineligible to apply as a widow.
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Lyman Noble
18 years old in 1776
What was it like being a crew member aboard the Patriot row galley Washington? Tap the image to read Lyman’s story.
John Fulton
(1746–1805)
Unarmed in Battle
In October 1776, John Fulton was without a weapon amidst a storm of cannon fire. He was stationed aboard a Patriot row galley when a British fleet commanded by General Burgoyne approached Valcour Bay. At the height of the chaos, a cannon ball flew past John, crashing into his gun. Luckily, he survived the engagement, though nothing could be done for his weapon, his primary way of protecting himself. “Entirely ruined” was how he later referred to the remnants of his gun.
John was born on August 19, 1746, to Robert Fulton and Susannah “Hannah” Ellis. He was the second of at least three children. His known siblings were Sarah, born in 1743, and Robert, born in 1748. They grew up in Colrain, MA. Very little is known about his early life as he seems to not have a surviving diary or journal. On December 15, 1768, John married Susanne Stewart in Greenfield, MA. They did not have any children during their marriage.
In January 1777, John knew he needed to be compensated before he could reenlist, or he would go into battle with no gun to protect him. John petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts Bay to ask for reimbursement. He had the commander of his company, Captain Agrippa Wells, sign the petition to prove that John was present that day. In the petition, he stated, “…when General Burgoyne’s Fleet engaged us, my gun was entirely ruined by a cannon ball from the enemy. Valued at nine dollars, which if your honors will please to allow I shall be very thankful…” (Petition of John Fulton to the Massachusetts Bay General Court, January 1777). John’s gun was worth over $300 today.
John went on to reenlist multiple times around New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont until his final discharge on December 4, 1780. Susanne passed away at the age of thirty-three in 1781. John would remarry soon after her death to a widow named Anna “Annie” Goodrich. Together, they had three children: Elizabeth in 1789, John Jr. in 1793, and Nancy in 1795. John passed away on August 27, 1805, in Pittsfield, MA at the age of fifty-nine.
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John Fulton
30 years old in 1776
How did a Patriot soldier get a new gun after his was ruined in battle? Tap the image to read John’s story.
Thomas Rogers
(1750–1776)
Victim of the Cannon Explosion
“This monument is erected to the memory of Lieut. Thomas Rogers by Mrs. Molly his sorrowful widow. He was killed…on the 11th day of Oct 1776 in the Continental Army in the serves of his county and in the cause of liberty.” – Thomas Rogers’ cenotaph, Fairview Cemetery, Westford, MA
On October 11, 1776, Lieutenant Thomas Rogers died. He was stationed on the gunboat New York, working alongside one of the cannons. In the chaos that morning, everyone was focused on the incoming cannon fire. No one suspected an explosion from onboard. Suddenly, a deafening sound rang out on the gunboat. One of the cannons had exploded. A large fragment of cast iron struck Thomas hard. Two other crew members were seriously injured in the explosion; they managed to survive. Thomas never recovered. He died later that day. He was only 26 years old.
Thomas Rogers was born in January 1750 in Westborough, MA. His father died when he was young, so he started training in blacksmithing to help support his family. He married Molly Cummings in the early 1770s and moved to Westford, MA. Thomas enlisted as a militia sergeant in 1775 in Boston. In early 1776, he joined the crew of New York on Lake Champlain. He would be part of this crew until the cannon explosion on October 11. His wife Molly mourned his sudden loss heavily. She was pregnant, already mourning the loss of her first daughter who had died of illness earlier. Her second child died soon after birth as well. Molly commissioned headstones to honor all three of them alongside each other in Westford where they lived.
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Thomas Rogers
26 years old in 1776
Before a tragic cannon accident during battle, what do we know of a young man’s decision to enlist? Tap the image to read Thomas’ story.
James Murray Hadden
(1757–1817)
British Officer, Gunboat Commander
Born into a military family in the UK, James Hadden trained at the British Military Academy and at nineteen became an officer in the Royal Artillery, at the outbreak of the American Revolution. Little is known about his personal life before entering the military.
Arriving in Quebec in May of 1776, Hadden was placed in command of one of the two-dozen British Gunboats. These small, rowed vessels with a single cannon mounted at the bow made up much of His Majesty’s fleet on Lake Champlain. Hadden lived for months aboard one of these thirty-five-foot-long vessels. He recorded details about the Battle of Valcour Island and life aboard the longboat. A mix of eighteen Canadian, British, Irish, or German sailors and soldiers crewed each boat – a mixed group compared to the crews of larger British vessels on Lake Champlain.
At the Battle of Valcour Bay, a wind from the north prevented the larger British sailing vessels from approaching the Patriot fleet hidden behind Valcour Island. Hadden recounted that the small gunboats managed to row close to Valcour Bay and fought an “unequal combat” for two hours before the larger ships arrived. Hadden described the attack as “disorganized” and at least one of the gunboats exploded, killing many of its German crew. However, it was these small vessels that inflicted most of the damage to the Patriot fleet.
During the second and third days, the wind shifted and the large vessels moved south, leaving behind Hadden and the gunboats. After the events of October 1776 on Lake Champlain, Hadden accompanied General Burgoyne during the 1777 invasion of New York, until he was captured at Saratoga. He returned to England after the war, and continued his professional career in the British Army, rising through the ranks until his death in 1817.
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James Hadden
19 years old in 1776
What was it like commanding one of the small British Gunboats during the battle? Tap the image to read James’ story.
Susanna Leech
(Dates Unknown)
Wife of a Soldier Killed
“…being left with two small children and incapable of supporting them, owing to the exorbitant prices of the necessities of life by which they must have suffered had it not been for the assistance of her friends…” – Petition of Susanna Leech to the Massachusetts Bay General Court, 1776
In October 1776, Susanna Leech was suddenly alone. Her husband John Leech, a crew member of the row galley Trumbull, died in the conflict on Lake Champlain sometime between October 11-13th. The exact date of his death is unknown. Regardless, Susanna found herself a widow with two young children and no one to support them. Although the war raged on, her world stood still.
The work of supporting her family fell hard on her shoulders. Without her husband, Susanna had to carry the weight of supporting her family in every way. She had to support her family financially, likely through the trade work John did prior to his service. She also had to manage the home, cook and preserve food, and raise her children. Luckily, Susanna seems to have had many connections within her community who came together to help lessen the burden. Even with this help, Susanna was still struggling to make ends meet.
In the early winter of 1776, Susanna petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts Bay. The clothing and materials needed to supply her husband for military service were expensive. Susanna reasoned that she should be compensated for all that was lost when John was killed. She recorded every item either bought or made alongside the cost and presented it to the Court. To prove her husband’s position, she contacted his superior, Colonel Edward Wigglesworth, to certify that John was part of his regiment. This list of items included one blanket, three jackets, four pairs of breeches, four shirts, five pairs of stockings, two pairs of shoes, two sets of silver shoe and knee buckles, and one handkerchief. The clothing came in multiple materials to suit the change of seasons, including linen, wool, silk, and cotton. The total cost was $19.80, in today’s dollars, over $700 for John to be outfitted to join the Patriot army. Despite the expense, her husband had only lived to see one month of service on Trumbull.
Susanna’s life, apart from this moment, is lost. We don’t know the names of her parents, or what her maiden name was. Nor do we know if she had siblings, or what her children’s names were. We don’t know when her birthday was, or how old she was when John and she got married. These crucial details of Susanna’s life were deemed unimportant and therefore left unrecorded. The only fragment of her voice that remains is her plea to the General Court so she could keep her family warm and fed throughout the winter.
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Susanna Leech
Age unknown in 1776
How do you support your family as a single parent during and after the revolution? Tap the image to read Susanna’s story.
Matthew Kennedy
(1741–1776)
Dying from Disease at Mount Independence
“…but am so frail at present that I could not venture home alone; I ensure you’ll remember me to my wife and family and the rest of my relatives. I am with dire respect, your loving brother, Matthew Kennedy” – Letter from Matthew Kennedy to Robert Kennedy, October 11, 1776
In October 1776, Matthew Kennedy wrote a letter to his older brother begging him to take him home. Matthew was stuck at a camp on Mount Independence, far too ill to travel to New Hampshire on his own. The camp had barely enough food to feed the horses, much less the men. As winter rapidly approached, Matthew knew he would not make it until the end of his enlistment term in such bleak conditions. He would have to come home quickly to survive his illness.
Matthew Kennedy was born in 1741 in Goffstown, NH. His parents were Capt. Joseph Langdon Kennedy and Elizabeth Edmondson. He was the eleventh of sixteen children. While the events of his childhood are unknown, we can infer that he had a close relationship with his older brother Robert, as he was the one he wrote to when he fell ill. In the late 1760s, Matthew married Elizabeth Jean “Jane” Gilchrist. They had two children: Joseph and Mary. Mary, Elizabeth’s youngest, would be born two months after her father went into service. She never met him.
Matthew enlisted at Mount Independence on July 22, 1776. As summer came to an end, an outbreak of smallpox, among other infectious illnesses, tore through several military camps. While we are unaware of what Matthew fell sick with, it is highly likely that it was smallpox due to the severity of the outbreak. As his illness progressed, he sent a message to his brother asking him to take him home. He made a point of urgency by stating that if Robert cannot make it, then he should send another trusted person to the camp because he doesn’t have much time.
Once Robert received the letter, he rushed to the camp along with some other family members. They arrived only to find that Matthew had already succumbed to his illness. He likely died sometime around the end of October 1776.
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Matthew Kennedy
35 years old in 1776
What were conditions like for sick soldiers at camped at Mount Independence? Tap the image to read Matthew’s story.
Pascal Charles Joseph De Angelis
(163–1893)
A Teenager’s Account of the Battle
“Six feet in height, straight as an arrow [he] had black eyes, a prominent nose and high forehead, an elegant figure and commanding presence.” – Description of Pascal De Angelis, from the 1878 edition of History of Oneida County, New York
One of the youngest participants during American Revolution on Lake Champlain was Pascal De Angelis. He accompanied his stepfather, also the ship commander, Captain Seth Warner, aboard Patriot row galley Trumbull.
Pascal De Angelis was born on the Dutch plantation island of St. Eustatius, in the Caribbean, and later moved to Old Saybrook, CT. Just before turning thirteen in 1776, he enlisted with his stepfather and headed north to Lake Champlain.
In a small journal he kept during the battles, Pascal recorded the fighting at Valcour Bay, the chase down the lake, and the final clash near Split Rock and Ferris Bay. His vessel, Trumbull, was one of only five to escape the British fleet. He recalled, “We were closely [pursued], but by [rowing] and heaving out our [ballast] and making all the sail we could, we arrived at Crown Point about half after one o’clock.”
Pascal heard explosions in Ferris Bay and suspected Congress and other vessels had been destroyed by Arnold.
Pascal De Angelis continued to serve as a sailor. He was eventually captured and brought to Jamaica, then he escaped to London and was forced into the Royal Navy. He escaped once more and was in Great Britain when the war ended. In his later life, he married Elizabeth Webb, worked as a merchant captain and eventually became a landowner in western New York.
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Pascal de Angelis
13 years old in 1776
How did one of the youngest enlisted Patriot participants survive on row galley? Tap the image to read Pascal’s story.
Antipas Marshall Sr.
(1757–1846)
His Brother Killed Alongside Him
“In October AD 1776 I was detached & put on board the fleet on Lake Champlain under the command of Col. Arnold in a vessel commanded by Capt Mansfield. I was in the battles of the eleventh and twelfth of that month & Arnold’s vessel and Capt Mansfield’s were the last run on shore.” – Pension Record of Antipas Marshall, 1826
Antipas Marshall was born in Ipswitch, MA, in 1757. When the American Revolution broke out in Boston, Antipas took up arms and was involved in the siege of Boston. In the spring of 1776, Antipas and his brother Joseph travelled north to Lake Champlain to help defend the lake from the British.
In October of 1776, Antipas was detached from his regiment at Fort Ticonderoga and put into the Patriot fleet on board the gunboat New Haven, commanded by Captain Mansfield. His brother appears also to have joined the vessel, which may mean they came from a family in Ipswich with some nautical background. Antipas fought in all three days of the conflict and at some point during the fighting his brother Joseph was killed while “by his side.” Antipas recalled that New Haven was one of the last vessels run ashore at Ferris Bay on the third day of the violence, October 13th.
Antipas was discharged in spring of 1777 but later rejoined and fought at the Battle of Saratoga. After the war, Antipas lived a long life. He married Sarah Low in Ipswich, MA, in 1779 and they had ten children. He died at the age of eighty-eight in Northumberland, NH, in 1846 and is buried there.
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Antipas Marshall Sr.
19 years old in 1776
After the Seige of Boston, what led two brothers to defend Lake Champlain? Tap the image to read Antipas’ story.