SOME PARTICIPANTS IN THE RAIDS ON FORT WILLIAM AND MARY
By Thomas F. Kehr
(Revised ed. © June, 2012 Thomas F. Kehr; All rights reserved to the author. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the author. This article updates, revises, corrects and supersedes the original and revised versions © Thomas F. Kehr, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006 and 2007)
What were the raids on Fort William and Mary? (complete essay)
I. Sources of Names of Participants
The list appearing in Section III below is a list of documented participants in the FortWilliam and Mary affair. Individuals whose participation is primarily a matter of tradition are not generally contained on this list. The list contains both patriot/rebel and loyalist participants. The main source of information used to compile this list was Paul Wilderson, “ The Raids on Fort William and Mary: Some New Evidence,” Historical New Hampshire (the magazine of the New Hampshire Historical Society, hereinafter “HNH”) vol. 30, no. 3 (Fall, 1975), pp. 178 - 202. That article sets forth the “depositions” (statements) of participants in the events taken by order of the Royal Governor. These extraordinary documents were not generally available until the mid 1970’s. Historical treatments of the attacks on FortWilliam and Mary written before that time (and most written after that time) can be misleading and certainly do not capture the full story. The original depositions are held by the Public Records Office of the British National Archives in London as document CO5, 939 (Records of the Colonial Office, Board of Trade and Secretaries of State of America and the West Indies Series, Original Correspondence 1606 - 1822, New Hampshire Subseries - Original Correspondence of Secretary of State, 1774 - 1775). In 1977, Paul Wilderson added to the available body of information on the raids by identifying and publishing a description of the events attributed to Governor John Wentworth. See “John Wentworth’s Narrative of the Raids on Fort William and Mary,” HNH, vol. 32, no. 4 (Winter, 1977), pp. 228 - 236.
In addition to the depositions and Wentworth’s narrative, post-war writings of General John Sullivan and the recollections of 101 year-old millworker Eleazer Bennett identify participants from Durham who engaged in Sullivan’s raid of December 15. See Theodore Crackel and Martin Andresen, “ Fort William and Mary: A Case Study in Crowd Behavior,” HNH, vol. 29, no. 4 (Winter, 1974), footnote 66, p. 225. Crackel and Andresen’s list of Durham men stems primarily from the following sources:
(1) The list of individuals contained in John Sullivan’s letter to Ebenezer Thompson published in the New Hampshire Spy of March 17, 1789 [reprinted in Charles L. Parsons, The Capture of Fort William and Mary, December 14 and 15, 1774, reprint of a paper delivered at the 77th Annual Meeting of the New Hampshire Historical Society (Proceedings of the New Hampshire Historical Society, vol. 4 [June, 1905], pp. 18 – 47), published by the William and Mary Committee of the New Hampshire American Revolution Bicentennial Commission (1974), p. 21; See also Parsons’ discussion of participants, id., pp. 22 – 25];
(2) Verifiable conclusions drawn from Sullivan’s 1785 account of his raid found in Nathaniel Bouton, et. al, eds. New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers (40 vol.s, 1867 - 1943), printed by the State (hereinafter “NHPSP”), vol. 18, pp. 748 – 750 (referencing the involvement of Sullivan's three law clerks); and
(3) An obituary of Eleazer Bennett appearing in the (Concord, NH) Congregational Journal of February 18, 1852. Another Bennett account appears in Thomas Coffin Amory’s The Military Services and Public Life of Major General John Sullivan of the American Revolution Army, Wiggin and Lunt, Boston, MA (1868), p. 295.
Only a small number of the participants in the raids can be identified from readily available 18th century documents. Undiscovered sources of information might exist which note other individuals’ involvement in the raids. The following list is by no means an exhaustive compilation of the names of the hundreds (probably more than 1,000) individuals involved in the actions of December, 1774. It should be noted that a fertile ground for potential identification of additional raiders would be local records in the former Eastern District of Massachusetts (Maine), particularly the towns of Kittery and Berwick. Maine records have not been reviewed in compiling this list. Readers who are aware of other documents containing first-hand information about the raids or participants are encouraged to contact the author .
Of the names on the list in Section III, a number are clearly loyalist sympathizers. Two are men who presumably assisted in the defense of the fort on December 14 (men whose actual sympathies remain unclear). At least 10 are probably, but not certainly, duplicate names. Some, such as Sheriff Parker, helped defend the Wentworth administration but were not loyalists by conviction. Other named individuals, such as the men who arrived from Exeter to guard the passage of the booty up the Piscataqua, probably did not engage in the actual raiding of the fort but were active participants in the important final phase of the operation. Readers who are interested in documenting revolutionary war participation of particular individuals will find on this the list the names of about 100 persons who served in the patriot cause during New Hampshire’s early insurrection.
A separate, related list appears at Section V below. That item identifies men who are known to have been responsible for storing most of the gunpowder seized in the raids.
II. Use of the Participant List and Source Citations
The list at Section III provides:
(A) The name of the individual, usually spelled as it appears in the source material cited;
(B) The individual’s town of origin, if noted in the source material or if determined with reasonable accuracy from other sources. Due to border adjustments or generalization of locale, references to Durham may in some cases include areas now in other nearby towns, such as Newmarket or Madbury;
(C) Notes on the person’s role in the attack and, in some cases, additional verifiable information of interest concerning the individual; and
(D) The source in which reference to the actions of the individual may be found (some individuals may also be listed in sources in addition to those noted).
Uncertain items are noted with a question mark "(?)"
Twelve depositions concerning the events at the fort are known to have been taken by order of the Royal Governor. They are cited as:
"Cochran Dep. I.": The deposition of Captain John Cochran, officer in command of the fort, concerning the incident of December 14, 1774. HNH, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 188 – 192.
"Cochran Dep. II.": The deposition of Captain John Cochran, officer in command of the fort, concerning the incident of December 15, 1774. HNH, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 192 – 194.
"Griffiths Dep.": The deposition of John Griffiths, soldier of the fort, concerning the incidents of both December 14 and 15, 1774. HNH, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 202.
"Hall Dep. I.": The deposition of Ephraim Hall, soldier of the fort, concerning the incident of December 14, 1774. HNH, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 199 – 200.
"Hall Dep. II.": The deposition of Ephraim Hall, soldier of the fort, concerning the incident of December 15, 1774. HNH, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 200 - 202.
"Parker Dep.": The deposition of John Parker, the Rockingham County, NH, Sheriff. HNH, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 187 – 188.
"B. Rowell Dep. I.": The deposition of Benjamin Rowell, soldier of the fort, concerning the incident of December 14, 1774. HNH, vol. 30, no. 3, p. 197.
"B. Rowell Dep. II.": The deposition of Benjamin Rowell, soldier of the fort, concerning the incident of December 15, 1774. HNH, vol. 30, no. 3, p. 198.
"S. Rowell Dep.": The deposition of Samuel Rowell, soldier of the fort, concerning the incident of December 14, 1774. HNH, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 198 – 199.
"Seveay Dep. I.": The deposition of Isaac Seveay, soldier of the fort, concerning the incident of December 14, 1774. HNH, vol. 30, no. 3, p. 195.
"Seveay Dep. II.": The deposition of Isaac Seveay, soldier of the fort, concerning the incident of December 15, 1774. HNH, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 196 - 197.
"Torrey Dep.": The deposition of William Torrey, the individual who spoke to Paul Revere on December 13, 1774. HNH, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 186 – 187.
The depositions can be used for intriguing research in addition to the identification of participants. They also identify which of the soldiers knew which of the raiders well enough to identify them by sight. Some raiders were known to (or seen by) only one or two of the defenders. Others were known to (or seen by) only certain soldiers and still others were known (or seen) by most of the men. Inspection of the list from that perspective sheds light on particular soldiers’ sphere of associates.
Other source abbreviations cited on the list in Section III are:
"Amory's Life of Sullivan"
In the 1840’s and very early 1850’s, Eleazer Bennet or Bennett, a Durham mill worker whose life spanned from 1750 to December of 1851, gave a number of oral accounts of his involvement in the raids. There are serious difficulties with Bennett’s accounts but portions of his recollections comport with fact. Moreover, it is not certain whether some of the discrepancies in accounts attributed to Bennett are due to Bennett’s own failing (or enhanced) memory or whether instead his accounts were simply misinterpreted and embellished by those who recorded them. All of Bennett’s accounts appear to combine the events of December 14 and 15 into one single raid. Durham men like Bennett actually participated in the raid of the 15th. Accordingly, at least a portion of Bennett’s story was based upon second hand inormation, a fact that might not have been clear to listeners who assumed the existence of only one raid. One of Bennett’s accounts which includes a list of Durham men (cited below as “Amory’s Life of Sullivan”) appears in Thomas Coffin Amory’s The Military Services and Public Life of Major General John Sullivan of the American Revolution Army, Wiggin and Lunt, Boston, MA (1868), p. 295.
"Bennett List"
One of Bennett’s accounts, evidently provided to a minister, Rev. Alvan Tobey, was published in Bennett’s obituary in the (Concord, NH) Congregational Journal of February 18, 1852 (p. 1, col.s 3 – 4). This account was the primary source for the “Bennett List” that appears in Crackel and Andresen, “Fort William and Mary: A Case Study in Crowd Behavior,” HNH vol. 29, no. 4 (Winter 1974), pp. 203 – 226. That served as the source of the “Bennett List” which was used here. Three decades after speaking to Bennett, Ballard Smith published a somewhat different version of Bennett’s recollections in “The Gunpowder for Bunker Hill,” Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 73, no. 434 (July, 1886), pp. 236 ff. Smith’s account of the raids themselves is fanciful, but it is assumed that there is at least some kernel of truth in his account of Bennett’s statements.
"Bell's History of Exeter"
In the 1880’s, Charles H. Bell identified a handwritten narrative of events from Exeter’s past as the recollections of that town’s elderly Gideon Lamson (1750 – 1827). The original narrative, which does not bear a name, was produced in late 1827. It is currently (2012) on file at the New Hampshire State Archives, Concord, NH, filed under “Exeter Records, Miscellaneous Papers 1659 – 1918,” V52, Box 876161, folder 8. One small portion of the narrative relates to Lamson’s involvement in the Fort William and Mary affair. That excerpt was quoted in in Bell’s History of the Town of Exeter, NH, J. E. Farwell & Co., Boston, MA (1888), pp. 240 – 241. Lamson’s account of his involvement was unnecessarily discounted by Parsons in The Capture, p. 25 (and questioned by Bell himself), likely because these 19th century writers did not have the benefit of Wentworth’s narrative or other more recently discovered items. These items place Lamson’s recollections in perfectly understandable context. Lamson was a member of one of the armed units that kept watch for the arrival of the British as Sullivan made his escape upriver on December 16 and 17, 1774. Lamson’s recollections (as well as certain of the Town of Exeter’s financial records cited by Bell) identify participants in the Fort William and Mary incidents.
Bell’s History of Exeter, p. 242, also identifies a number of individuals who were entrusted with the storage of the stolen gunpowder. Those individuals are listed separately at Section V below.
"Sullivan List"
Years after the events of December 1774, John Sullivan recalled rallying 30 or 40 men from Durham to respond to the call to Portsmouth. Sullivan’s account of his involvement is found, in part, in his letter to the New Hampshire Spy of March 17, 1789 (p. 1, col. 3 – p. 2, col. 2), reprinted in Parsons’ The Capture p. 21. See also id., pp. 22 – 25. Sullivan’s 1789 list of names forms a primary basis for the “Sullivan list” of names found in Crackel and Andresen’s “Fort William and Mary: A Case Study in Crowd Behavior,” HNH, vol. 29, no. 4, footnote 66, p. 225.
"Wentworth Narrative"
This source citation refers to Wilderson’s “John Wentworth's Narrative of the Raids on Fort William and Mary,” HNH, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 228 – 236. It identifies several participants not mentioned elsewhere.
III . PARTICIPANT LIST
If readers are aware of any first-hand account which identifies an individual or group of individuals as participants in the incidents of December, 1774, or if readers have additional information or comments relating to individuals on the above list, they are encouraged to contact the author, Thomas F. Kehr
IV. Possible Additional Participants
A historical marker on Goodwin Road in Eliot, Maine, identifies the former home of Captain Samuel Leighton. According to local tradition, Leighton was among those Maine men who attacked Fort William and Mary. Local tradition also holds that he transported some of the arms and powder to Frank’s Fort in Eliot (then part of the Town of Kittery). If this tradition is correct, it would mean that some of the powder seized at the fort in New Hampshire was immediately delivered to Massachusetts (Maine was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1774). The author has not attempted to scour the records of Kittery and Berwick, Maine (two towns which responded to the raids) for the names of potential participants.
On the loyalist side, one or more of the Cochran children may have been present during the raids, probably simply as worried observers. Since both of their parents were subdued (and presumably held) by the attackers, any children who were present would probably have been kept under watch by the raiders. The Cochran children known to have been born at the time of the raids were Sarah (Sally) Cochran, (age 9, based upon date of her 3/17/1765 baptism) and Ann (Nancy) Cochran (age 5, based upon date of her 5/14/1769 baptism). John and Sarah Cochran had at least two other children, Mary (Polly) Cochran, born circa 1779, and William Peregrine Cochran. William was baptized 9/17/1775. It is possible that was not a newborn at this time but he was, in any event, quite young. William was still a child in 1782.
On August 18, 1782, when the Cochrans were loyalist refugees, an adult male named John Corlet Cochran (age unknown) was traveling with the family. It is assumed (but not certain) that he would have been at least 16 at this time. Based upon the date of Sally Cochran’s baptism it is conceivable that John Corlet Cochran was a son of John and Sarah Cochran born between December of 1765 and August of 1766, or that he was a son born within a month of the Cochran’s marriage on 5/29/1764, but he might also have been another relative of the Captain, possibly a son from an earlier marriage, a nephew or a cousin. A “John Corlet Cochran” appears on Fort William and Mary’s muster roll for 1772/1773 (performing 1 month and 11 days service at the fort). Some undocumented secondary sources (rightly or wrongly) suggest that there might have been an individual of this name born in New Castle around this time. In short, Canadian and American sources have not to date established John Corlet Cochran’s precise relationship to the family. As noted below, his possession of the Cochran surname does not necessarily mean that a blood relationship exists.
Another individual traveling with the Cochran family in 1782 was Adam Cochran, who has been identified as an 11 year old black servant, indentured to Captain Cochran until the age of 21. The author thanks Halifax author, educator and loyalist historian Stephen Davidson for this information. It is assumed (but not known) that Adam might have joined the family during the British occupation of New York City. Adam Cochran (and not John Corlet Cochran) appears in the “Book of Negroes,” the detailed list of black loyalist refuges created by British authorities at the close of the Revolution. See “Black Loyalists: Our History Our People,” Canada’s Digital Collections: http://blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/documents/official/book_of_negroes.htm
John and Sarah Cochran’s youngest daughter, Polly, grew up to marry Charles Hardy of Portsmouth. She returned to that town around the time of her marriage and lived there until her death. Sally and Nancy Cochran lived and died in New Brunswick, Canada. It is assumed (but not known) that William Peregrine Cochran, John Corlet Cochran and Adam Cochran also remained in Canada.
V. Persons Storing the Gunpowder
Bell’s History of Exeter, p. 242, contains a list of persons who were, on April 21, 1775 (just after the actions at Lexington and Concord) “in possession” of 72 barrels of gunpowder taken from the fort. Each barrel probably contained about 100 pounds of powder. The 72 barrels (about 7,200 pounds) were originally taken to Exeter but soon disbursed so as to provide munitions to other towns and so as to keep the hefty supply safe from easy confiscation by royal authorities. Although “possession” of the powder may mean only that the person was responsible for storing it, one assumes that at least some of the individuals stored the powder on their own property.
Approximately 28 of the barrels of powder taken from the fort have not been fully accounted for. At least some was kept in and around Durham, Dover and Madbury. Some portion of this powder was stored at the homes of Ebenezer Thompson of Durham and John Demeritt of Madbury. Tradition holds that some of the powder was also stored at the Durham meeting house, where the local minister, Rev. John Adams, was a participant in Sullivan’s raid. Judging from Exeter’s splitting of its powder; from the fact that Thompson and Demeritt presumably held some quantity; and from a contemporaneous report that some made its way to Dover, if the Durham meeting house was a repository at all, it seems unlikely that all of the unaccounted-for powder was stored there. As historian Elwin Page noted in “The King’s Powder, 1774,” The New England Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 1 (March, 1945), p. 83, the meeting house had no cellar.
The persons who stored the 72 barrels of the King’s stolen powder were not necessarily participants in the actual raids on the fort but nonetheless performed a valuable service for the patriot cause.
|
NAME
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TOWN
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QUANTITY OF POWDER
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|
|
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|
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Allison , Samuel [with John Bell]
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Londonderry
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1 barrel in total
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|
|
|
|
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Ayers , Joseph
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Portsmouth
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4 barrels [delivered to Ayers on or about April 21, 1775 by Col. Nicholas Gilman and Dr. John Giddinge of Exeter]
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|
|
|
|
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Bell , John [with Samuel Allison]
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Londonderry
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1 barrel in total
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|
|
|
|
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Brooks , Samuel
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Exeter
|
2 barrels
|
|
|
|
|
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Cilley , Joseph, Jr. [Major]
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Nottingham
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8 barrels
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|
|
|
|
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Clough , Zachariah
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Poplin (Fremont)
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4 barrels
|
|
|
|
|
|
Folsom , Nathaniel [Col.]
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Exeter
|
1 barrel
|
|
|
|
|
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Folsom , Samuel [Col.]
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Exeter
|
2 barrels
|
|
|
|
|
|
Giddinge , John [Dr.] [with Col. (Nicholas) Gilman]
|
Exeter
|
4 barrels in total [delivered to Joseph Ayers of Portsmouth on April 21, 1775]
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|
|
|
|
|
Gilman [Col.] (Nicholas) [with Dr. John Giddinge]
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Exeter
|
4 barrels in total [delivered to Joseph Ayers of Portsmouth on April 21, 1775]
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|
|
|
|
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Gilman , Theophilus
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Exeter
|
2 barrels
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gordon , Nathaniel
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Exeter
|
6 barrels
|
|
|
|
|
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Lawrence , David [with others]
|
Epping
|
8 barrels
|
|
|
|
|
|
Long , Ebenezer
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Kingston
|
12 barrels
|
|
|
|
|
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Marshall [Capt.] [with James Robinson]
|
Brentwood
|
6 barrels in total
|
|
|
|
|
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Odiorne , Thomas
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Exeter
|
2 barrels
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pickering , James
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Exeter
|
4 barrels
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poor [Col.] (Enoch?)
|
Exeter
|
2 barrels
|
|
|
|
|
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Robinson , Ephraim
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Exeter
|
2 barrels
|
|
|
|
|
|
Robinson , James [with Capt. Marshall]
|
Brentwood
|
6 barrels in total
|
|
|
|
|
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Rice , John [Esq.]
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Exeter
|
2 barrels
|
|
|
|
|
|
Row , John
|
Exeter
|
4 barrels
|
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mr. Kehr received his J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law (Camden) and his B.A. in History from the University of New Hampshire. He is a former president, historian and member of the New Hampshire Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Through his efforts in 2000, the National Society, Sons of the American Revolution officially recognized participation in the raids on Fort William and Mary as American Revolutionary War service. Mr. Kehr is actively engaged in research, writing and lecturing on New Hampshire during the early Revolution. He is also known for his first person portrayals of Governor/Senator John Langdon, the Continental Congress’ Agent of Marine on the Piscataqua.
All rights reserved to the author, Thomas F. Kehr
Comments or corrections should be addressed to Thomas F. Kehr
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