The Military Journals of Two Private Soldiers, 1758-1775 | Page 5

Chapling[32] came up &. 1 of Magor Rogers[33] men came in that had bin gorn 7 days & Expected to be gorn but 2 he was so beat out that he could not tel what had becom of tother. this night I went upon a batto and guarded Colonel Phiches Tub of Butter.
[Footnote 31: Colonel David Wooster, of Connecticut, the eminent general of the Revolution, who was killed at Ridgefield, while engaged in the pursuit of Tryon, after the burning of Danbury, in the spring of 1777. He was born in Stratford, Connecticut, in March, 1710, graduated at Yale college in 1738, and soon afterward received the appointment of captain of a vessel of the coast-guard. He was in the expedition against Louisburg in 1745. He afterward went to England, where he was a favorite at the court of George II., and received the appointment of captain in the regular service, under Sir William Pepperell. He was promoted to a colonelcy in 1755, and rose to the rank of brigadier before the close of the French and Indian war. He was one of the most active men in getting up the expedition against Ticonderoga, in 1775, which resulted in the capture of that fortress, and also Crown Point, by Colonel Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold. Wooster was appointed one of the first brigadiers of the continental army, in 1775, and third in rank. He was also appointed the first major-general of the militia of his state, when organized for the War for Independence; and in that capacity he was employed, with Arnold, Silliman, and others, in repelling British invasion in 1777. He lost his life in that service. His remains were buried at Danbury; and in 1854 a monument was erected over his grave by his grateful countrymen, at the expense of his native state.]
[Footnote 32: Chaplain.]
[Footnote 33: Commander of a corps of rangers, who performed signal services during the greater part of the French and Indian war. He was the son of an Irishman, an early settler of Dunbarton, in New Hampshire. He was appointed to his command in 1755, and was a thorough scout. In 1759, he was sent by General Amherst to destroy the Indian village of St. Francis. In that expedition he suffered great hardships, but was successful. He served in the Cherokee war in 1761, and in 1766 was appointed governor of Michilimacinac, where he was accused of treason, and sent to Montreal in irons. He was acquitted, went to England, and, after suffering imprisonment for debt, returned to America, where he remained until the Revolution broke out. He took up arms for the king, and in 1777 went to England, where he died. His "Journal of the French and Indian War" is a valuable work.]
Sonday 2. In the fore noon I went to meting & heard Mr. Eals his text was in the 5th Chapter of James 16th verse a good sermon I rote a letter & sent home & in the after noon to meeting again.
Monday 3d. Yesterday Mager putnoms S Company came up and this morning Mager putnom[34] come up and the Connetticuts rigiment were Imbodied for to learn how to form your front to the Right and left for Jineral Abbacromba[35] and his A de Camp to vieu.
[Footnote 34: Israel Putnam, afterward the Revolutionary general. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in January, 1718. He was a vigorous lad, and in 1739 we find him cultivating land in Pomfret, Connecticut, the scene of his remarkable adventure in a wolf's den, so familiar to every reader. He was appointed to the command of some of the first troops raised in Connecticut for the French and Indian war in 1755, and was an active officer during the entire period of that conflict, especially while in command of a corps of rangers. He was ploughing in his field when the news of the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord reached him. He immediately started for Boston, and, at the head of Connecticut troops, was active in the battle of Bunker Hill. He was one of the first four major-generals of the continental army appointed by Congress in June, 1775, and he was constantly on duty in important movements until 1779, when a partial paralysis of one side of his body disabled him for military service. He lived in retirement after the war, and died at Brooklyn, Windham county, Connecticut, on the 29th of May, 1790, at the age of seventy-two years.]
[Footnote 35: General James Abercrombie, the commander-in-chief of the campaign. He was descended from an ancient Scotch family, and, because of signal services on the continent, was promoted to the rank of major-general, the military art having been his profession since boyhood. He was superseded by Lord Amherst, after his defeat at Ticonderoga, and returned