Embattled Farmers: Campaigns and Profiles of Revolutionary Soldiers from Lincoln Massachusetts 1775-1783

About this book

There was nothing extraordinary about these men; they were ordinary farmers laborers merchants tradesmen slaves and former slaves the cross-section of a typical eighteenth-century New England farming community. But when faced with the loss of their cherished liberties and long-standing tradition of self-government they were swept up in an epic struggle against long odds. These are the forgotten men who fought the American Revolution. Meticulously researched Embattled Farmers traces the footsteps of 252 individual menall connected with the same communitywho served as Patriot soldiers. Through repeated enlistments they served at Lexington and Concord at the Siege of Boston and during the campaigns to Ticonderoga Canada New York Saratoga the Hudson Valley The Jerseys Valley Forge and Yorktown. Despite family and community ties four others remained loyal to the King and fought against their neighbors and kinfolk. They lost everything they had and lived the remainder of their lives in exile. Individual stories tell of under-age service skirmishes and battles guard duty fatigue duty capture by the enemy smallpox desertion and hardships as well as service by slaves economic dislocation and the practice of substitution. Collectively their stories present a fascinating mosaic of a community at war. Told mostly from the perspectiveand in some cases the actual wordsof the men themselves Embattled Farmers places the reader shoulder to shoulder with the men-at-arms. As minute men militia privateers Continental soldiersand Loyalist militiaas officers and foot-soldiers the stories of these Lincoln men bring to life the human drama of the War for American Independence. The books many hidden pearls will delight any armchair historian.