"6th Middlesex County Regiment at Saratoga" Topic
7 Posts
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Prince Alberts Revenge | 06 Jun 2015 11:42 a.m. PST |
Helpinh my father track down some information regarding an ancester. His name was Supply Reed and was listed as a private and/or mattros for an artillery piece in the 6th Middlesex County Regiment of militia also known as Reed's Regiment of Militia. link I believe this regiment took some part in the Battle of Bemis Heights but I can't find them on an OOB. Can anyone assist? Thanks! |
epturner | 06 Jun 2015 4:31 p.m. PST |
Ahhh Littleton and Westford… towns next to my hometown of Chelmsford. I know them well. Interesting. I'll see if I can find anything about Bemis Heights for you. Eric |
Prince Alberts Revenge | 06 Jun 2015 7:43 p.m. PST |
Thanks Eric, much appreciated. My father, now retired, has spent a good amount of his free time investigating our ancestors. We tracked down a "gypsy" who came to the Massachusetts colony in the mid-17th century and ended up marrying a Wampanoag woman and a Philadelphian durin g the ACW who fought in some smaller actions. If you have anything on the General Briskett's brigade of Massachusetts militia I would be very interested! |
Supercilius Maximus | 07 Jun 2015 3:36 a.m. PST |
I doubt very much your ancestor was in any mortal peril, except from the bloody fluxes or some other camp disease. Having read pretty much every book published on Saratoga in the last 50 years (my vote for best goes to Luzader's recent tome), I have never come across any reference to Briskett's Brigade – other than via your link. Given the distance from these towns to Saratoga is between 150 and 200 miles (depending on which route they took) and allowing for rest days, I doubt they were in any condition to fight – assuming they even arrived in time. My guess is they were parked in a rear area whilst they recovered and someone worked out what to do with all those extra hungry mouths that needed feeding. Here's the two most detailed American orbats for Bemis Heights that I could find on the internet. The Wiki version is not very good on the British orbat (the actual "units" were combined detachments from different corps), but does fill in some gaps in the first one as regards Continental and Militia COs and Militia unit names:- link link Remember that the battle was a British probe, followed by an American counter-attack, in which both commanders used only limited numbers of the front-line troops available to them. There simply wasn't time for the more outlying formations to be brought up. |
Supercilius Maximus | 09 Jun 2015 2:13 a.m. PST |
PAR – Just found out why I couldn't see anything on General BriSkett; it should be BriCkett! Here's his biog from the Massachusetts DAR website: Brigadier General James Brickett – Old Newbury Chapter, located in Haverhill, is another chapter that merged and joined forces. Brigadier General James Brickett was the highest ranking officer in Haverhill during the American Revolution, and a physician by trade. During the French and Indian Wars, he served as a surgeon's mate 1759 to 1760; in 1768 he was one of the organizing members of the first fire company; elected captain in 1774 of the first artillery company. In 1775 promoted to full colonel and 1776 Brigadier General and was given command of the Massachusetts levies for the northern army. He returned to his medical practice following his army service, holding many public offices in the town and in the Commonwealth until his death in 1819. He never received recompense for monies he personally spent for the health and welfare of his troops; neither the Commonwealth nor the Federal Government claimed responsibility to remunerate him for his expenses. In naming the chapter for Newbury, the members felt because their community believed no one man distinguished himself above the others, but where a large proportion rendered active revolutionary service, what can be more appropriate than to name the chapter for the community itself, Old Newbury. ________________________________________________________ Brickett's brigade was one of five known to be "floating" on Burgoyne's left flank during the retreat to Fort Hardy and Saratoga after the action at Bemis Heights. None of these units saw any significant action, but served to block lines of retreat and limit the range of Burgoyne's foraging parties. The five brigades were commanded by John Stark (NH and MA), William Whipple (NH), Jacob Bailey (mainly troops from what is now VT), James Brickett (MA and NY), and Oliver Woolcott (CT). |
Prince Alberts Revenge | 10 Jun 2015 4:39 a.m. PST |
SM: thank you so much for all of your assistance! This is invaluable stuff and will help my father's research out a great deal. Many thanks! |
Supercilius Maximus | 13 Jun 2015 10:33 a.m. PST |
You're welcome – let us know what else your dad turns up. |
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