Reacting to the news of the Battle of Lexington and Concord in April 1775 and the call of Massachusetts for help from the rest of the New England colonies, the Rhode Island General Assembly formed an Army of Observation. Three infantry regiments and a train of artillery were raised and brigaded under the command of Brigadier General Nathaniel Greene. Colonel Daniel Hitchcock commanded the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Army of Observation of Rhode Island. Colonel Hitchcock's Regiment was raised in May, 1775, equipped and marched for Boston. Before Boston, in June, 1775, the Regiment joined General George Washington's army in which it became the 14th Regiment of Foot.

Within days of Zachariah's 16th birthday, he enlisted for eight months, at Roxbury, Massachusetts, in Captain Kimball's Company, Colonel Daniel Hitchcock's Rhode Island Regiment. At the end of December 1775, upon the reorganization of General Washington's army, the unit, in which Zachariah had enlisted, dissolved. He then, while still in camp at Roxbury, enlisted for one year in Captain Christopher Darrow's Company, Colonel Samuel Holden Parsons' Connecticut Regiment of the Continental Line (The 10th Continental Regiment). When the British evacuated Boston in March/April 1776, Colonel Parson's Regiment marched under General Washington as part of his army to New York (by way of New London, Connecticut and the Long Island sound in vessels). They remained in the vicinity of New York from April to the close of the year. At New York, the Regiment assisted in fortifying the city. Zachariah was engaged in the Battle of Flattbush, Long Island on August 17th, the retreat from Long Island on August 19th, and the disastrious retreat from New York on September 15th. The Regiment was at White Plains on October 28th and remained on the Hudson River in the vicinity of Peekskill until their term of service expired, December 31, 1776. Zachariah was Honorably Discharge at Ramapaw, New Jersey upon serving his time out in this service.

In either September or October 1778, Zachariah enlisted as a Seaman on board the Alliance, a 36-gun frigate, Peter (Pierre) Landais, Captain. This Ship of War, initially commissioned the Hancock, had been launched, April 28, 1778, on the Merrimack River at Salisbury, Massachusetts. It was renamed the Alliance by resolution of the Continental Congress on May 29, 1778. The Alliance's first assignment was to carry the Marquis de Lafayette back to France to petition the French Court for increased support in the American struggle for independence. The Alliance departed Boston on January 14, 1779 bound for Brest, France. Sometime between February 2nd and it's safe arrival at Brest on February 6th, the frigate captured two prizes. Zachariah was put onboard one of the prize ships to help carry her into port at Brest. In route, however, the prize ship was re-captured in the English Channel by a British Privateer and carried into Plymouth, England. Zachariah spent the next 3 years and 11 months in the Mill Prison at Plymouth. He was released from prison (exchanged) at the close of the Revolutionary War and returned home.

Zachariah and his wife Priscilla Damon (1760-1840) moved to Bridgewater, Windsor County, Vermont in 1789. They moved from Bridgewater to Waterbury, Washington County, Vermont in 1838.

References:

(1) US Federal Military Pension File No. S.39160

(2) "The Record of Connecticut Men in the Military and Naval Service during the War of the Revolution 1775-1783." by Henry P. Johnston, 1889, pages 95-96 & 99

(3) "Life and Character of the Chevalier John Paul Jones, A Captain in the Navy of the United States" by John Henry Sherburne, 1825, pages 146, 148, 95, and 98-99

(4) Alliance "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships" by the Naval History & Heritage Command, page 1, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a7/alliance-i.htm

(5) "Bridgewater, Vermont 1779-1976" by Gladys S. Adams, 1976, pages 15-16