Fort Plank Biographies

PELEG SPENCER, RWPA #W19393/BLWt #31324-160-55.

He was born in Wallingford Township, New Haven County, Connecticut in 1759. He married on May 27, 1790, Anne Smith. He died at New Lebanon in Columbia County, New York on March 19, 1841.

Burial in Cemetery of the Evergreens, New Lebanon, Columbia County, New York.

His file contains a Family Bible Record. He served first enlisted as a private under Captain William Gaston of Colonel ____ Rosseter's Regiment of Massachusetts Militia. He states that he took part in the Canadian Campaign and that they were led in their retreat from Canada by General Benedict Arnold. He states that he assisted in building a new fort on top of Mount Independence. He states that a Captain David Noble of Colonel John Patterson's Regiment died in 1776, while they were lying at Ticonderoga. He fought in the Battle of Trenton. He states he was also in a battle between General Cornwallis and General George Washington on January 2, 1777, and defeated the British at Princeton the following day. He speaks of the death of General ____ Mercer. In the mid-summer of 1778, he enlisted under Captain Gideon King of the Kings District Regiment of Albany County Militia [Colonel William Bradford Whiting's Regiment] and marched up the south-side of the Mohawk River to Bowmans Creek where he states they were engaged in a skirmish with the enemy. In the fall of 1778, he marched again under Captain King to Fort Hunter. In October of 1780, he marched up the Mohawk River under the command of Captain Elisha Gilbert [sic] of the Kinderhook District Regiment of Albany County Militia [Colonel Abraham Van Alstyne's Regiment] to Stone Arabia and there fought in the Battle of Klocks Field and pursued the enemy for three days before returning to Fort Herkimer. His file contains depositions by Samuel Jones who also fought in the Battle of Klocks Field, and Joseph Potter.