Samuel Benjamin, son of Abel and Elizabeth Nutting Benjamin, was born in Watertown, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Feb. 5, 1753. Following the custom of the time he was on 10th of February, when but five days old, baptized probably in the parish church, by Rev. Seth Storer.
From this time until he was twenty-two years old, we have no knowledge concerning him. His father died, presumably in 1759, and his mother remarried a year or two later.
Dr. Henry Bond, author of the "Genealogies of Watertown," writing in 1856 to one of the sons of Samuel Benjamin concerning the family, said : "As there is no farther record of the family in Watertown after the birth of your Uncle John (Feb. 5, 1758)
I have supposed that on the second marriage of your grandmother to Mr. Mills she settled in some other town, taking her sons by her first husband with her." Later knowledge has proved Dr. Bond's supposition undoubtedly correct. We know that Samuel Benjamin's mother was a resident of Needham, Mass., in 1770 and that it was for several years the home of his brother John. It is therefore natural to suppose that Samuel spent some of his boyhood there. If so, he returned to Watertown, as that was his home during the opening scenes of the Revolution.
The following account of his military services prepared by one of his descendants, at the request of the compiler of this volume, will we trust prove of interest.
At the outbreak of the American Revolution, Samuel Benjamin, then twenty-two years of age, was living in Watertown. Anticipating that Gen. Gage would not long be content to hold his troops confined within the Limits of Boston, the patriots of the country towns had organized companies called "Minute Men," all of whom were pledged to respond without delay to the call of their commander. Mr. Benjamin became a member of the Watertown Company, Capt. Daniel Whiting, commander, and was appointed first sergeant and ex officio clerk.
On hearing the Lexington alarm his company immediately assembled at the appointed rendezvous and were there joined by the Minute Men of Newton. Learning that reinforcements had been sent out from Boston by way of Roxbury, the combined companies determined to strike this column in flank. Few in number and poorly equipped they were at first repulsed, but promptly rallied and continued to harass and annoy the enemy and delay their march, until the two bodies of British troops were consolidated at Lexington, and from thence were actively engaged until the British found shelter and protection upon the heights of Charlestown, and hostilities for the day ceased.
War being initiated, the Provincial Congress was summoned to assemble at Concord without delay to consider and adopt measures to defend the country. It was determined to raise an army of 13,000 men to serve until January i, 1776. This was called "the eight months service."
Sergeant Benjamin enlisted in the company of his old commander (Capt. Whiting) in the regiment of Col. Whitcomb (a veteran of the French and Indian War) , and so rapid were enlistments that on the 27th of May the regiment was reported full, ordered to duty and stationed at Cambridge, where it remained until the battle of Bunker Hill in which it took part, its casualties being seven killed and eight wounded. On retiring from Charlestown the regiment, under order from Gen. Putnam, was stationed on Prospect Hill in what is now Somerville, it being the extreme left of the Provincial line and within reach of the British batteries on Copps Hill, remaining at this post or its near vicinity until the evacuation of Boston in March following. Sergeant Benjamin's term expiring on the 1st of January he immediately re-enlisted in the same company for a year's service. When the enemy left Boston his regiment, still under the command of Col. Whitcomb, was ordered to the northern frontier, with headquarters at Ticonderoga, it being the purpose of the authorities to strengthen the posts and hold control of the great waterway between the St. Lawrence and Hudson rivers. The British during this year had a greatly superior naval force on Lake Champlain and were able to control its waters, but no serious attempt was made to force the passage between its head waters and the Hudson. The worst enemies the patriot army at this point were called upon to encounter were small-pox and camp-fever, both of which prevailed extensively and with great fatality.
In November of this year, while at Ticonderoga, Samuel Benjamin was appointed Ensign in the Continental service to take effect at the close of the year when his term of enlistment would expire. His commission was dated Jan. i, 1777, signed by John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, and he was assigned to duty in the 8th Massachusetts regiment in the Continental line, in the company commanded by Capt. Ebenezer Cleveland, regiment of Col. Michael Jackson and division of Gen. William Heath, stationed at West Point on the Hudson.
In the following July, recovering slowly from an attack of bilious dysentery (recovery being slow and it being likely that he would not be able to take the field for an indefinite period) he was ordered into the recruiting service in western Massachusetts and New York with such success that he was continued in that service until winter, when he joined his regiment at Valley Forge. It was during Ensign Benjamin's absence from his regiment that Gen. Burgoyne made his attempt to open communication with Clinton at New York, via Lake Champlain and the Hudson, culminating in his surrender on the field of Saratoga. His regiment, then temporarily in command of Lieut. Col. John Brooks, afterwards Governor of Massachusetts, took an active part in this campaign and was especially commended for its services.
It was during this winter of terrible suffering at Valley Forge that the conspiracy to depose the Commander in Chief, known as the "Conway Cabal," was formed, involving many high officers, both of the army and civil service.
To test their patriotism and devotion to the cause of their country the Congress Resolved, that each and every commissioned officer then in service, should take and subscribe to a special oath called the "Oath of Fidelity." This oath was administered by Gen. Washington on the 12th of May 1778 to the general officers, and by them subsequently to the subordinates. Ensign Benjamin subscribed to it on the 13th inst., in presence of Baron de Kalb. The original is still in existence, a reduced facsimile of which may be found at the head of this chapter.
In June the British abandoned Philadelphia, and a few days later the bloody and closely contested battle of Monmouth was fought, the 8th Massachusetts taking an active and honorable part. At its close Gen. Washington withdrew his army to the Highlands, his main object being to hold strategic points and control the Hudson. The army of the Highlands remained on the defensive, and with the exception of small combats and skirmishes, no actions of importance were held during the remainder of the year.
Early in 1779 Lafayette went to France for the purpose of presenting to the French Government the cause of the Colonies and soliciting material aid in its defense. Thoroughly imbued with the spirit and principles at stake, he had left his home, his young wife and the comforts that great wealth afforded, and voluntarily declining all fee or reward, tendered his services to Congress. For the purpose of doing him distinguished honor for services already rendered, it was determined during his absence, that a full Division to be known as the "Corps of Light Infantry"- should be organized to be placed under his command on his return. "It was a small body composed of men carefully selected from each regiment" and "representing the very best material in the army, and its main work was to take position in front, perform outpost duty, watch the enemy and be ready for any service at a moment's notice." As one of this body of men Ensign Benjamin had the distinguished honor of being selected. During the absence of Lafayette, the command was given to Gen. Anthony Wayne, whose impetuosity and daring had earned him the title of "Mad Anthony."
The campaign on the Hudson this season was mostly defensive, the most notable exception being the midnight assault and carrying by storm of the strong fortress of Stony Point, the capture of the entire garrison and stores.
Ensign Benjamin was personally engaged in this affair, of which he makes note with characteristic modesty in his diary as follows: "The light infantry entered the enemy's works at Stony Point and took them with little loss. We took about 381 prisoners, rank and file, and killed 150." These works were admirably situated for defense, strongly built, manned with a force exceeding 600 men, amply supplied with material for defense. The military stores captured were rated at $158,640. Bancroft, speaking of this event, says "the achievement was of its kind the most brilliant of the war."
In October, Ensign Benjamin was. promoted to a Lieutenancy,
his commission dated Oct 3, 1779 and following so closely the capture of Stony Point as to give rise to the thought that it might have been earned by extraordinary service on that occasion. Lafayette was completely successful in his mission to France, and with satisfactory assurances that fleet and army would be speedily sent by that Government to the assistance of the patriot army, returned to the United States and early in 1780 took personal command of the "Corps of Light Infantry." Some changes were now made in the officers. Col. Alexander Scammell, a veteran of the New Hampshire line, was given command of one of the Massachusetts battalions with Lieutenant Benjamin as his adjutant.
The scene of hostilities was now transferred to the South, and in the spring of 1781 Lafayette was given a separate command, and with a small army, including the first brigade of his Light Infantry, was sent to the aid and to act in conjunction with General Greene in the protection of the southern States from the ravages of Cornwallis, who was moving north and threatening Virginia; the second brigade to which Lieut. Benjamin belonged remaining at the old post on the Hudson, on defensive duty until the 18th of August, when the long march of four hundred miles to Virginia, ending in the siege of Yorktown and surrender of Cornwallis, commenced.
Landing at Williamsburg on the James River on the 20th of September, the 28th found the Light Infantry encamped on the extreme right of the American line, on the bank of the York River and within cannon shot of the enemy's works. Two days later cannonading was opened by both sides with vigor and continued with slight intermissions during the remainder of the siege, the Light Infantry in the meantime being continually engaged in covering the entrenching parties and supporting the artillery.
On the 6th of October, Col. Scammell, who with other officers were reconnoitering the enemy's works, was taken prisoner and barbarously murdered after surrender.
Gen. Washington detached from his staff Col. John Laurens to the command of Scammell's battalion during the remainder of the siege. Martin in his Gazeteer of Virginia says: "The first Continental troops to occupy the trenches on the forenoon of the 7th were Lafayette's Light Infantry. They marched in with the tread of veterans, colors flying, drums beating, and planted their standards on the parapet." By the 14th inst. the investment of the town was complete except for a short distance on the inner line next to the York River, where the British had a small but very strong redoubt, and a little further inland another and larger one. To the French grenadiers was assigned the honor of taking the larger, and the Light Infantry the smaller one. Lieut. Col. Alexander Hamilton of the 2d battalion, 2d brigade of the Light Infantry, at his own earnest request led the assailing column, while Col. Laurens with two companies of his battalion, commanded respectively by Captain Betts and Captain Ebenezer Williams, were detached and ordered to the reverse to prevent the escape of the garrison. Lieut. Benjamin was with this detachment in Captain Williams' Company. The action like that at Stony Point was short, sharp, and decisive, resulting in the capture of the redoubt with its entire garrison, and fifteen minutes later the other redoubt was in the possession of the French. Gen. Washington, dismounted, with Knox, Lincohi and other general officers stood in view and watched with great anxiety the movements of the assaulting columns. Seeing the work complete and both redoubts in possession of his troops, he turned to his associates and remarked, "The work is done and well done," and then to his servant in attendance, "Billy, hand me my horse."
In General Orders issued the following day Gen. Washington congratulates the army and pays high encomiums on the troops especially engaged in these assaults. "He requests the Baron Viomenil who commanded the French Grenadiers and Chasseurs, and Marquis De Lafayette who commanded the American Light Infantry, to accept his warmest acknowledgments for the excellency of their dispositions and for their own gallant conduct on that occasion, and he begs them to present his thanks to every individual officer and to the men of their respective commands for the spirit and rapidity with which they advanced to the attacks assigned them, and for the admirable firmness with which they supported them under the fire of the enemy, without returning a shot."
The American lines were now complete and the doomed city at the mercy of the allied army. Two days later negotiations for its surrender were opened, and on the 19th inst. Cornwallis with his whole army (including also "the shipping and boats in the two harbors (York and Gloucester) with all their stores, guns, tackling and apparel") laid down their arms and surrendered as prisoners of war.
With the exception of unimportant skirmishes in the South this was the last engagement of the war.
The redoubt stormed by the Light Infantry was afterwards called the "Rock Redoubt," and on its site was erected a triumphal arch in honor of Lafayette on his visit to this country in 1824, and beneath which he paid a feeling tribute to the worth and valor of his "dear light infantry." In his speech on that occasion, he says: "Happy also to be welcomed on the particular
spot where my dear light infantry comrades acquired one of their
honorable claims to public love and esteem. You know, sir, that in this business of storming redoubts, with unloaded arms and fixed bayonets, the merit of the deed is in the soldiers who execute it; and to each of them I am anxious to acknowledge their equal share of honor. Let me, however, with affection and gratitude, pay a special tribute to the gallant name of Hamilton who commanded the attack, to the three field officers who seconded him, Gimat, Laurens, and Fish, the only surviving one, my friend now near me. In their name, my dear General, in the name of the light infantry, those we have lost as well as those who survive, and only in common with them, I accept the crown with which you are pleased to honor us, and I offer you the return of my most grateful acknowledgments."
It will be seen by the foregoing, that from the battle of Lexington to the capitulation of Cornwallis on the field of Yorktown, Lieut. Benjamin was in continuous service, participating in several of the larger and most important battles in the interim, as well as numerous skirmishes and small affairs, and yet was so fortunate (so far as we are informed) as not to receive a wound in action. Two days after the surrender, however, the Light Infantry were on fatigue duty in Yorktown engaged in loading cannon and shells aboard ship. While engaged in this duty two shells exploded, killing two and wounding others of his battalion. On the 4th of November his company left Yorktown by water to return to their old headquarters on the Hudson, but by reason of getting aground and baffling winds did not arrive at Head of Elk (now Elkton, Maryland,) until the 21st inst., —a long voyage of seventeen days from Yorktown to the head of Chesapeake Bay. Of this voyage he says in his diary, "I was very sick and suffered much by being wounded" (perhaps by the exploded shell). He was unable to march until the 24th inst., when he started on his long tramp to the Highlands, which point was reached on the 7th of December.
The Light Infantry brigade having finished the work for which they were selected, was now broken up and the men returned to their respective commands. On the nth Lieut. Benjamin was allowed to go home on a furlough. He was discharged at West Point on the Hudson, Aug. 6, 1782, and his military service, continuous for 7 years, 3 months and 17 days, terminated.
Hostilities having ceased and confident that he would soon be at liberty to return to civil life, Lieut. Benjamin was married on the 1 6th day of January, 1782—(Rev. Jacob Gushing, Pastor of the Church of Christ in Waltham, officiating) to Tabitha Livermore, daughter of Nathaniel and Martha White Livermore of Waltham, Mass., a happy union, unbroken until his death forty two years later.
For Revolutionary services Lieut. Benjamin received a pension of $20 per month. Half pay during life, to which he was entitled under Resolve of Congress and was in force at the date of his discharge, was subsequently commuted to grants of land, and after several changes finally established as above. The following is a copy of his declaration which accompanied his application for a pension, and as it is his own statement of his military service, we give it place here.
I, Samuel Benjamin, a resident of the United States of America, an inhabitant of Livermore, in the county of Oxford, and State of Massachusetts, on oath declare, that from the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, in which I was engaged, I was in the Continental service in the Revolutionary war, without ever leaving said service, even so much as one day, until the sixth day of August, A.D. 1782. I served the eight months service in 1775, at Cambridge, in said State; in 1776, as soon as the British left Boston, we marched to Ticonderoga, where my years' service expired; and, on the 1st of January, 1777, I received from John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, an ensign's commission which is hereunto annexed, and continued to serve under said commission in Captain Ebenezer Cleveland's company, Colonel Michael Jackson's regiment, in the Massachusetts line, in the army of the United Colonies, on the Continental establishments, until I received a commission of Lieutenant, dated October 3, 1779, under which commission I served in the same company aforesaid, (which company was now, and had been some months previous, commanded by Captain Silas Pierce, in consequence of the resignation of said Captain Cleveland,) until the sixth day of August, A.D. 1782, when I had liberty to leave the service—a certificate of which, signed by Colonel Michael Jackson, is also hereunto annexed. My commission of lieutenant I sent to Washington last winter and have it not in my power. I was in the battle at Lexington abovesaid, before I engaged as a Continental soldier; and afterwards was in the battle of Monmouth, and at the taking of Cornwallis, and numerous other battles of less magnitude. I left the service at West Point, as will appear from the annexed certificate.
Samuel Benjamin,
This is the certificate above referred to:
This may certify that Lieutenant Samuel Benjamin, of the eighth Massachusetts regiment, has retired from present service, in consequence of a resolve of Congress, passed the 23d of April 1782, and is hereby entitled to half pay during life, by a resolve of Congress, passed the 3d and 21st of October 1780. Given under my hand, in Garrison, West Point, this sixth day of August 1782.
M. Jackson,
Colonel Eighth Massachusetts Regiment.
The foregoing has been prepared after a careful study of such authorities as were available, and though by no means full or complete, is believed to be, so far as it goes, authentic and reliable. Should any descendant of its subject desire to pursue the matter further, they will find much in a study of the movements of the army of which he was a part, and of the several actions in which he was personally engaged, that will throw further light on the character, patriotism and soldier-like qualities of their ancestor.
It is a record in which all his descendants may well indulge a pardonable pride. Few, if any, saw longer or harder service in this great conflict that freed his country from the tyranny of a despotic king and pliant parliament.
Confident of the justice of the cause, and willing to submit it to the arbitrament of the God of Battles, he left home, kindred and friends at the first call of his country—then without army, navy, munitions or the "sinews of war", to become one of that band of patriots destined to meet in the shock of battle the trained battalions of a powerful nation amply supplied with all material for war both on land and sea.
Success crowned their efforts, and it was his good fortune to
He live to see his country, which at the time of his entry into service had a population of barely 3,000,000 souls, whose homes were mostly confined to a narrow fringe bordering the Atlantic coast, extended to the Gulf of Mexico, while its western boundary was washed by the waters of the Pacific, to see the thirteen feeble colonies expanded to twenty-four powerful states, with a wealth of territory unknown and undreamed of in the earlier days,— a population more than trebled in number, and grown great in wealth, influence and power, to see Britain, "proud mistress of the seas," once more humbled by his country's flag and compelled to acknowledge their independence on the sea as on the land.
He lived to see the Mississippi, that great artery of commerce, made a National river, bearing the mighty products of the great and fertile West to the markets of the world—the sails of its commerce whitening every sea—and finally, to see his children, his own sterling sons and daughters, grow to manhood and womanhood, settled happily and prosperously around him, in the enjoyment of, and protected, fostered and blessed by the institutions he had labored so long and so hard to secure.
From the book, "Genealogy of Lieutenant Samuel Benjamin"
From this time until he was twenty-two years old, we have no knowledge concerning him. His father died, presumably in 1759, and his mother remarried a year or two later.
Dr. Henry Bond, author of the "Genealogies of Watertown," writing in 1856 to one of the sons of Samuel Benjamin concerning the family, said : "As there is no farther record of the family in Watertown after the birth of your Uncle John (Feb. 5, 1758)
I have supposed that on the second marriage of your grandmother to Mr. Mills she settled in some other town, taking her sons by her first husband with her." Later knowledge has proved Dr. Bond's supposition undoubtedly correct. We know that Samuel Benjamin's mother was a resident of Needham, Mass., in 1770 and that it was for several years the home of his brother John. It is therefore natural to suppose that Samuel spent some of his boyhood there. If so, he returned to Watertown, as that was his home during the opening scenes of the Revolution.
The following account of his military services prepared by one of his descendants, at the request of the compiler of this volume, will we trust prove of interest.
At the outbreak of the American Revolution, Samuel Benjamin, then twenty-two years of age, was living in Watertown. Anticipating that Gen. Gage would not long be content to hold his troops confined within the Limits of Boston, the patriots of the country towns had organized companies called "Minute Men," all of whom were pledged to respond without delay to the call of their commander. Mr. Benjamin became a member of the Watertown Company, Capt. Daniel Whiting, commander, and was appointed first sergeant and ex officio clerk.
On hearing the Lexington alarm his company immediately assembled at the appointed rendezvous and were there joined by the Minute Men of Newton. Learning that reinforcements had been sent out from Boston by way of Roxbury, the combined companies determined to strike this column in flank. Few in number and poorly equipped they were at first repulsed, but promptly rallied and continued to harass and annoy the enemy and delay their march, until the two bodies of British troops were consolidated at Lexington, and from thence were actively engaged until the British found shelter and protection upon the heights of Charlestown, and hostilities for the day ceased.
War being initiated, the Provincial Congress was summoned to assemble at Concord without delay to consider and adopt measures to defend the country. It was determined to raise an army of 13,000 men to serve until January i, 1776. This was called "the eight months service."
Sergeant Benjamin enlisted in the company of his old commander (Capt. Whiting) in the regiment of Col. Whitcomb (a veteran of the French and Indian War) , and so rapid were enlistments that on the 27th of May the regiment was reported full, ordered to duty and stationed at Cambridge, where it remained until the battle of Bunker Hill in which it took part, its casualties being seven killed and eight wounded. On retiring from Charlestown the regiment, under order from Gen. Putnam, was stationed on Prospect Hill in what is now Somerville, it being the extreme left of the Provincial line and within reach of the British batteries on Copps Hill, remaining at this post or its near vicinity until the evacuation of Boston in March following. Sergeant Benjamin's term expiring on the 1st of January he immediately re-enlisted in the same company for a year's service. When the enemy left Boston his regiment, still under the command of Col. Whitcomb, was ordered to the northern frontier, with headquarters at Ticonderoga, it being the purpose of the authorities to strengthen the posts and hold control of the great waterway between the St. Lawrence and Hudson rivers. The British during this year had a greatly superior naval force on Lake Champlain and were able to control its waters, but no serious attempt was made to force the passage between its head waters and the Hudson. The worst enemies the patriot army at this point were called upon to encounter were small-pox and camp-fever, both of which prevailed extensively and with great fatality.
In November of this year, while at Ticonderoga, Samuel Benjamin was appointed Ensign in the Continental service to take effect at the close of the year when his term of enlistment would expire. His commission was dated Jan. i, 1777, signed by John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, and he was assigned to duty in the 8th Massachusetts regiment in the Continental line, in the company commanded by Capt. Ebenezer Cleveland, regiment of Col. Michael Jackson and division of Gen. William Heath, stationed at West Point on the Hudson.
In the following July, recovering slowly from an attack of bilious dysentery (recovery being slow and it being likely that he would not be able to take the field for an indefinite period) he was ordered into the recruiting service in western Massachusetts and New York with such success that he was continued in that service until winter, when he joined his regiment at Valley Forge. It was during Ensign Benjamin's absence from his regiment that Gen. Burgoyne made his attempt to open communication with Clinton at New York, via Lake Champlain and the Hudson, culminating in his surrender on the field of Saratoga. His regiment, then temporarily in command of Lieut. Col. John Brooks, afterwards Governor of Massachusetts, took an active part in this campaign and was especially commended for its services.
It was during this winter of terrible suffering at Valley Forge that the conspiracy to depose the Commander in Chief, known as the "Conway Cabal," was formed, involving many high officers, both of the army and civil service.
To test their patriotism and devotion to the cause of their country the Congress Resolved, that each and every commissioned officer then in service, should take and subscribe to a special oath called the "Oath of Fidelity." This oath was administered by Gen. Washington on the 12th of May 1778 to the general officers, and by them subsequently to the subordinates. Ensign Benjamin subscribed to it on the 13th inst., in presence of Baron de Kalb. The original is still in existence, a reduced facsimile of which may be found at the head of this chapter.
In June the British abandoned Philadelphia, and a few days later the bloody and closely contested battle of Monmouth was fought, the 8th Massachusetts taking an active and honorable part. At its close Gen. Washington withdrew his army to the Highlands, his main object being to hold strategic points and control the Hudson. The army of the Highlands remained on the defensive, and with the exception of small combats and skirmishes, no actions of importance were held during the remainder of the year.
Early in 1779 Lafayette went to France for the purpose of presenting to the French Government the cause of the Colonies and soliciting material aid in its defense. Thoroughly imbued with the spirit and principles at stake, he had left his home, his young wife and the comforts that great wealth afforded, and voluntarily declining all fee or reward, tendered his services to Congress. For the purpose of doing him distinguished honor for services already rendered, it was determined during his absence, that a full Division to be known as the "Corps of Light Infantry"- should be organized to be placed under his command on his return. "It was a small body composed of men carefully selected from each regiment" and "representing the very best material in the army, and its main work was to take position in front, perform outpost duty, watch the enemy and be ready for any service at a moment's notice." As one of this body of men Ensign Benjamin had the distinguished honor of being selected. During the absence of Lafayette, the command was given to Gen. Anthony Wayne, whose impetuosity and daring had earned him the title of "Mad Anthony."
The campaign on the Hudson this season was mostly defensive, the most notable exception being the midnight assault and carrying by storm of the strong fortress of Stony Point, the capture of the entire garrison and stores.
Ensign Benjamin was personally engaged in this affair, of which he makes note with characteristic modesty in his diary as follows: "The light infantry entered the enemy's works at Stony Point and took them with little loss. We took about 381 prisoners, rank and file, and killed 150." These works were admirably situated for defense, strongly built, manned with a force exceeding 600 men, amply supplied with material for defense. The military stores captured were rated at $158,640. Bancroft, speaking of this event, says "the achievement was of its kind the most brilliant of the war."
In October, Ensign Benjamin was. promoted to a Lieutenancy,
his commission dated Oct 3, 1779 and following so closely the capture of Stony Point as to give rise to the thought that it might have been earned by extraordinary service on that occasion. Lafayette was completely successful in his mission to France, and with satisfactory assurances that fleet and army would be speedily sent by that Government to the assistance of the patriot army, returned to the United States and early in 1780 took personal command of the "Corps of Light Infantry." Some changes were now made in the officers. Col. Alexander Scammell, a veteran of the New Hampshire line, was given command of one of the Massachusetts battalions with Lieutenant Benjamin as his adjutant.
The scene of hostilities was now transferred to the South, and in the spring of 1781 Lafayette was given a separate command, and with a small army, including the first brigade of his Light Infantry, was sent to the aid and to act in conjunction with General Greene in the protection of the southern States from the ravages of Cornwallis, who was moving north and threatening Virginia; the second brigade to which Lieut. Benjamin belonged remaining at the old post on the Hudson, on defensive duty until the 18th of August, when the long march of four hundred miles to Virginia, ending in the siege of Yorktown and surrender of Cornwallis, commenced.
Landing at Williamsburg on the James River on the 20th of September, the 28th found the Light Infantry encamped on the extreme right of the American line, on the bank of the York River and within cannon shot of the enemy's works. Two days later cannonading was opened by both sides with vigor and continued with slight intermissions during the remainder of the siege, the Light Infantry in the meantime being continually engaged in covering the entrenching parties and supporting the artillery.
On the 6th of October, Col. Scammell, who with other officers were reconnoitering the enemy's works, was taken prisoner and barbarously murdered after surrender.
Gen. Washington detached from his staff Col. John Laurens to the command of Scammell's battalion during the remainder of the siege. Martin in his Gazeteer of Virginia says: "The first Continental troops to occupy the trenches on the forenoon of the 7th were Lafayette's Light Infantry. They marched in with the tread of veterans, colors flying, drums beating, and planted their standards on the parapet." By the 14th inst. the investment of the town was complete except for a short distance on the inner line next to the York River, where the British had a small but very strong redoubt, and a little further inland another and larger one. To the French grenadiers was assigned the honor of taking the larger, and the Light Infantry the smaller one. Lieut. Col. Alexander Hamilton of the 2d battalion, 2d brigade of the Light Infantry, at his own earnest request led the assailing column, while Col. Laurens with two companies of his battalion, commanded respectively by Captain Betts and Captain Ebenezer Williams, were detached and ordered to the reverse to prevent the escape of the garrison. Lieut. Benjamin was with this detachment in Captain Williams' Company. The action like that at Stony Point was short, sharp, and decisive, resulting in the capture of the redoubt with its entire garrison, and fifteen minutes later the other redoubt was in the possession of the French. Gen. Washington, dismounted, with Knox, Lincohi and other general officers stood in view and watched with great anxiety the movements of the assaulting columns. Seeing the work complete and both redoubts in possession of his troops, he turned to his associates and remarked, "The work is done and well done," and then to his servant in attendance, "Billy, hand me my horse."
In General Orders issued the following day Gen. Washington congratulates the army and pays high encomiums on the troops especially engaged in these assaults. "He requests the Baron Viomenil who commanded the French Grenadiers and Chasseurs, and Marquis De Lafayette who commanded the American Light Infantry, to accept his warmest acknowledgments for the excellency of their dispositions and for their own gallant conduct on that occasion, and he begs them to present his thanks to every individual officer and to the men of their respective commands for the spirit and rapidity with which they advanced to the attacks assigned them, and for the admirable firmness with which they supported them under the fire of the enemy, without returning a shot."
The American lines were now complete and the doomed city at the mercy of the allied army. Two days later negotiations for its surrender were opened, and on the 19th inst. Cornwallis with his whole army (including also "the shipping and boats in the two harbors (York and Gloucester) with all their stores, guns, tackling and apparel") laid down their arms and surrendered as prisoners of war.
With the exception of unimportant skirmishes in the South this was the last engagement of the war.
The redoubt stormed by the Light Infantry was afterwards called the "Rock Redoubt," and on its site was erected a triumphal arch in honor of Lafayette on his visit to this country in 1824, and beneath which he paid a feeling tribute to the worth and valor of his "dear light infantry." In his speech on that occasion, he says: "Happy also to be welcomed on the particular
spot where my dear light infantry comrades acquired one of their
honorable claims to public love and esteem. You know, sir, that in this business of storming redoubts, with unloaded arms and fixed bayonets, the merit of the deed is in the soldiers who execute it; and to each of them I am anxious to acknowledge their equal share of honor. Let me, however, with affection and gratitude, pay a special tribute to the gallant name of Hamilton who commanded the attack, to the three field officers who seconded him, Gimat, Laurens, and Fish, the only surviving one, my friend now near me. In their name, my dear General, in the name of the light infantry, those we have lost as well as those who survive, and only in common with them, I accept the crown with which you are pleased to honor us, and I offer you the return of my most grateful acknowledgments."
It will be seen by the foregoing, that from the battle of Lexington to the capitulation of Cornwallis on the field of Yorktown, Lieut. Benjamin was in continuous service, participating in several of the larger and most important battles in the interim, as well as numerous skirmishes and small affairs, and yet was so fortunate (so far as we are informed) as not to receive a wound in action. Two days after the surrender, however, the Light Infantry were on fatigue duty in Yorktown engaged in loading cannon and shells aboard ship. While engaged in this duty two shells exploded, killing two and wounding others of his battalion. On the 4th of November his company left Yorktown by water to return to their old headquarters on the Hudson, but by reason of getting aground and baffling winds did not arrive at Head of Elk (now Elkton, Maryland,) until the 21st inst., —a long voyage of seventeen days from Yorktown to the head of Chesapeake Bay. Of this voyage he says in his diary, "I was very sick and suffered much by being wounded" (perhaps by the exploded shell). He was unable to march until the 24th inst., when he started on his long tramp to the Highlands, which point was reached on the 7th of December.
The Light Infantry brigade having finished the work for which they were selected, was now broken up and the men returned to their respective commands. On the nth Lieut. Benjamin was allowed to go home on a furlough. He was discharged at West Point on the Hudson, Aug. 6, 1782, and his military service, continuous for 7 years, 3 months and 17 days, terminated.
Hostilities having ceased and confident that he would soon be at liberty to return to civil life, Lieut. Benjamin was married on the 1 6th day of January, 1782—(Rev. Jacob Gushing, Pastor of the Church of Christ in Waltham, officiating) to Tabitha Livermore, daughter of Nathaniel and Martha White Livermore of Waltham, Mass., a happy union, unbroken until his death forty two years later.
For Revolutionary services Lieut. Benjamin received a pension of $20 per month. Half pay during life, to which he was entitled under Resolve of Congress and was in force at the date of his discharge, was subsequently commuted to grants of land, and after several changes finally established as above. The following is a copy of his declaration which accompanied his application for a pension, and as it is his own statement of his military service, we give it place here.
I, Samuel Benjamin, a resident of the United States of America, an inhabitant of Livermore, in the county of Oxford, and State of Massachusetts, on oath declare, that from the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, in which I was engaged, I was in the Continental service in the Revolutionary war, without ever leaving said service, even so much as one day, until the sixth day of August, A.D. 1782. I served the eight months service in 1775, at Cambridge, in said State; in 1776, as soon as the British left Boston, we marched to Ticonderoga, where my years' service expired; and, on the 1st of January, 1777, I received from John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, an ensign's commission which is hereunto annexed, and continued to serve under said commission in Captain Ebenezer Cleveland's company, Colonel Michael Jackson's regiment, in the Massachusetts line, in the army of the United Colonies, on the Continental establishments, until I received a commission of Lieutenant, dated October 3, 1779, under which commission I served in the same company aforesaid, (which company was now, and had been some months previous, commanded by Captain Silas Pierce, in consequence of the resignation of said Captain Cleveland,) until the sixth day of August, A.D. 1782, when I had liberty to leave the service—a certificate of which, signed by Colonel Michael Jackson, is also hereunto annexed. My commission of lieutenant I sent to Washington last winter and have it not in my power. I was in the battle at Lexington abovesaid, before I engaged as a Continental soldier; and afterwards was in the battle of Monmouth, and at the taking of Cornwallis, and numerous other battles of less magnitude. I left the service at West Point, as will appear from the annexed certificate.
Samuel Benjamin,
This is the certificate above referred to:
This may certify that Lieutenant Samuel Benjamin, of the eighth Massachusetts regiment, has retired from present service, in consequence of a resolve of Congress, passed the 23d of April 1782, and is hereby entitled to half pay during life, by a resolve of Congress, passed the 3d and 21st of October 1780. Given under my hand, in Garrison, West Point, this sixth day of August 1782.
M. Jackson,
Colonel Eighth Massachusetts Regiment.
The foregoing has been prepared after a careful study of such authorities as were available, and though by no means full or complete, is believed to be, so far as it goes, authentic and reliable. Should any descendant of its subject desire to pursue the matter further, they will find much in a study of the movements of the army of which he was a part, and of the several actions in which he was personally engaged, that will throw further light on the character, patriotism and soldier-like qualities of their ancestor.
It is a record in which all his descendants may well indulge a pardonable pride. Few, if any, saw longer or harder service in this great conflict that freed his country from the tyranny of a despotic king and pliant parliament.
Confident of the justice of the cause, and willing to submit it to the arbitrament of the God of Battles, he left home, kindred and friends at the first call of his country—then without army, navy, munitions or the "sinews of war", to become one of that band of patriots destined to meet in the shock of battle the trained battalions of a powerful nation amply supplied with all material for war both on land and sea.
Success crowned their efforts, and it was his good fortune to
He live to see his country, which at the time of his entry into service had a population of barely 3,000,000 souls, whose homes were mostly confined to a narrow fringe bordering the Atlantic coast, extended to the Gulf of Mexico, while its western boundary was washed by the waters of the Pacific, to see the thirteen feeble colonies expanded to twenty-four powerful states, with a wealth of territory unknown and undreamed of in the earlier days,— a population more than trebled in number, and grown great in wealth, influence and power, to see Britain, "proud mistress of the seas," once more humbled by his country's flag and compelled to acknowledge their independence on the sea as on the land.
He lived to see the Mississippi, that great artery of commerce, made a National river, bearing the mighty products of the great and fertile West to the markets of the world—the sails of its commerce whitening every sea—and finally, to see his children, his own sterling sons and daughters, grow to manhood and womanhood, settled happily and prosperously around him, in the enjoyment of, and protected, fostered and blessed by the institutions he had labored so long and so hard to secure.
From the book, "Genealogy of Lieutenant Samuel Benjamin"
Samuel Benjamin, son of Abel and Elizabeth Nutting Benjamin, was born in Watertown, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Feb. 5, 1753. Following the custom of the time he was on 10th of February, when but five days old, baptized probably in the parish church, by Rev. Seth Storer.
From this time until he was twenty-two years old, we have no knowledge concerning him. His father died, presumably in 1759, and his mother remarried a year or two later.
Dr. Henry Bond, author of the "Genealogies of Watertown," writing in 1856 to one of the sons of Samuel Benjamin concerning the family, said : "As there is no farther record of the family in Watertown after the birth of your Uncle John (Feb. 5, 1758)
I have supposed that on the second marriage of your grandmother to Mr. Mills she settled in some other town, taking her sons by her first husband with her." Later knowledge has proved Dr. Bond's supposition undoubtedly correct. We know that Samuel Benjamin's mother was a resident of Needham, Mass., in 1770 and that it was for several years the home of his brother John. It is therefore natural to suppose that Samuel spent some of his boyhood there. If so, he returned to Watertown, as that was his home during the opening scenes of the Revolution.
The following account of his military services prepared by one of his descendants, at the request of the compiler of this volume, will we trust prove of interest.
At the outbreak of the American Revolution, Samuel Benjamin, then twenty-two years of age, was living in Watertown. Anticipating that Gen. Gage would not long be content to hold his troops confined within the Limits of Boston, the patriots of the country towns had organized companies called "Minute Men," all of whom were pledged to respond without delay to the call of their commander. Mr. Benjamin became a member of the Watertown Company, Capt. Daniel Whiting, commander, and was appointed first sergeant and ex officio clerk.
On hearing the Lexington alarm his company immediately assembled at the appointed rendezvous and were there joined by the Minute Men of Newton. Learning that reinforcements had been sent out from Boston by way of Roxbury, the combined companies determined to strike this column in flank. Few in number and poorly equipped they were at first repulsed, but promptly rallied and continued to harass and annoy the enemy and delay their march, until the two bodies of British troops were consolidated at Lexington, and from thence were actively engaged until the British found shelter and protection upon the heights of Charlestown, and hostilities for the day ceased.
War being initiated, the Provincial Congress was summoned to assemble at Concord without delay to consider and adopt measures to defend the country. It was determined to raise an army of 13,000 men to serve until January i, 1776. This was called "the eight months service."
Sergeant Benjamin enlisted in the company of his old commander (Capt. Whiting) in the regiment of Col. Whitcomb (a veteran of the French and Indian War) , and so rapid were enlistments that on the 27th of May the regiment was reported full, ordered to duty and stationed at Cambridge, where it remained until the battle of Bunker Hill in which it took part, its casualties being seven killed and eight wounded. On retiring from Charlestown the regiment, under order from Gen. Putnam, was stationed on Prospect Hill in what is now Somerville, it being the extreme left of the Provincial line and within reach of the British batteries on Copps Hill, remaining at this post or its near vicinity until the evacuation of Boston in March following. Sergeant Benjamin's term expiring on the 1st of January he immediately re-enlisted in the same company for a year's service. When the enemy left Boston his regiment, still under the command of Col. Whitcomb, was ordered to the northern frontier, with headquarters at Ticonderoga, it being the purpose of the authorities to strengthen the posts and hold control of the great waterway between the St. Lawrence and Hudson rivers. The British during this year had a greatly superior naval force on Lake Champlain and were able to control its waters, but no serious attempt was made to force the passage between its head waters and the Hudson. The worst enemies the patriot army at this point were called upon to encounter were small-pox and camp-fever, both of which prevailed extensively and with great fatality.
In November of this year, while at Ticonderoga, Samuel Benjamin was appointed Ensign in the Continental service to take effect at the close of the year when his term of enlistment would expire. His commission was dated Jan. i, 1777, signed by John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, and he was assigned to duty in the 8th Massachusetts regiment in the Continental line, in the company commanded by Capt. Ebenezer Cleveland, regiment of Col. Michael Jackson and division of Gen. William Heath, stationed at West Point on the Hudson.
In the following July, recovering slowly from an attack of bilious dysentery (recovery being slow and it being likely that he would not be able to take the field for an indefinite period) he was ordered into the recruiting service in western Massachusetts and New York with such success that he was continued in that service until winter, when he joined his regiment at Valley Forge. It was during Ensign Benjamin's absence from his regiment that Gen. Burgoyne made his attempt to open communication with Clinton at New York, via Lake Champlain and the Hudson, culminating in his surrender on the field of Saratoga. His regiment, then temporarily in command of Lieut. Col. John Brooks, afterwards Governor of Massachusetts, took an active part in this campaign and was especially commended for its services.
It was during this winter of terrible suffering at Valley Forge that the conspiracy to depose the Commander in Chief, known as the "Conway Cabal," was formed, involving many high officers, both of the army and civil service.
To test their patriotism and devotion to the cause of their country the Congress Resolved, that each and every commissioned officer then in service, should take and subscribe to a special oath called the "Oath of Fidelity." This oath was administered by Gen. Washington on the 12th of May 1778 to the general officers, and by them subsequently to the subordinates. Ensign Benjamin subscribed to it on the 13th inst., in presence of Baron de Kalb. The original is still in existence, a reduced facsimile of which may be found at the head of this chapter.
In June the British abandoned Philadelphia, and a few days later the bloody and closely contested battle of Monmouth was fought, the 8th Massachusetts taking an active and honorable part. At its close Gen. Washington withdrew his army to the Highlands, his main object being to hold strategic points and control the Hudson. The army of the Highlands remained on the defensive, and with the exception of small combats and skirmishes, no actions of importance were held during the remainder of the year.
Early in 1779 Lafayette went to France for the purpose of presenting to the French Government the cause of the Colonies and soliciting material aid in its defense. Thoroughly imbued with the spirit and principles at stake, he had left his home, his young wife and the comforts that great wealth afforded, and voluntarily declining all fee or reward, tendered his services to Congress. For the purpose of doing him distinguished honor for services already rendered, it was determined during his absence, that a full Division to be known as the "Corps of Light Infantry"- should be organized to be placed under his command on his return. "It was a small body composed of men carefully selected from each regiment" and "representing the very best material in the army, and its main work was to take position in front, perform outpost duty, watch the enemy and be ready for any service at a moment's notice." As one of this body of men Ensign Benjamin had the distinguished honor of being selected. During the absence of Lafayette, the command was given to Gen. Anthony Wayne, whose impetuosity and daring had earned him the title of "Mad Anthony."
The campaign on the Hudson this season was mostly defensive, the most notable exception being the midnight assault and carrying by storm of the strong fortress of Stony Point, the capture of the entire garrison and stores.
Ensign Benjamin was personally engaged in this affair, of which he makes note with characteristic modesty in his diary as follows: "The light infantry entered the enemy's works at Stony Point and took them with little loss. We took about 381 prisoners, rank and file, and killed 150." These works were admirably situated for defense, strongly built, manned with a force exceeding 600 men, amply supplied with material for defense. The military stores captured were rated at $158,640. Bancroft, speaking of this event, says "the achievement was of its kind the most brilliant of the war."
In October, Ensign Benjamin was. promoted to a Lieutenancy,
his commission dated Oct 3, 1779 and following so closely the capture of Stony Point as to give rise to the thought that it might have been earned by extraordinary service on that occasion. Lafayette was completely successful in his mission to France, and with satisfactory assurances that fleet and army would be speedily sent by that Government to the assistance of the patriot army, returned to the United States and early in 1780 took personal command of the "Corps of Light Infantry." Some changes were now made in the officers. Col. Alexander Scammell, a veteran of the New Hampshire line, was given command of one of the Massachusetts battalions with Lieutenant Benjamin as his adjutant.
The scene of hostilities was now transferred to the South, and in the spring of 1781 Lafayette was given a separate command, and with a small army, including the first brigade of his Light Infantry, was sent to the aid and to act in conjunction with General Greene in the protection of the southern States from the ravages of Cornwallis, who was moving north and threatening Virginia; the second brigade to which Lieut. Benjamin belonged remaining at the old post on the Hudson, on defensive duty until the 18th of August, when the long march of four hundred miles to Virginia, ending in the siege of Yorktown and surrender of Cornwallis, commenced.
Landing at Williamsburg on the James River on the 20th of September, the 28th found the Light Infantry encamped on the extreme right of the American line, on the bank of the York River and within cannon shot of the enemy's works. Two days later cannonading was opened by both sides with vigor and continued with slight intermissions during the remainder of the siege, the Light Infantry in the meantime being continually engaged in covering the entrenching parties and supporting the artillery.
On the 6th of October, Col. Scammell, who with other officers were reconnoitering the enemy's works, was taken prisoner and barbarously murdered after surrender.
Gen. Washington detached from his staff Col. John Laurens to the command of Scammell's battalion during the remainder of the siege. Martin in his Gazeteer of Virginia says: "The first Continental troops to occupy the trenches on the forenoon of the 7th were Lafayette's Light Infantry. They marched in with the tread of veterans, colors flying, drums beating, and planted their standards on the parapet." By the 14th inst. the investment of the town was complete except for a short distance on the inner line next to the York River, where the British had a small but very strong redoubt, and a little further inland another and larger one. To the French grenadiers was assigned the honor of taking the larger, and the Light Infantry the smaller one. Lieut. Col. Alexander Hamilton of the 2d battalion, 2d brigade of the Light Infantry, at his own earnest request led the assailing column, while Col. Laurens with two companies of his battalion, commanded respectively by Captain Betts and Captain Ebenezer Williams, were detached and ordered to the reverse to prevent the escape of the garrison. Lieut. Benjamin was with this detachment in Captain Williams' Company. The action like that at Stony Point was short, sharp, and decisive, resulting in the capture of the redoubt with its entire garrison, and fifteen minutes later the other redoubt was in the possession of the French. Gen. Washington, dismounted, with Knox, Lincohi and other general officers stood in view and watched with great anxiety the movements of the assaulting columns. Seeing the work complete and both redoubts in possession of his troops, he turned to his associates and remarked, "The work is done and well done," and then to his servant in attendance, "Billy, hand me my horse."
In General Orders issued the following day Gen. Washington congratulates the army and pays high encomiums on the troops especially engaged in these assaults. "He requests the Baron Viomenil who commanded the French Grenadiers and Chasseurs, and Marquis De Lafayette who commanded the American Light Infantry, to accept his warmest acknowledgments for the excellency of their dispositions and for their own gallant conduct on that occasion, and he begs them to present his thanks to every individual officer and to the men of their respective commands for the spirit and rapidity with which they advanced to the attacks assigned them, and for the admirable firmness with which they supported them under the fire of the enemy, without returning a shot."
The American lines were now complete and the doomed city at the mercy of the allied army. Two days later negotiations for its surrender were opened, and on the 19th inst. Cornwallis with his whole army (including also "the shipping and boats in the two harbors (York and Gloucester) with all their stores, guns, tackling and apparel") laid down their arms and surrendered as prisoners of war.
With the exception of unimportant skirmishes in the South this was the last engagement of the war.
The redoubt stormed by the Light Infantry was afterwards called the "Rock Redoubt," and on its site was erected a triumphal arch in honor of Lafayette on his visit to this country in 1824, and beneath which he paid a feeling tribute to the worth and valor of his "dear light infantry." In his speech on that occasion, he says: "Happy also to be welcomed on the particular
spot where my dear light infantry comrades acquired one of their
honorable claims to public love and esteem. You know, sir, that in this business of storming redoubts, with unloaded arms and fixed bayonets, the merit of the deed is in the soldiers who execute it; and to each of them I am anxious to acknowledge their equal share of honor. Let me, however, with affection and gratitude, pay a special tribute to the gallant name of Hamilton who commanded the attack, to the three field officers who seconded him, Gimat, Laurens, and Fish, the only surviving one, my friend now near me. In their name, my dear General, in the name of the light infantry, those we have lost as well as those who survive, and only in common with them, I accept the crown with which you are pleased to honor us, and I offer you the return of my most grateful acknowledgments."
It will be seen by the foregoing, that from the battle of Lexington to the capitulation of Cornwallis on the field of Yorktown, Lieut. Benjamin was in continuous service, participating in several of the larger and most important battles in the interim, as well as numerous skirmishes and small affairs, and yet was so fortunate (so far as we are informed) as not to receive a wound in action. Two days after the surrender, however, the Light Infantry were on fatigue duty in Yorktown engaged in loading cannon and shells aboard ship. While engaged in this duty two shells exploded, killing two and wounding others of his battalion. On the 4th of November his company left Yorktown by water to return to their old headquarters on the Hudson, but by reason of getting aground and baffling winds did not arrive at Head of Elk (now Elkton, Maryland,) until the 21st inst., —a long voyage of seventeen days from Yorktown to the head of Chesapeake Bay. Of this voyage he says in his diary, "I was very sick and suffered much by being wounded" (perhaps by the exploded shell). He was unable to march until the 24th inst., when he started on his long tramp to the Highlands, which point was reached on the 7th of December.
The Light Infantry brigade having finished the work for which they were selected, was now broken up and the men returned to their respective commands. On the nth Lieut. Benjamin was allowed to go home on a furlough. He was discharged at West Point on the Hudson, Aug. 6, 1782, and his military service, continuous for 7 years, 3 months and 17 days, terminated.
Hostilities having ceased and confident that he would soon be at liberty to return to civil life, Lieut. Benjamin was married on the 1 6th day of January, 1782—(Rev. Jacob Gushing, Pastor of the Church of Christ in Waltham, officiating) to Tabitha Livermore, daughter of Nathaniel and Martha White Livermore of Waltham, Mass., a happy union, unbroken until his death forty two years later.
For Revolutionary services Lieut. Benjamin received a pension of $20 per month. Half pay during life, to which he was entitled under Resolve of Congress and was in force at the date of his discharge, was subsequently commuted to grants of land, and after several changes finally established as above. The following is a copy of his declaration which accompanied his application for a pension, and as it is his own statement of his military service, we give it place here.
I, Samuel Benjamin, a resident of the United States of America, an inhabitant of Livermore, in the county of Oxford, and State of Massachusetts, on oath declare, that from the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, in which I was engaged, I was in the Continental service in the Revolutionary war, without ever leaving said service, even so much as one day, until the sixth day of August, A.D. 1782. I served the eight months service in 1775, at Cambridge, in said State; in 1776, as soon as the British left Boston, we marched to Ticonderoga, where my years' service expired; and, on the 1st of January, 1777, I received from John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, an ensign's commission which is hereunto annexed, and continued to serve under said commission in Captain Ebenezer Cleveland's company, Colonel Michael Jackson's regiment, in the Massachusetts line, in the army of the United Colonies, on the Continental establishments, until I received a commission of Lieutenant, dated October 3, 1779, under which commission I served in the same company aforesaid, (which company was now, and had been some months previous, commanded by Captain Silas Pierce, in consequence of the resignation of said Captain Cleveland,) until the sixth day of August, A.D. 1782, when I had liberty to leave the service—a certificate of which, signed by Colonel Michael Jackson, is also hereunto annexed. My commission of lieutenant I sent to Washington last winter and have it not in my power. I was in the battle at Lexington abovesaid, before I engaged as a Continental soldier; and afterwards was in the battle of Monmouth, and at the taking of Cornwallis, and numerous other battles of less magnitude. I left the service at West Point, as will appear from the annexed certificate.
Samuel Benjamin,
This is the certificate above referred to:
This may certify that Lieutenant Samuel Benjamin, of the eighth Massachusetts regiment, has retired from present service, in consequence of a resolve of Congress, passed the 23d of April 1782, and is hereby entitled to half pay during life, by a resolve of Congress, passed the 3d and 21st of October 1780. Given under my hand, in Garrison, West Point, this sixth day of August 1782.
M. Jackson,
Colonel Eighth Massachusetts Regiment.
The foregoing has been prepared after a careful study of such authorities as were available, and though by no means full or complete, is believed to be, so far as it goes, authentic and reliable. Should any descendant of its subject desire to pursue the matter further, they will find much in a study of the movements of the army of which he was a part, and of the several actions in which he was personally engaged, that will throw further light on the character, patriotism and soldier-like qualities of their ancestor.
It is a record in which all his descendants may well indulge a pardonable pride. Few, if any, saw longer or harder service in this great conflict that freed his country from the tyranny of a despotic king and pliant parliament.
Confident of the justice of the cause, and willing to submit it to the arbitrament of the God of Battles, he left home, kindred and friends at the first call of his country—then without army, navy, munitions or the "sinews of war", to become one of that band of patriots destined to meet in the shock of battle the trained battalions of a powerful nation amply supplied with all material for war both on land and sea.
Success crowned their efforts, and it was his good fortune to
He live to see his country, which at the time of his entry into service had a population of barely 3,000,000 souls, whose homes were mostly confined to a narrow fringe bordering the Atlantic coast, extended to the Gulf of Mexico, while its western boundary was washed by the waters of the Pacific, to see the thirteen feeble colonies expanded to twenty-four powerful states, with a wealth of territory unknown and undreamed of in the earlier days,— a population more than trebled in number, and grown great in wealth, influence and power, to see Britain, "proud mistress of the seas," once more humbled by his country's flag and compelled to acknowledge their independence on the sea as on the land.
He lived to see the Mississippi, that great artery of commerce, made a National river, bearing the mighty products of the great and fertile West to the markets of the world—the sails of its commerce whitening every sea—and finally, to see his children, his own sterling sons and daughters, grow to manhood and womanhood, settled happily and prosperously around him, in the enjoyment of, and protected, fostered and blessed by the institutions he had labored so long and so hard to secure.
From the book, "Genealogy of Lieutenant Samuel Benjamin"
From this time until he was twenty-two years old, we have no knowledge concerning him. His father died, presumably in 1759, and his mother remarried a year or two later.
Dr. Henry Bond, author of the "Genealogies of Watertown," writing in 1856 to one of the sons of Samuel Benjamin concerning the family, said : "As there is no farther record of the family in Watertown after the birth of your Uncle John (Feb. 5, 1758)
I have supposed that on the second marriage of your grandmother to Mr. Mills she settled in some other town, taking her sons by her first husband with her." Later knowledge has proved Dr. Bond's supposition undoubtedly correct. We know that Samuel Benjamin's mother was a resident of Needham, Mass., in 1770 and that it was for several years the home of his brother John. It is therefore natural to suppose that Samuel spent some of his boyhood there. If so, he returned to Watertown, as that was his home during the opening scenes of the Revolution.
The following account of his military services prepared by one of his descendants, at the request of the compiler of this volume, will we trust prove of interest.
At the outbreak of the American Revolution, Samuel Benjamin, then twenty-two years of age, was living in Watertown. Anticipating that Gen. Gage would not long be content to hold his troops confined within the Limits of Boston, the patriots of the country towns had organized companies called "Minute Men," all of whom were pledged to respond without delay to the call of their commander. Mr. Benjamin became a member of the Watertown Company, Capt. Daniel Whiting, commander, and was appointed first sergeant and ex officio clerk.
On hearing the Lexington alarm his company immediately assembled at the appointed rendezvous and were there joined by the Minute Men of Newton. Learning that reinforcements had been sent out from Boston by way of Roxbury, the combined companies determined to strike this column in flank. Few in number and poorly equipped they were at first repulsed, but promptly rallied and continued to harass and annoy the enemy and delay their march, until the two bodies of British troops were consolidated at Lexington, and from thence were actively engaged until the British found shelter and protection upon the heights of Charlestown, and hostilities for the day ceased.
War being initiated, the Provincial Congress was summoned to assemble at Concord without delay to consider and adopt measures to defend the country. It was determined to raise an army of 13,000 men to serve until January i, 1776. This was called "the eight months service."
Sergeant Benjamin enlisted in the company of his old commander (Capt. Whiting) in the regiment of Col. Whitcomb (a veteran of the French and Indian War) , and so rapid were enlistments that on the 27th of May the regiment was reported full, ordered to duty and stationed at Cambridge, where it remained until the battle of Bunker Hill in which it took part, its casualties being seven killed and eight wounded. On retiring from Charlestown the regiment, under order from Gen. Putnam, was stationed on Prospect Hill in what is now Somerville, it being the extreme left of the Provincial line and within reach of the British batteries on Copps Hill, remaining at this post or its near vicinity until the evacuation of Boston in March following. Sergeant Benjamin's term expiring on the 1st of January he immediately re-enlisted in the same company for a year's service. When the enemy left Boston his regiment, still under the command of Col. Whitcomb, was ordered to the northern frontier, with headquarters at Ticonderoga, it being the purpose of the authorities to strengthen the posts and hold control of the great waterway between the St. Lawrence and Hudson rivers. The British during this year had a greatly superior naval force on Lake Champlain and were able to control its waters, but no serious attempt was made to force the passage between its head waters and the Hudson. The worst enemies the patriot army at this point were called upon to encounter were small-pox and camp-fever, both of which prevailed extensively and with great fatality.
In November of this year, while at Ticonderoga, Samuel Benjamin was appointed Ensign in the Continental service to take effect at the close of the year when his term of enlistment would expire. His commission was dated Jan. i, 1777, signed by John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, and he was assigned to duty in the 8th Massachusetts regiment in the Continental line, in the company commanded by Capt. Ebenezer Cleveland, regiment of Col. Michael Jackson and division of Gen. William Heath, stationed at West Point on the Hudson.
In the following July, recovering slowly from an attack of bilious dysentery (recovery being slow and it being likely that he would not be able to take the field for an indefinite period) he was ordered into the recruiting service in western Massachusetts and New York with such success that he was continued in that service until winter, when he joined his regiment at Valley Forge. It was during Ensign Benjamin's absence from his regiment that Gen. Burgoyne made his attempt to open communication with Clinton at New York, via Lake Champlain and the Hudson, culminating in his surrender on the field of Saratoga. His regiment, then temporarily in command of Lieut. Col. John Brooks, afterwards Governor of Massachusetts, took an active part in this campaign and was especially commended for its services.
It was during this winter of terrible suffering at Valley Forge that the conspiracy to depose the Commander in Chief, known as the "Conway Cabal," was formed, involving many high officers, both of the army and civil service.
To test their patriotism and devotion to the cause of their country the Congress Resolved, that each and every commissioned officer then in service, should take and subscribe to a special oath called the "Oath of Fidelity." This oath was administered by Gen. Washington on the 12th of May 1778 to the general officers, and by them subsequently to the subordinates. Ensign Benjamin subscribed to it on the 13th inst., in presence of Baron de Kalb. The original is still in existence, a reduced facsimile of which may be found at the head of this chapter.
In June the British abandoned Philadelphia, and a few days later the bloody and closely contested battle of Monmouth was fought, the 8th Massachusetts taking an active and honorable part. At its close Gen. Washington withdrew his army to the Highlands, his main object being to hold strategic points and control the Hudson. The army of the Highlands remained on the defensive, and with the exception of small combats and skirmishes, no actions of importance were held during the remainder of the year.
Early in 1779 Lafayette went to France for the purpose of presenting to the French Government the cause of the Colonies and soliciting material aid in its defense. Thoroughly imbued with the spirit and principles at stake, he had left his home, his young wife and the comforts that great wealth afforded, and voluntarily declining all fee or reward, tendered his services to Congress. For the purpose of doing him distinguished honor for services already rendered, it was determined during his absence, that a full Division to be known as the "Corps of Light Infantry"- should be organized to be placed under his command on his return. "It was a small body composed of men carefully selected from each regiment" and "representing the very best material in the army, and its main work was to take position in front, perform outpost duty, watch the enemy and be ready for any service at a moment's notice." As one of this body of men Ensign Benjamin had the distinguished honor of being selected. During the absence of Lafayette, the command was given to Gen. Anthony Wayne, whose impetuosity and daring had earned him the title of "Mad Anthony."
The campaign on the Hudson this season was mostly defensive, the most notable exception being the midnight assault and carrying by storm of the strong fortress of Stony Point, the capture of the entire garrison and stores.
Ensign Benjamin was personally engaged in this affair, of which he makes note with characteristic modesty in his diary as follows: "The light infantry entered the enemy's works at Stony Point and took them with little loss. We took about 381 prisoners, rank and file, and killed 150." These works were admirably situated for defense, strongly built, manned with a force exceeding 600 men, amply supplied with material for defense. The military stores captured were rated at $158,640. Bancroft, speaking of this event, says "the achievement was of its kind the most brilliant of the war."
In October, Ensign Benjamin was. promoted to a Lieutenancy,
his commission dated Oct 3, 1779 and following so closely the capture of Stony Point as to give rise to the thought that it might have been earned by extraordinary service on that occasion. Lafayette was completely successful in his mission to France, and with satisfactory assurances that fleet and army would be speedily sent by that Government to the assistance of the patriot army, returned to the United States and early in 1780 took personal command of the "Corps of Light Infantry." Some changes were now made in the officers. Col. Alexander Scammell, a veteran of the New Hampshire line, was given command of one of the Massachusetts battalions with Lieutenant Benjamin as his adjutant.
The scene of hostilities was now transferred to the South, and in the spring of 1781 Lafayette was given a separate command, and with a small army, including the first brigade of his Light Infantry, was sent to the aid and to act in conjunction with General Greene in the protection of the southern States from the ravages of Cornwallis, who was moving north and threatening Virginia; the second brigade to which Lieut. Benjamin belonged remaining at the old post on the Hudson, on defensive duty until the 18th of August, when the long march of four hundred miles to Virginia, ending in the siege of Yorktown and surrender of Cornwallis, commenced.
Landing at Williamsburg on the James River on the 20th of September, the 28th found the Light Infantry encamped on the extreme right of the American line, on the bank of the York River and within cannon shot of the enemy's works. Two days later cannonading was opened by both sides with vigor and continued with slight intermissions during the remainder of the siege, the Light Infantry in the meantime being continually engaged in covering the entrenching parties and supporting the artillery.
On the 6th of October, Col. Scammell, who with other officers were reconnoitering the enemy's works, was taken prisoner and barbarously murdered after surrender.
Gen. Washington detached from his staff Col. John Laurens to the command of Scammell's battalion during the remainder of the siege. Martin in his Gazeteer of Virginia says: "The first Continental troops to occupy the trenches on the forenoon of the 7th were Lafayette's Light Infantry. They marched in with the tread of veterans, colors flying, drums beating, and planted their standards on the parapet." By the 14th inst. the investment of the town was complete except for a short distance on the inner line next to the York River, where the British had a small but very strong redoubt, and a little further inland another and larger one. To the French grenadiers was assigned the honor of taking the larger, and the Light Infantry the smaller one. Lieut. Col. Alexander Hamilton of the 2d battalion, 2d brigade of the Light Infantry, at his own earnest request led the assailing column, while Col. Laurens with two companies of his battalion, commanded respectively by Captain Betts and Captain Ebenezer Williams, were detached and ordered to the reverse to prevent the escape of the garrison. Lieut. Benjamin was with this detachment in Captain Williams' Company. The action like that at Stony Point was short, sharp, and decisive, resulting in the capture of the redoubt with its entire garrison, and fifteen minutes later the other redoubt was in the possession of the French. Gen. Washington, dismounted, with Knox, Lincohi and other general officers stood in view and watched with great anxiety the movements of the assaulting columns. Seeing the work complete and both redoubts in possession of his troops, he turned to his associates and remarked, "The work is done and well done," and then to his servant in attendance, "Billy, hand me my horse."
In General Orders issued the following day Gen. Washington congratulates the army and pays high encomiums on the troops especially engaged in these assaults. "He requests the Baron Viomenil who commanded the French Grenadiers and Chasseurs, and Marquis De Lafayette who commanded the American Light Infantry, to accept his warmest acknowledgments for the excellency of their dispositions and for their own gallant conduct on that occasion, and he begs them to present his thanks to every individual officer and to the men of their respective commands for the spirit and rapidity with which they advanced to the attacks assigned them, and for the admirable firmness with which they supported them under the fire of the enemy, without returning a shot."
The American lines were now complete and the doomed city at the mercy of the allied army. Two days later negotiations for its surrender were opened, and on the 19th inst. Cornwallis with his whole army (including also "the shipping and boats in the two harbors (York and Gloucester) with all their stores, guns, tackling and apparel") laid down their arms and surrendered as prisoners of war.
With the exception of unimportant skirmishes in the South this was the last engagement of the war.
The redoubt stormed by the Light Infantry was afterwards called the "Rock Redoubt," and on its site was erected a triumphal arch in honor of Lafayette on his visit to this country in 1824, and beneath which he paid a feeling tribute to the worth and valor of his "dear light infantry." In his speech on that occasion, he says: "Happy also to be welcomed on the particular
spot where my dear light infantry comrades acquired one of their
honorable claims to public love and esteem. You know, sir, that in this business of storming redoubts, with unloaded arms and fixed bayonets, the merit of the deed is in the soldiers who execute it; and to each of them I am anxious to acknowledge their equal share of honor. Let me, however, with affection and gratitude, pay a special tribute to the gallant name of Hamilton who commanded the attack, to the three field officers who seconded him, Gimat, Laurens, and Fish, the only surviving one, my friend now near me. In their name, my dear General, in the name of the light infantry, those we have lost as well as those who survive, and only in common with them, I accept the crown with which you are pleased to honor us, and I offer you the return of my most grateful acknowledgments."
It will be seen by the foregoing, that from the battle of Lexington to the capitulation of Cornwallis on the field of Yorktown, Lieut. Benjamin was in continuous service, participating in several of the larger and most important battles in the interim, as well as numerous skirmishes and small affairs, and yet was so fortunate (so far as we are informed) as not to receive a wound in action. Two days after the surrender, however, the Light Infantry were on fatigue duty in Yorktown engaged in loading cannon and shells aboard ship. While engaged in this duty two shells exploded, killing two and wounding others of his battalion. On the 4th of November his company left Yorktown by water to return to their old headquarters on the Hudson, but by reason of getting aground and baffling winds did not arrive at Head of Elk (now Elkton, Maryland,) until the 21st inst., —a long voyage of seventeen days from Yorktown to the head of Chesapeake Bay. Of this voyage he says in his diary, "I was very sick and suffered much by being wounded" (perhaps by the exploded shell). He was unable to march until the 24th inst., when he started on his long tramp to the Highlands, which point was reached on the 7th of December.
The Light Infantry brigade having finished the work for which they were selected, was now broken up and the men returned to their respective commands. On the nth Lieut. Benjamin was allowed to go home on a furlough. He was discharged at West Point on the Hudson, Aug. 6, 1782, and his military service, continuous for 7 years, 3 months and 17 days, terminated.
Hostilities having ceased and confident that he would soon be at liberty to return to civil life, Lieut. Benjamin was married on the 1 6th day of January, 1782—(Rev. Jacob Gushing, Pastor of the Church of Christ in Waltham, officiating) to Tabitha Livermore, daughter of Nathaniel and Martha White Livermore of Waltham, Mass., a happy union, unbroken until his death forty two years later.
For Revolutionary services Lieut. Benjamin received a pension of $20 per month. Half pay during life, to which he was entitled under Resolve of Congress and was in force at the date of his discharge, was subsequently commuted to grants of land, and after several changes finally established as above. The following is a copy of his declaration which accompanied his application for a pension, and as it is his own statement of his military service, we give it place here.
I, Samuel Benjamin, a resident of the United States of America, an inhabitant of Livermore, in the county of Oxford, and State of Massachusetts, on oath declare, that from the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, in which I was engaged, I was in the Continental service in the Revolutionary war, without ever leaving said service, even so much as one day, until the sixth day of August, A.D. 1782. I served the eight months service in 1775, at Cambridge, in said State; in 1776, as soon as the British left Boston, we marched to Ticonderoga, where my years' service expired; and, on the 1st of January, 1777, I received from John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, an ensign's commission which is hereunto annexed, and continued to serve under said commission in Captain Ebenezer Cleveland's company, Colonel Michael Jackson's regiment, in the Massachusetts line, in the army of the United Colonies, on the Continental establishments, until I received a commission of Lieutenant, dated October 3, 1779, under which commission I served in the same company aforesaid, (which company was now, and had been some months previous, commanded by Captain Silas Pierce, in consequence of the resignation of said Captain Cleveland,) until the sixth day of August, A.D. 1782, when I had liberty to leave the service—a certificate of which, signed by Colonel Michael Jackson, is also hereunto annexed. My commission of lieutenant I sent to Washington last winter and have it not in my power. I was in the battle at Lexington abovesaid, before I engaged as a Continental soldier; and afterwards was in the battle of Monmouth, and at the taking of Cornwallis, and numerous other battles of less magnitude. I left the service at West Point, as will appear from the annexed certificate.
Samuel Benjamin,
This is the certificate above referred to:
This may certify that Lieutenant Samuel Benjamin, of the eighth Massachusetts regiment, has retired from present service, in consequence of a resolve of Congress, passed the 23d of April 1782, and is hereby entitled to half pay during life, by a resolve of Congress, passed the 3d and 21st of October 1780. Given under my hand, in Garrison, West Point, this sixth day of August 1782.
M. Jackson,
Colonel Eighth Massachusetts Regiment.
The foregoing has been prepared after a careful study of such authorities as were available, and though by no means full or complete, is believed to be, so far as it goes, authentic and reliable. Should any descendant of its subject desire to pursue the matter further, they will find much in a study of the movements of the army of which he was a part, and of the several actions in which he was personally engaged, that will throw further light on the character, patriotism and soldier-like qualities of their ancestor.
It is a record in which all his descendants may well indulge a pardonable pride. Few, if any, saw longer or harder service in this great conflict that freed his country from the tyranny of a despotic king and pliant parliament.
Confident of the justice of the cause, and willing to submit it to the arbitrament of the God of Battles, he left home, kindred and friends at the first call of his country—then without army, navy, munitions or the "sinews of war", to become one of that band of patriots destined to meet in the shock of battle the trained battalions of a powerful nation amply supplied with all material for war both on land and sea.
Success crowned their efforts, and it was his good fortune to
He live to see his country, which at the time of his entry into service had a population of barely 3,000,000 souls, whose homes were mostly confined to a narrow fringe bordering the Atlantic coast, extended to the Gulf of Mexico, while its western boundary was washed by the waters of the Pacific, to see the thirteen feeble colonies expanded to twenty-four powerful states, with a wealth of territory unknown and undreamed of in the earlier days,— a population more than trebled in number, and grown great in wealth, influence and power, to see Britain, "proud mistress of the seas," once more humbled by his country's flag and compelled to acknowledge their independence on the sea as on the land.
He lived to see the Mississippi, that great artery of commerce, made a National river, bearing the mighty products of the great and fertile West to the markets of the world—the sails of its commerce whitening every sea—and finally, to see his children, his own sterling sons and daughters, grow to manhood and womanhood, settled happily and prosperously around him, in the enjoyment of, and protected, fostered and blessed by the institutions he had labored so long and so hard to secure.
From the book, "Genealogy of Lieutenant Samuel Benjamin"
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