A Few More of Mom’s Revolutionary War ancestors

 

The Connecticut Line: Holding the Hudson & Defending the Coast

William Scoville (Private) | 7th Great-Grandfather

• The Combat Reality: Enlisting in 1779 at roughly 73 years old, Scoville's service in Colonel Samuel Blachley Webb's Regiment (alternately known as the 9th Connecticut or Webb's Additional Continental Regiment) was remarkably late-career.
• Operational Context: By 1779, Webb’s Regiment was deployed in the Hudson Highlands and western Connecticut. They protected the critical American stronghold at West Point and countered brutal British and Loyalist coastal raids led by Tryon. For an elderly veteran, this meant high-intensity garrison duties, forced marches along the Sound, and constant readiness against amphibious enemy assaults.

Lt. William Smith | 6th Great-Grandfather

• The Combat Reality: Commissioned in the 6th Connecticut Regiment under Colonel William Douglas and later Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs, Lt. Smith served during the army's most grueling campaigns.

1.The Battle of Brandywine & Germantown: Fall 1777.

The regiment marched south to reinforce Washington, taking heavy casualties while attempting to block the British advance on Philadelphia.

2.The Winter at Valley Forge: 1777–1778.

Garrisoned at Valley Forge alongside our Potts cousins, enduring systemic starvation and disease while undergoing professional tactical drilling under Baron von Steuben.

3.The Storming of Stony Point: July 15, 1779.

Elements of the 6th Connecticut formed the elite, hand-picked Light Infantry corps that executed a midnight bayonet-only assault, capturing a heavily fortified British bastion on the Hudson.

The New Jersey Militia: Countering the British Occupation

The Somerset County Militia was one of the most active guerrilla and defensive forces of the war, operating directly within "The Cockpit of the Revolution."

Major Richard McDonald | 6th Great-Grandfather

• The Combat Reality: Rising from Captain to Second Major in the 1st Battalion, Somerset County Militia, McDonald was an elite regional officer. He was responsible for organizing local defenses, securing supply lines, and launching hit-and-run ambushes against British foraging parties operating out of occupied New Brunswick.

Private Moses Groom | 6th Great-Grandfather

• The Combat Reality: Serving in Lieutenant John Bergen’s Detachment of the Somerset Militia, Groom was directly under the operational command of officers like Major McDonald. His unit was deployed to guard the flatlands along the Millstone River—a frequent avenue for British incursions—participating in high-stakes skirmishes designed to bleed British column strength.

The New York Frontier & The Hudson Highlands

Captain Elijah Townsend | 5th Great-Grandfather

• The Combat Reality: Serving as Adjutant of Colonel Henry Ludington’s 7th Dutchess County Militia, Townsend held a vital administrative and tactical role. He was the colonel's right hand, managing troop movements, intelligence reports, and readiness orders.
• Operational Context: Ludington’s regiment operated along the highly volatile "Neutral Ground" of Westchester and Dutchess Counties. They fought a brutal civil war against local Loyalist cowboys and skinners, secured the mountain passes leading to West Point, and famously deployed during the Danbury Raid of 1777.

Private Peter Wyngaart | 5th Great-Grandfather

• The Combat Reality: Serving in the 4th Regiment, Albany County Militia (Killian Van Rensselaer's Regiment), Wyngaart was tasked with defending the northern frontier. His unit protected the vast Manor of Rensselaerwyck from British regulars, Loyalist raiders, and allied Native forces, ensuring that northern agricultural supply lines remained open to feed the Continental Army.

The Rhode Island Alarms

Captain Job Plimpton (6th Great-Grandfather) & Corporal Job Plimpton Jr. (5th Great-Grandfather)

• The Combat Reality: This father-son duo mobilized during critical emergency alerts when British naval forces threatened New England's coastline.
• The December 1776 Alarm: Captain Job Sr. marched his Medway company to Warwick, Rhode Island, immediately following the British capture of Newport. Their presence helped establish a defensive line that prevented the British from driving inland toward Boston.
• The July 1780 Alarm: Corporal Job Jr. marched with Major Seth Bullard's unit to Tiverton, Rhode Island, to reinforce French forces under Rochambeau when a British naval attack on Newport appeared imminent.

Private William Braman | 5th Great-Grandfather

• The Combat Reality: Enlisting from Washington County, Rhode Island, Braman served during the state’s darkest hours. With Newport heavily occupied by the British, Braman’s unit was stationed along the coastline to prevent enemy foraging parties from pillaging mainland farms and livestock.

The Southern Campaign: The Virginia Line

Captain William Boyd (6th Great-Grandfather) & Private James Boyd (5th Great-Grandfather)

• The Combat Reality: This father-son pair served from Bedford County, Virginia. Captain William Boyd commanded troops operating in conjunction with Continental forces, while James enlisted early in the conflict (1775–1777).
• Operational Context: The Virginia line during this period was heavily engaged in defending the western frontier from British-aligned tribal incursions, securing strategic lead mines, and eventually marching east to reinforce the main Continental army against Lord Cornwallis's southern push.

Ensign John Andrew Gibson | 6th Great-Grandfather

• The Combat Reality: Serving in the 7th Regiment of the Virginia Militia, Ensign Gibson held a critical junior officer rank, carrying the unit's colors and directing platoon-level firing lines. Gibson tragically died in the field on September 29, 1778, in Caswell, North Carolina—a region engulfed in a vicious partisan war between local Patriots and Tory insurgents.

Celebrating America 250

To understand the birth of the American Republic, you cannot look only at the generals in their gilded frames. 

You have to look at the communities that emptied their homes into the ranks of the army. In our family tree, the Revolutionary War wasn't a distant event read about in gazettes—it was a total family mobilization.

From the rocky shores of Rhode Island to the dense, bloody woods of the Carolinas, twelve of our grandfathers stepped forward between 1775 and 1781. They didn't fight as a single unit; they formed a literal defensive ring around the colonies.

In Connecticut, our elderly 7th great-grandfather William Scoville shouldered a musket in Webb’s Regiment alongside his grandson’s future father-in-law, Lt. William Smith, who endured the freezing huts of Valley Forge and stormed the cliffs of Stony Point.

In New Jersey, Major Richard McDonald and Private Moses Groom waged a relentless war of shadows in Somerset County, turning every stone wall and orchard into a fortress to deny the British army fresh provisions. Up on the Hudson, Captain Elijah Townsend and Private Peter Wyngaart held the line against Tory raiders, ensuring West Point stayed firmly in American hands.

When the British fleet seized Newport, the Plimptons (father and son) grabbed their gear and marched from Massachusetts into Rhode Island to plug the gap alongside William Braman. And down in the southern theater, the Boyds of Virginia hammered the enemy's western flank while Ensign John Andrew Gibson gave his life in the North Carolina backcountry.

As we approach the Semiquincentennial, we remember that independence wasn't given—it was forged, piece by piece, by the hands of our own kin.

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy