While growing up in Raynham, Massachusetts, I didn't realize, nor did my family, that ancestors Stephen and Esther Williams (my 4th great grandparents) were buried in a small cemetery on the south side of town.  Nor would I learn, until just recently, that Stephen, while merely doing his duty as a soldier, played a role in one of the pivotal events in the early years of the Revolutionary War.

In 1832 an Act of Congress authorized pensions for Revolutionary War veterans who, like Stephen, were not in the Continental Army, but had completed at least six months of service in militia units.  At the age of 79, Stephen applied for the pension.  He was required to document the details of his service.  His original application and supporting files amounted to 31 pages that became part of our National Archives, and we are able to read the original handwritten documents today.  I think we can consider the documents as being in Stephen's own words, although they were probably written down by a court official.

In colonial times, able-bodied males from age 16 to around 60 were required to be in their local militia.  It was possible to avoid being drafted into military service by paying a fine or finding a substitute.  This continued throughout the Revolutionary War, but it was not the only way that soldiers were recruited.  There were some "volunteer" militia units that young men could join, rather than signing up with their home unit.  The attraction of these units might be a promised bonus or the chance to operate artillery.

There was also General Washington's Continental Army, which was initially composed of volunteers.  Later, when there was a shortage of soldiers, each state was required to supply its share of men for the Continental Army.  Each state drew soldiers from its local militia to meet its quota.  All of these units--conscripted militia, volunteer militia, and the Continental Army--seem to have fought side-by-side under a single command structure.

Stephen reported for service five times during the Revolutionary War, each time under a different commander.  He stated that he volunteered for duty each time except the last, when he served as a substitute for his brother Noah.

In the aftermath of the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, the British forces retreated back to Boston, which they had been occupying for six and a half years--years marked by the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre.  At that time Boston was a narrow peninsula surrounded by water, connected to the mainland through Roxbury.  The colonial militias took up positions across the waters encircling Boston, effectively putting the British under siege.  By July George Washington had arrived and taken command of the situation.

Stephen writes, "Under Capt. Hodges I entered [service]...in the month of December in the year 1775, marched from Taunton to Roxbury near Boston where we were joined to the army then blockading the British in Boston, and we did duty there for two months...I remember keeping guard at Gen. Spencer's quarters."

His second tour of duty came soon thereafter:  "Under Capt. Hall I entered in the month of February in the year 1776, marched from Taunton to Winter Hill in Cambridge and served there and at Dorchester two months in the army blockading Boston.  We were employed in guard duty and throwing up entrenchments.  I saw Gen. Washington there, but cannot remember other regiments or officers.  I was there when the British sent out a flag of Truce after we had made the fortification on Dorchester Hill, and said if we would let them alone they would go out peaceably, they would not burn Boston up."

What Stephen is alluding to is the arrival of dozens of British cannons that had been seized by the Americans at Fort Ticonderoga and, famously, transported to Boston by Continental soldiers under the leadership of Colonel Henry Knox.  The effort, which came to be known as the "Noble Train of Artillery," involved boats, horse-drawn sleds, and human muscle power spanning a distance of 300 miles.  

Stephen would have been one of about a thousand men that put up fortifications, then placed the cannons on Dorchester Heights--under cover of darkness, and behind walls of hay bales erected to muffle the creaking sounds of wagon wheels.   Upon seeing the cannons pointing down at his fleet of 120 ships moored in Boston Harbor, General Howe is said to have exclaimed, "My God, these fellows have done more work in one night than I could make my army do in three months."

As Stephen witnessed, it was at this point that Howe decided to evacuate Boston.  Stephen accurately notes that Howe authorized his troops to set fire to the city if they were met with any resistance on their way out, but there were no disturbances.  On March 17, 1776, the British fleet, carrying 10,000 troops and 1,000 Loyalists, sailed out of Boston Harbor and headed for Nova Scotia to regroup.  The Siege of Boston, the opening campaign of the Revolutionary War, was over.

A monument at Dorchester Heights marks the location of this event, which is celebrated as Evacuation Day in Boston, coinciding of course with St. Patrick's Day.

Stephen's other periods of military service took him to different places, but not with as much drama as his experiences in Boston.  He next volunteered to march across Rhode Island and Connecticut to what is now Westchester County, New York, where Washington and Howe were again facing off.  In the end, Howe prevailed this time, retaining control of New York City and its harbor.  Washington retreated at first to White Plains, then headed to Pennsylvania.  Stephen's company seems to have seen only minor skirmishes:

"Under Capt. Crossman I entered [service] in September in the year 1776.  We marched from Taunton to Providence, crossed the Connecticut River at Hartford, thence to New Haven in Connecticut and then to Horseneck, the last town in Connecticut.  Stayed there awhile and then marched to Mamaroneck where there was another regiment with ours commanded by Col. Macintosh. Afterwards we were stationed at North Castle.  While there I went with a detachment which marched in the night to attack a body of the enemy at East Chester, but they having received intimation of our approach had made off, and we returned to our regiment at North Castle where we stayed till our term of service, to wit, two months, was out, when we were dismissed."

Nine months after losing Boston, British forces occupied Newport, Rhode Island.  But first, a short lesson that combines history and geography.  Newport is on an island.  We now call that Aquidneck Island, but in those days it was named Rhode Island.  The colony as a whole was named Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

The British valued Newport for its deep and spacious harbor.  One British admiral called it "the best and noblest harbor in America...from whence squadrons in forty-eight hours could blockade the three capitals of America, namely Boston, New York and Philadelphia."

Stephen participated in two attempts to take Newport back, but both failed.

"Under Capt. Shaw I was in what was called Spencer's secret expedition, and served thereon one month.  We marched from Taunton through Freetown to Howland's Ferry in Tiverton in the State of Rhode Island.  We collected boats and made repeated attempts to cross to Rhode Island.  We marched by night down to Fogland Ferry in Little Compton in the same state, and attempted to cross there, but the enemy discovered us and killed some of our boatmen in the boats & the expedition failed.  This was in the fall of the year 1777."

The next attempt to free Newport from British occupation is known as the Battle of Rhode Island.  While it did not succeed, it is notable for several reasons.  Black soldiers in the 1st Rhode Island Regiment participated in the battle and gave a good account of themselves.  This was the first battle in which French forces planned to join with Americans.  However storm damage to the French fleet and tensions with American officers caused the fleet to withdraw.  One of the subordinates that Gen. Washington had sent to help with the battle was none other than the Marquis de Lafayette.  The Battle of Rhode Island Association was founded in 2021 to promote awareness of Rhode Island's role in the Revolutionary War and to restore Butts Hill Fort, the largest period earthwork still extant in southeastern New England.

"Under Capt. Crocker I was six weeks in a campaign led by General Sullivan, in the latter part of the summer of the year 1778.  I went as a substitute for my brother.  We marched from Taunton to said Howland's Ferry, and stayed there encamped awhile in the wood, then crossed to Rhode Island, marched to Butts Hill and chose a position to retreat to if compelled so to do, then we marched down to the British lines near Newport and threw up entrenchments. While there I was taken sick, and sent back from the camp to a deserted house near Bristol Ferry at the northwest end of the island, and was there when the battle at Quaker Hill was fought, but too sick to take part in it.  After the battle I got into a vessel which landed me on the main near Howland's Ferry, where I found some friends who assisted me home to Raynham, where I remained too sick to join my company again before it was dismissed."

Stephen's pension application was approved in 1833.  The maximum annual pension amount, for two years of service, was $96.  Having served a total of 8 months and 12 days, Stephen received $27.98 per annum.