Life Alexander was an educated, ambitious and bright young man and was proficient in mathematics and astronomy. He joined his mother in a successful provisioning business and, in 1747, married Sarah Livingston, the daughter of Philip Livingston (1686-1749) and sister of Governor William Livingston. The couple had two daughters. One of his daughters, Mary Alexander,…

Overview Daniel Morgan (c. 1736 – July 6, 1802) was an American pioneer, soldier, and United States Representative from Virginia. One of the most gifted battlefield tacticians of the American Revolutionary War, he later commanded the troops that suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion. Early Years Daniel Morgan was born of Welsh parents in 1736. Because he…

Early life Putnam was born in Salem Village (now Danvers), Massachusetts, to Joseph and Elizabeth Putnam, a prosperous farming family of Salem witch trials fame. His birthplace, Putnam House, still exists. In 1740, at the age of 22, he moved to Mortlake (now Pomfret) in northeastern Connecticut where land was cheaper and easier to obtain.…

Life Prescott was born in Groton, Massachusetts to Benjamin Prescott (1696–1738) and Abigail Oliver Prescott (1697–1765). He married Abigail Hale (1733–1821) on April 13, 1758, and they had one son, also named William, in 1762. Prescott owned a house in Pepperell, Massachusetts, on Prescott Street. Prescott served in the provincial militia in King George’s War…

Overview Ethan Allen was a farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, and American Revolutionary War patriot, hero, and politician. Allen was an early American revolutionary and guerrilla leader who, before the war, fought against the Province of New York’s attempts to take control of the New Hampshire Grants. He is probably most widely known for…

Overview Benedict Arnold V was a general during the American Revolutionary War who originally fought for the American Continental Army but switched sides to the British Empire. While he was still a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and plotted unsuccessfully to surrender it to…

Dr. Joseph Warren (June 11, 1741 – June 17, 1775) was an American doctor and soldier, remembered for playing a leading role in American Patriot organizations in Boston and for his death as a volunteer private soldier while also serving as chief executive of the revolutionary Massachusetts government. Life and career Warren was born in Roxbury,…

William Heath (March 7, 1737 – January 24, 1814) was an American farmer, soldier, and political leader from Massachusetts who served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Heath made his home for his entire life at his family’s farm in Roxbury, Massachusetts (present day Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, part…

History is not always as simple and factual as it often appears. Such is the case of North Bridge hero John Buttrick and his epochal role on 19 April 1775. By October 1774, the Provincial Congress ordained that militias reorganize as an Army of Observation and to defend against sorties out of Boston by the…

Colonel James Barrett was one of the primary figures in the events surrounding the first battle of the American Revolution. The chief objective of the British march through Middlesex County on April 19, 1775, was to seize military supplies stored on Colonel Barrett’s farm in Concord. However, the townspeople had received advance warning of the…