As recorded in the Massachusetts
Soldiers and Sailors Book Vol 10 p 505 David McIntire of Falmouth served as
a private in Capt. Samuel Noyes's company under Col. Edmund Phinney's (31st)
regiment from when he enlisted June 23, 1775, until October 1775. He then reenlisted as Corporal Jan 1, 1776 but
this time in Capt. Hart Williams's company under Col. Edmund Phinney's 18th
regiment. During this time he was
promoted to Sergeant Aug. 3, 1776.
In researching Col. Edmund Phinney’s Regiments I found two
publications, History of Col Edmund
Phinney’s 31st Regiment of Foot and History of Col Edmund Phinney’s 18th Continental Regiment
both written by Nathan Goold which shed quite a bit of light on my 5th
Great Grandfather’s experience in the Revolutionary War. This is my summary of these two books.
The shot that was heard round the world on April 19, 1775
was heard two days later in Falmouth Massachusetts today Portland Maine. War had finally come. However there was not an organized or
outfitted army to fight it. Continental
Congress immediately set about the task to resolve this problem and over thirty
thousand men enlisted. So many some had
to be turned away. Our ancestor David
McIntire was one of those to heed the call.
There were ten companies in Col Edmund Phinney’s 31st
Regiment. It was the first regiment raised
in Cumberland County and David had enlisted under Capt. Samuel Noyes.
Unlike the Americans the British were organized and
outfitted and it showed when they won the battle of Bunker Hill June 17th. Congress was none too happy that the
organizing of Phinney’s Regiment was taking so long and on June 22nd
they sent orders that 400 men of this regiment be sent to Cambridge at once. Phinney and his captains finally set out
around the first of July. But still it
would take time to march the regiment 130 miles from Falmouth to
Cambridge. With stops at local taverns
along the way to eat and rest it took seven days to complete the march.
Col Phinney’s Regiment was assigned to Gen. Israel Putnam’s brigade
and encamped near Fort #2 which was on the easterly side of Putnam Ave at
Franklin St in Cambridge. Today it is a
busy residential neighborhood with a historical marker.
Gen. George Washington arrived July 3 to take command and he
set up headquarters at Longfellow’s home not far from Fort #2
Our ancestor along with the rest of Phinney’s Regiment might
have been too late for Bunker Hill but they were ready to fight. The first important event after the arrival
of the regiment at Cambridge was the burning of Boston lighthouse to prevent
British warships from coming into the harbor.
Later the British tried to march out to Roxbury but we drove them back
to Boston and when they rebuilt Boston Light the regiment destroyed it again. By August Capt. Daniel Morgan’s Riflemen had arrived
from Virginia. And in September Gen
Benedict Arnold and Col Henry Knox were given order to leave for
Ticonderoga. David McIntire along with
his comrades in arms participated in skirmishes and picket firing and saw many killed
and wounded about them while stationed outside of Boston during the Siege.
On October 18 the town of Falmouth was attacked and burned
by a fleet of Royal Navy vessels commanded by Henry Mowart. It was the same Capt. Mowart who Capt.
Samuel Noyes and Col. Phinney had had trouble with before they marched to
Boston four months earlier. The record
doesn’t say that is the reason Capt. Noyes’ men went back to Falmouth in
October but they did none the less.
Col Phinney’s regiment remained in Cambridge. The Colonial Army was in trouble. The British ministry had hired over seventeen
thousand German troops known as the Hessians and the colonies were not united.
The southern colonies were not giving their all to the cause. Also there was no money and very little
ammunition. It seemed hopeless but we
would not give up we just needed to be reorganized! So on December 31 the old regiments were
disbanded and on January 1, 1776 a new organized and renamed army was born. It was now called the Continental Army and
the 31 regiment became the 18th.
It is at this time David McIntire
reenlisted as a corporal under Capt. Hart Williams and he went back to Boston
to continue with the siege.
All through February the army was being prepared to attack
Boston. It was during this time that Henry
Knox’s “Noble Train” arrived from New York with the cannons and ammunition they
need for the attack.
On March 4 Col
Phinney’s regiment was stationed at Lechmere Point and Cobble Hill with the
intention of distracting the British of the goings on at Dorchester
Heights. Washington was sure the British
would order an assault when they discovered the works at Dorchester and so the
next day Gen Putnam’s regiment was marched to Cambridge Commons and readied for
an attack on Boston but the order never came due to a torrential rain storm
that kept the British from their attack.
By March 10 British conceded to evacuate Boston and were all
gone along with Tory sympathizers by March 17.
Gen Putnam left March 28 for New York and Washington left April 5. However even though the British were no
longer in Boston it didn’t mean the American troops could just leave the town
and harbor unprotected. Col
Phinney’s and Col Hutchinson’s regiments
stayed on through the summer of 1776. On July 4 independence was declared and
on the eighteenth the declaration was read aloud from the State House in
Boston.
A few weeks later in August, our ancestor David McIntire was
promoted to Sargent just as orders to march to Fort Ticonderoga came
through. Col Phinney’s regiment marched
out of Boston August 8 heading north.
The terrain was rough, the weather awful and most nights they could not
find a place to stay so camped in the woods to sleep. In all it took them over three weeks to reach
the Fort. They were assigned to Mount
Independence, across the lake from Fort Ticonderoga, where fortifications were
being built in preparations for an attack from the British out of Canada.
October 11 there was a naval battle off Valcour Island that
lasted all day. The Americans were out
gunned and though they narrowly escaped that day most vessels were destroyed the
next two days. The British now occupied
Fort Crown Point. The next few days the
troops on Independence worked nonstop to finish the fortification. And on October 28th when the
British approached the forts they were met by an army of over 13,000 men that
were well armed on both sides of the lake.
The British boats retreated by sunset and all forces at Fort Crown Point
left and returned to Canada.
On November 20 Col Phinney’s regiment marched from Mount
Independence and arrived at Fort George at the south end of Lake George where
Phinney took command of the Fort from Col John Stark. The duty of the regiment was to transport
flour over the lake to the other forts. And
at the end of December the regiment was discharged where upon many started for
home including David McIntire.
There are no other records I have found that suggest David
reenlisted again throughout the rest of the war. However his brother, Benjamin is recorded to
have been a part of the Penobscot Expedition with Paul Revere in 1779.
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