JOEL & ROGERS SAVAGE: BROTHERS
WITH DIFFERING REVOLUTIONARY WAR EXPERIENCES
My 3rd great grandfather, Rogers Savage, was twelve
when the cry for independence was sounded. Born May 14, 1764 to
father William Savage, age 38, and mother Martha Gibson Savage, age 28, in
Middletown, Hartford, Connecticut, Rogers was baptized as an infant in the
Presbyterian Church at Middletown. He was child number 4 of the 11 who
would be born to William and Martha. His brother Joel, born Sept. 25, 1761,
also in Middletown, was three years older. Over the course of several
years, the family would move from Central Connecticut to Western Massachusetts
to what would become the State of New York.
A year after the Revolution
commenced and while they were living in Sandisfield, Massachusetts, older brother 15-year-old
Joel enlisted in the Continental Army in May 1777, for the term of three years.
Immediately marching south over 100 miles to Peekskill, New York, the Massachusetts
troops joined those of New York and marched another 113 miles north to
Albany. Stillwater lay 23 miles to the north of Albany where the men
engaged in a severe battle against British General Burgoyne.
This battle, now known as the Battle
of Saratoga, pit 3000 fighting soldiers on either side, neither able to soundly
defeat the other. To fight without being beaten
was to the Americans practically a victory and, accordingly, the news of the
battle was received with joy and exultation throughout America. British General Fraser was killed and a few days after
this battle, Joel was detached as a hospital guard to go to "Landingburgh".
The British retreated from Fort Stanwix after the Battle of
Saratoga and the patriots never again faced a major force in upstate New York.
The Iroquois and Tory raiders launched bloody hit-and-run raids on the less
defended settlements and farmsteads in New York and the war continued.
Joel returned home in the fall after his 16th birthday. At age 18, as the British were not yet defeated, Joel again enlisted in his same Massachusetts regiment for another 6 months. After his return the following spring, his father’s family moved across the state border into Canaan, New York.
Five months later, for reasons
unknown to us, Joel enlisted as a substitute for his brother Rogers, a month before
his 20th birthday. Stationed at Fort Herkimer, New York, Joel joined Captain
Solomon Woodworth's company of Rangers.
A party of Indians was discovered
Sept. 7, 1781. Taking rations for 7 days, Joel, one of 42 privates, the officers,
5 Stockbridge Indians and an Oneida guide, left Fort Herkimer in pursuit.
Crossing West Canada Creek, the rangers chased the Indians and were ambushed. In the bloody fight that followed, all
officers and 23 privates were killed. A few were able to make their escape back
to Fort Herkimer. Joel and 5 others were
captured and taken to British Fort Niagara.
At Fort Niagara Joel had to run
the gauntlet. Running the gauntlet is a former military punishment in which the
offender was made to run between two rows of men who would strike with switches
or weapons as he passed. Often a sergeant would
walk backwards in front of the prisoner with a sword pressed against the man's
belly to keep him from running, while forcing him forward with a rope tied to
the man's wrists. After running the gauntlet twice, Joel was dressed
in Indian clothing and given as a present to Col. Butler, a Tory or Loyalist officer,
who commanded a regiment of rangers in the British Army.
Given the opportunity to take up
arms against his country, Joel refused. He was confined in the guard house for
12 days. Joel was moved to a dungeon on Carleton Island in the St.
Lawrence River for four weeks until he was transferred again. After an 11-month-imprisonment
through the bitterly cold winter and muggy summer on an Island 40 miles above
Montreal, he was moved to Montreal and then to Quebec.
The British knew the war was lost.
Joel was taken on board a British ship and sailed to Boston as part of a
prisoner exchange Nov. 28, 1782. A preliminary peace treaty was signed in Paris
two days later. Joel had been a British prisoner for nearly 15
months.
Meanwhile, the previous June (1782),
18-year-old Rogers had enlisted as a soldier in Berkshire County,
Massachusetts, for the term of three years. Immediately upon
conscription, he marched nearly 60 miles to Springfield, Massachusetts, where
he was mustered by an officer sent from the Continental Army. The
recruits trained at Springfield and then marched 130 miles to West Point.
Upon arrival at West Point, Rogers
served in the 6th Massachusetts Regiment commandeered by Col. John Kilby Smith.
Later that year they joined the French Army and marched 15 miles south to Verplanck
Point. In the fall of the same year, the troops marched 24 miles north to
New Windsor where they erected huts for Winter Quarters. After
finishing huts for officers and soldiers, they erected a large building for
meetings and a conference house for the officers. The news of the peace
treaty (Nov. 30, 1782) arrived with great rejoicing, and those who had enlisted
for the duration of the war were discharged upon six months furlough. Rogers received
orders to march to West Point.
In June 1783 Rogers marched with
troops to Philadelphia to quell the violence. Distressed at receiving no pay
for their service during the Revolutionary War, 400 Continental soldiers
stationed in Philadelphia mutinied. Attempting an attack on Congress, they
proceeded to break open the Bank to obtain their pay. Rogers wrote, “On
our march we passed by a number of the members of Congress in Princeton who had
fled there for safety who stood with heads uncovered and their hats in their
hands until our brigade had passed them. When we arrived at Philadelphia
the mob was dispersed, two of the leaders having been taken and sentenced to be
shot but were subsequently reprieved.”
On Sept. 3, 1783, The United
States and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris. In the fall Rogers returned
to West Point where he remained, except for a 3-4 week furlough in November
1783, until he was discharged about the first of May 1784.
Unlike his brother Joel, Rogers
never was in battle with the British nor the Indians. He was never forced to
run the gauntlet. He was not a prisoner of war. Yet both brothers served their
country during the American Revolution.
Source of information: Revolutionary War pension records for Rogers Savage and Joel Savage.
Source of information: Revolutionary War pension records for Rogers Savage and Joel Savage.
