ROGERS SAVAGE

A CONTINENTAL SOLDIER 

WHO SERVED NEAR THE END OF THE REVOLTION

3rd great grandfather of Jessie Larson

My 3rd great grandfather, Rogers Savage, first enlisted in the New York Militia as an eager 17-year-old in July 1781; however, he did not serve at this time.  Instead, his 19-year-old brother Joel was persuaded to take his place during which time Joel was captured by Indians, taken to Fort Niagara where he was twice forced to run the gauntlet, and was held captive for 15 months–first in a dungeon and later on an island above Montreal–until he was released by the British in a prisoner exchange on 28 November 1782. 

Five months before his release, in June 1782, now-18-year-old  Rogers enlisted in the Continental Army at Richmond, Massachusetts. His Revolutionary War Pension Application tells of his two-year military experience which, luckily for him, did not involve fighting, being captured, running the gauntlet, nor being held prisoner.

[Note: Rogers’ writing in his pension application is here separated into paragraphs for ease in reading.] 

“On or about the first of June 1782 I enlisted as a soldier at Richmond, Berkshire Co., Mass for the term of three years and immediately marched to Springfield, Mass where I was mustered by Captain Bannister (given name not recollected) an officer sent from the regular or Continental Army for that purpose, and after drilling sometime at that place we were ordered to march for West Point. 

“When we arrived there Capt John Kilby Smith, being muster master for the Massachusetts line, took me into his Company and the remainder of the new [recruits] were ordered to different companies and regiments. I served in the sixth Massachusetts Regiment commandeered by Col Smith until the next arrangement took place that year when we marched to Verplanks Point where we were when a part of the French Army marched through that place. 

“In the fall of the same year, we received orders to march back to New Windsor [state of New York] and erect huts for Winter Quarters. We lay in time until we finished the huts for officers and soldiers. Then we erected a large building for meetings and a conference house for the officers. 

“We remained at this place until the news of the treaty of peace1 arrived when there was great rejoicing, and those who had enlisted for during the war was discharged upon six months furlough. This produced a decampment in the line and Col. Tupper took the command of the regiment to which I was attached. Shortly after we received orders to march to West Point where Col. Sprout was appointed to the command of the regiment to which I belonged. 

“We soon after received orders to march to Philadelphia as some of the Southern troops attempted violence on Congress and proceeded to break open the Bank to obtain their pay. 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. 

“In the fall (1783) we returned to West Point where my captain John K Smith left the army and Capt Jackson, Christian name not recollected, commanded the company to which I belonged until I was discharged which I think was about the first of May 1784. I received a written discharge but do not know what has become of it. I know of no person living by whom I can prove any part of my service except my brother Joel Savage whose affidavit is hereunto annexed. 

“I was born at Middletown Connecticut in the 14th day of May 1764. It appears from a record of my age in an old family bible now in possession of one of my sons, and also in the Presbyterian Church at Middletown in which I was baptized. 

“I resided at West Point about 2 years after my discharge when I remove to Lake Champlain with the French refuges where I remained a short time and removed to Canaan NY at which place and Argyle, Washington Co I remained until 1800 since which time I have resided at different places where any business as a mechanic has called me until the month of May last when I removed to Mexico Oswego Co where I now reside. I am acquainted with several persons in the neighborhood where I now reside who can testify as to my character for truth and veracity and their belief of my services in the revolution, among whom is Isaiah Kuln [or Keeler?] a clergyman with whom I have been well acquainted for the last thirty years, and William Goit whose affidavits are hereunto annexed. I hereby relinquish every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present, and declare that my name is not on the Pension Roll of the agency of any state.”

Rogers Savage

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“Joel Savage of the town of Mexico in said county being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that in the year 1781 he joined the regiment under the command of Col. Willet as a four-months man during which four months he was taken captive by the Indians and Tories and was absent in Canada or from home 16 months, 15 of which he was in close confinement or prison in Canada.

 “That on his return home he understood that his brother Rogers Savage had enlisted for three years in the Sixth Regiment of the Massachusetts line, commanded by Col. Smith and Company of Capt. John Kelby [sic] Smith, according to the best of his recollection. Believed his brother Rogers enlisted in the summer of 1782—the summer this deponent was absent in Canada.

 “That in the Spring of 1783 he visited his brother Rogers at the Cantonment of huts back of New Windsor in the state of New York for the purpose of obtaining his discharge, but which he was not able to procure.

 “That in the November following he found his said brother with his regiment at West Point and obtained a furlough for him for three or four weeks.

“His brother returned to the Army on the expiration of his furlough and was discharged, as this deponent believed, the following Spring and remained at West Point two or three years after.

(signed) Joel Savage

20th day of Sept 1833”

 

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1 After the British defeat at Yorktown, peace talks in Paris began in April 1782 between Great Britain and Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams. The preliminary articles of peace were signed on 30 November 1782. This is likely the “treaty of peace” referenced by Rogers Savage and when Joel Savage was released. The Treaty of Paris which formally ended the war was not signed until September 3, 1783. The Continental Congress ratified it January 14, 1784.

Joel & Rogers Savage: brothers with very different Revolutionary War Experiences

JOEL & ROGERS SAVAGE: BROTHERS 

WITH DIFFERING REVOLUTIONARY WAR EXPERIENCES

 Brothers Joel and Rogers Savage both served as privates in the Army while in their teens during the Revolutionary War. They had very different experiences from each other.

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.