My great-great-great grandfather was born in 1760 and joined Gen Washington when he was still 15 in 1776. He was captured by the British while trying to rescue one of the American soldiers, was put on a prison ship and contracted small-pox. But he lived and raised a family and died in 1841 at the age of 81.
One of my ancestors was Ethan Allen. My great grandmother’s maiden name was Allen.
My GGGGrandfather (I don’t remember how many greats — about 9) was a Col. in VA and already middle aged during the War. He had already achieved his rank in the Fr. & Indian War. I don’t know if he actually fought battles during the RW, but he was a member of the Committees of Correspondance and was the Sheriff of his community periodically and sometimes a judge. (No such thing as life time elected office in those days.) As far as I know, no portrait exists of him, but I’ve visited his plantation and the family graveyard i a remote area of VA.
His detailed 1785 will raises questions in my mind. In it he mentions a “grave illness” that was haunting his household, including the slaves. Smallpox? That disease spread rampant after the war from returning solders at about that time. We’ll never know.
As far as family records show, he was the only one who died, although there are no records of any slaves who might have died at about the same time. He was survived by his 2nd wife. He had already settled his inheritance on the sons of his first wife when they moved to Kentucky to settle lands he owned there and their daughter who was already married. So the 2nd wife and younger chldren inherited the VA plantation.
He had received title to his VA land from Geo. III and received title to the KY land as a reward for his service in the RW from Congress.
I have a great-great-great-great grandfather patriot who was also put on a prison ship in Brooklyn, and died there. Fortunately for me--he already had fathered my ancestor.
The British prison ships in NY harbor had utterly horendous conditions as bad as any concentration camp in WWII. More men--like my ancestor--died in those ships, over 10,000, than were killed in all the battles of the Revolution. They carelessly threw their bodies overboard, and their fate wasn't even discovered until human bones washed up on the shore of Brooklyn after the war.
People should recall such serious British cruelty when they get too chummy with our relatives across the pond....