Sergeant John B Brown, Rev.

A Patriot of the American Revolution for MASSACHUSETTS with the rank of SERGEANT. DAR Ancestor # A015578

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In 1756, John with his brother, Perley #13, volunteered in an expedition to Crown Point (NY) and 1756-1757 to Fort William Henry (now restored at Lake George Village, NY). As a Minute Man from Leicester, he responded to the Lexington alarm of April 19, 1775, then signed up for eight months with the militia. With the rank of Sergeant in Capt. Seth Washburn's Company under Col. Jonathan Ward's Massachusetts Regiment, John with his company which included his brothers, Perley and William, set out for Boston April 20th (see Appendix page 308). While fighting at the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775), John, during a retreat, was seriously wounded by a musket ball which passed through his left thigh near the bone and by another ball which struck his right heel just above his shoe and, passing the length of his foot, came out under the toe next to his little toe disabling him from walking. Emory Washburn in his History of Leicester, 1860, page 306, states "The captain of the company who was the last to leave the ground, finding him [John] in this condition, and being an athletic though not a large man, took the wounded man under one arm, and his musket (with his own) in the other, and carried him till he was out of immediate danger. He there left him and hurried on till he overtook Brown's brother, Perley, and Jonathan Sargent (another of the company), and sent them back for the wounded man whom they brought off in safety." Severely wounded and unable to make the journey to a hospital or his home, he remained at a nearby residence to recuperate. According to his son, Samuel's, pension record, Samuel came from Leicester on the 19th or 20th to care for his father and remained with him until about October when he was able to make the trip home. In April, 1777, the General Court of Massachusetts awarded John a pension of 20 shillings a month for his crippling wounds and in 1786 the newly formed nation awarded him pension #S.9718. John resided in the southwestern part of the town of Leicester and his enlistment papers state he was 5' 10" with light complexion. In September, 1796, John and his family along with several other family members left for the Northwest Territory (NWT, later Ohio), see Appendix page 314. After stopping at Marietta a while John and his family settled ten miles up the Muskingum River in Adams township, Washington Co., NWT. The Dodge-Devol Cemetery where John Brown and his two wives are buried is located in Adams township, Washington Co., OH, near Equity Station. The cemetery sets some distance from the south side of the road in a field and is unnoticeable from the road. The assistance of a local resident may be needed to locate this cemetery. In front of John Brown's stone in 1986 was an SAR marker "John Brown 1734-1821" with a flag. When facing the stones, Elizabeth's is on the left and Rebecca's on the right of John's stone, Rebecca's stone is almost obscure with time but John's and Elizabeth's are both clearly legible

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• Residence: Adams, Washington, Ohio, United States - 1820
  • Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Jun 23 2022, 10:13:36 UTC