Groton and the Revolutionary War
Groton’s Revolutionary War tablet on Sawyer Common lists 319 individuals who participated in the Revolution. But who were they? What are their stories? And how can we make their names more accessible? To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, a SoldierWalk was installed in Georgie’s Garden at the Boutwell House. Over thirty signs lined the main pathway. They listed names of those from Groton who were involved in the war and featured stories of some of those individuals.
Disclaimer
Multiple sources were referenced to compile this list of Groton men who served in the Revolutionary War, including the memorial located at Groton’s Gold Star Park, Samuel A. Greene’s Groton During the Revolution, and Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. Our first step in the process was to transcribe the 317 names found on the memorial and compare them with brief biographical accounts of Grotonians involved in the war which were assembled by members of the Groton chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in the early 20th century. This process yielded additional names and stories of individual patriots from Groton who contributed to the revolution. We then referenced Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, a seventeen volume compilation of muster rolls, pay rolls, company and regimental returns, descriptive lists, orderly books, account books, and other documents which form the state Revolutionary War archives. In order to utilize this valuable resource, we keyword searched for all mentions of the town of Groton in the books and reviewed each instance. Many of the entries duplicate names from other entries. In order to address these, we consolidated similar names, including when multiple spellings appeared for the same name. In this process, we included only those names where the individual’s residence was identified as being Groton or the individual appeared in our other sources. Since many entries in these volumes include no information about the residence of their subject, it is likely that the stories of other Groton residents who served in the Revolutionary War are present yet undiscovered. Additionally, we utilized Samuel A. Greene’s Groton During the Revolution to add further names of Groton men who participated in the war.
After assembling the list, we reviewed it to eliminate duplicate names, including names of divergent spellings that likely referred to the same individual. We standardized the spelling of last names based on entries in Elinor Skeate’s The Groton Register: A Record of the Families of Groton, MA. Shortened first names have likewise been expanded to their full versions and the spelling of names corrected to a standardized form.
It is important to note that, due to the sources and methods used to compile this list, it includes individuals who served for the town of Groton but who were not necessarily born or living in Groton. It also includes men who participated in war activities, namely the march to Concord on April 15, 1775, but who may not ever have served in an organized company. Additionally, we cannot assume that the list is exhaustive, and, in fact, should assume it is not.
