Over the past 18 months, the Nerds have conducted battlefield tours, delivered lectures, published research articles, and advanced their work on the next book. A recurring topic during the 250th celebrations has been the development of Minute Man companies in the Merrimack Valley region of Northeast Massachusetts. A central figure in this discussion is George Marsden.
As previously noted, Marsden served as a grenadier in the 59th Regiment of Foot, which arrived in New England in 1768 and relocated to Nova Scotia by 1769. A muster roll from October 1770 indicates that Marsden was promoted to sergeant, but by 1774, he had been demoted to private for reasons that remain unknown. Regimental muster rolls show that on July 24, 1774, he deserted his regiment. Subsequently, Marsden fled to Haverhill and offered his expertise to local militia and minute companies as Massachusetts prepared for war with England. Soon, communities such as Haverhill, Methuen, Bradford, and Salisbury engaged Marsden's services. By the eve of Lexington and Concord, he had expanded his operations into the Province of Maine, training Minute companies in York, Biddeford, and Pepperell.
Marsden was a logical choice to train the minute companies due to his intelligence and extensive experience with the British army. Throughout late winter and early spring of 1775, several militia and minute companies collaborated with Marsden to prepare for conflict with the Crown.
It remains unknown whether Marsden participated alongside any of the minute companies he trained on April 19, 1775.
On May 19, 1775, Marsden appears on the muster roll of Colonel James Scamman's Massachusetts Regiment. He became the regimental adjutant and participated in the Battle of Bunker Hill. During a court-martial, Marsden testified against his regimental commander and described his role in the engagement: "Adjutant Marsden was sworn at the desire of the complainants and deposed that we were three-quarters of an hour on the little hill and continued about twenty minutes after we heard of the firing on the hill in Charlestown. I went half-way up Bunker’s hill with Col. Scammans when I left him and went to the breastwork, where I got before the enemy forced it; the confusion was so great when we got to Bunker’s-Hill we could not form the regiment."
Later in 1775, Marsden was commissioned as a lieutenant in Colonel William Prescott's Regiment. He married Wilmot Lee on November 25, 1775, in Medford, Massachusetts. According to research by J.L. Bell, Wilmot was a camp follower of the British Army and was born in Nova Scotia on January 21, 1757. It is likely that she met Marsden while he was stationed in Halifax between 1769 and 1774. Bell further theorizes that she may have influenced his decision to desert.
In 1776, Marsden continued to serve as an American officer, reportedly in Colonel William Prescott’s 7th Continental Regiment. According to Wilmot’s 1842 petition for her husband’s pension, Marsden was also “in the service and engaged at the capture of Burgoyne, which took place in 1777.”
Over the past century, several myths regarding Marsden’s military service and his wife’s lineage have emerged. These include assertions that he served as a staff officer under General George Washington, was a “close and personal” friend of the General, and that his wife was a sister of Richard “Light Horse” Harry Lee. None of these claims is supported by evidence, yet multiple historical markers in the New York region, including Marsden’s own gravestone. continue to perpetuate them.
After retiring from military service, the couple appears to have relocated from Haverhill to Medford, where they lived until 1798. They are believed to have moved to Maine before purchasing land near Oneida, New York, where they eventually settled. George Marsden reportedly lived until 1817, and his official grave site is at the Eckel Graveyard in Oneida, New York. Wilmot lived until 1850 and is buried beside her husband.
At this point, the historical narrative becomes … weird.
Recently, while preparing for a professional development session for Haverhill High teachers, the Nerds uncovered a reprint of an 1820 sermon by Bradford minister Gardner B. Perry. Entitled History of Bradford, Mass., from the earliest period to the close of 1820, by Gardner B. Perry, A. M. (as contained in his historical sermon delivered December 20, 1820), this document examines the history of Bradford from its settlement through the early nineteenth century. Bradford was originally a town adjacent to Haverhill and became part of the city in 1897.
In an appendix to his sermon, the Reverend Gardner described how a Bradford minute man company was trained by a British deserter, almost certainly Marsden, and asserted that he was alive and well in 1820. The minister further stated that Marsden was still residing in the neighboring community of Haverhill. Specifically, he wrote, “This company had been instructed in military manoeuvres by an English deserter who is still living in H____.”
The use of “H___” to obscure Marsden’s alleged location in Haverhill suggests that the minister may have feared British authorities would still attempt to apprehend the deserter, despite the conclusion of both the American Revolution and the War of 1812.
Perry’s statement implies that the Marsdens may have relocated to Haverhill after leaving Medford in 1798. While this may be plausible, the claim that Marsden was still alive and residing in the Merrimack Valley, rather than New York, in 1820 warrants further examination.
Several local residents have recently informed the Nerds that George Marsden died in the mid-1820s and is buried on private land near the Haverhill-Groveland line. These same local historians also claim that it was only after his death that his wife accompanied her eldest son to Oneida, where she spent the remaining years of her life and is now buried.
We are familiar with the general area referenced by these local residents, which contains several eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century private family burial plots and small cemeteries. Efforts are underway to corroborate this information, though there is skepticism regarding the claim and a suspicion that Reverend Perry may have been mistaken. Nevertheless, further research is planned, including examination of Haverhill tax valuations from 1798 to 1820 and other relevant documents, to assess the validity of Perry’s assertion.
The question of whether Marsden died in Haverhill or Oneida does not diminish his significant contributions on the eve of the American Revolution. As Perry observed, Marsden’s efforts to prepare Merrimack Valley men for the impending conflict with England were invaluable. At the Battle of Bunker Hill, Captain Nathaniel Gage of Bradford commanded a company of forty men from Bradford who had been trained by Marsden. During the engagement, the unit served as part of Colonel James Frye’s Regiment and was positioned inside the redoubt. Perry noted that Gage and his men were “in a place much exposed to the enemy, and yet not a life was lost.” He praised Marsden’s training and concluded that Gage’s Company “was one of the best disciplined and most effective companies engaged in that ever-memorable day.”
