“This company had been instructed in military manoeuvres by an English deserter who is still living in H____” - What Became of George Marsden after 1775?

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.”

"Blocked Our Harbor Up" - Essex County, the Royal Navy and Harassment of the Coastline in 1775

Recently, the Nerds were asked about Essex (MA) County’s reaction to Royal Navy activity along its coast in the aftermath of the Battle of Bunker Hill, and to whether the skirmish in Gloucester in August 1775 was an isolated event or part of a larger operation to harass the Massachusetts coastline.

After the Battle of Bunker Hill, British officials in Boston believed that several coastal towns, such as Salem to the north, Beverly, Ipswich, Newburyport, and Gloucester, served as supply hubs for the American forces surrounding Boston. As a result, these towns became key targets for British naval attacks and landings. To interrupt American supply routes, Vice Admiral Samuel Graves of the Royal Navy commanded Captain John Linzee of the fourteen-gun sloop HMS Falcon to "to put to Sea as soon as possible in his Majesty’s Sloop under your Command and cruise between Cape Cod and Cape Ann in order to carry into Execution the late Acts for restraining the Trade of the Colonies And to seize and send to Boston all Vessels with Arms Ammunition, Provisions, Flour, Grain, Salt, Melasses, Wood, &c &c.”

 

Essex County was understandably on edge from threats at sea and from local militia, and alarm-list companies were constantly on alert. Less than two weeks after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Salem, Marblehead, Newburyport and York (ME), petitioned the Massachusetts Provincial Congress “that the long line of sea coast was without adequate defence; that armed vessels were hovering about the ports, ready to turn their cannon upon the villages of the shore; that the people were exhausted by strenuous exertions in the common cause; and praying for reinforcement of men, and supplies of arms and ammunition.” 

The next day, the Congress resolved “That it be, and it hereby is earnestly recommended to the committees of the sea port towns in the county of Essex, that they use their utmost endeavors to have all the effects of the inhabitants of their respective towns removed as soon as possible, that the Congress highly approves of the conduct of said towns in wearing a pacific ap- pearance until their effects shall be secured, that the Congress consider it as absolutely necessary for said inhabitants to be in readiness to go into the country on the shortest notice, and to avoid mixing with our enemies.”

Of course, Essex County’s fears were not unfounded. In May, the New England Chronicle reported, “The Town of Salem, and other Parts of the County of Essex, were alarmed last Tuesday Morning by the Appearance, off Salem Harbour, of 2 or 3 armed Vessels, supposed to be on some hostile Design. A large Body of Men immediately assembled, But nothing extraordinary being attempted by the Enemy, the People dispersed, after taking some necessary Measures for their future Safety.” Marblehead resident Ashley Bowen noted in his journal how the Royal Navy was constantly harassing the seaport town, including an occasion when the HMS Merlin “blocked our harbor up.” In Newburyport, residents were rattled upon learning that a detachment of British sailors and officers from the HMS Scarborough rowed into Newburyport Harbor under the cover of darkness to scout the town’s defensive capabilities. According to the Essex Journal, “last Tuesday evening (May 23), a barge belonging to the man of war lying at Portsmouth, rowing up and down the river to make discoveries with two small officers and six seamen.” In early August, the commanding officer of the HMS Scarborough, then anchored off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, recommended that Newburyport be bombarded. Admiral Graves admitted such an operation was unlikely only due to the lack of ships. “I observe what you say about Newbury; that place and all others indeed require to be strictly attended to, but where are the Ships?”

The Royal Navy’s aggressive actions only inflamed the country’s growing fear of potential and actual raids. The Reverend Daniel Fuller of Gloucester noted that a false rumor of British troops landing in Beverly sparked panic throughout the region. “Rode to Middleton in Company with Israel Eveleth, met an Alarm upon Cheboffet Causeway, it was said a Body of Regular Troops were landed & landing at West Beach Beverle.” The minister also noted that many communities, including his own, were heeding the advice of the Provincial Congress and moving valuables, food supplies, and livestock inland so as to avoid capture. “People in this Parish chiefly employed in removing Household Furniture and Provision of all kinds from ye Harbours to this Place.” By mid July, Massachusetts officials finally relented and agreed to allow companies of soldiers fromcoastal communities serving at the Siege of Boston to return home to construct fortifications and protect their towns.

The Falcon was no stranger to these raids and had already captured the attention of the Massachusetts colonists by participating in the bombardment of American forces during the Battle of Bunker Hill. It had now turned its focus to coastal Essex County. Throughout the months of June and July, the Falcon cruised the New England coastline, often anchoring off of Portsmouth and dispatching sailors and marines to seize unattended coastal guns and forage for supplies. On August 5, 1775, HMS Falcon entered Ipswich Bay and anchored at the mouth of the Annisquam River. Captain Linzee promptly dispatched a landing party to seize sheep from a nearby pasture to provide the ship with mutton. Major Peter Coffin, a local farmer, suspected British intentions and quickly alerted the laborers on his land and neighboring residents. Armed with muskets, the small group took up concealed positions behind the dunes and opened fire as the ship’s boat approached. Believing a full company of militia lay in wait, the British officer leading the landing party abandoned the mission and returned to the Falcon empty-handed.

On the eve of the Battle of Gloucester, the HMS Falcon patrolled the waters off Cape Ann, seeking to capture colonial merchant ships bound for Salem or Newburyport. On August 8th, Captain Linzee spotted two schooners, likely from the West Indies, en route to Salem. He seized one as a prize and chased the other into Gloucester Harbor, where the fleeing vessel ran aground near Five Pound Island. The unusual sight quickly drew the attention of Gloucester residents, who soon saw the British warship towing a captured schooner. Recognizing the danger, the town meeting house began ringing its alarm bells, summoning the militia to assemble. Despite lacking cannons and having a very limited supply of powder and ammunition, the residents managed to mount a pair of swivel guns on makeshift carriages and position them for defense. 

 

It is unclear whether Gloucester's civilians fled the approaching fight or remained as spectators. In a letter to John Murray, Gloucester resident Judith Sargent noted that a week before the engagement, the Royal Navy schooner HMS Hope anchored in the harbor. A panic quickly set in, and the town’s militia and alarm lists assembled. According to Sargent, “You wish for some particulars relative to our publick affairs, and indeed they have somewhat varied since you left us — Upon the day of your departure, the arrival of a schooner belonging to his Britannick Majesty, threw our people into great alarm — Immediately the drums beat to arms, the [bells] sounded portentously, and the streets were filled with the goods of the terrified inhabitants — [Families] running up and down, throwing abroad their hands, the most heart affecting distress visible in their almost frantic gestures, when to heighten the misery of the scene.” Unlike other accounts of civilian evacuation during the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Sargent’s account notably does not mention whether civilians fled to the Essex interior when the Hope anchored off of Gloucester’s coast. Similarly, there are no civilian accounts documenting a flight on the day the Falcon attacked.

Undeterred by the alarm bells, Linzee ordered his ship into Gloucester’s harbor. He quickly seized a nearby dory belonging to fisherman William Babson and ordered him to pilot the Falcon into the harbor. The captain warned that if Babson did anything “to let the ship strike bottom, I will shoot you on the spot.” The sloop anchored between Stage Head and Ten Pound Island, dispatching three whaleboats carrying thirty-six sailors and marines toward the grounded schooner.

As the naval boats closed in on the grounded vessel and began to board, musket fire from the shore killed three sailors and wounded a lieutenant in the thigh. The barges withdrew with their casualties, leaving much of the boarding party behind on the schooner. In response, Linzee sent the previously captured schooner, now manned by a British prize crew, along with several small boats, all ordered to fire on any “damned rebel” within range. He also ordered a cannonading of the town by the Falcon in an attempt to draw attention away from the schooner, but “the Rebels paid very little Attention to the firing from the Ship.”

While the boarding party was still pinned down on the schooner, Linzee sent a landing party to set fire to the town. “I made an Attempt to set fire to the Town of Cape Anne and had I succeeded I flatter myself would have given the Lieutt an Opportunity of bringing a Schooner off, or have left her by the Boats, as the Rebels' attention must have been to the fire. But an American, part of my Complement, who has always been very active in our cause, set fire to the Powder before it was properly placed; Our attempt to fire the Town therefore not only failed, but one of the men was blown up and the American deserted.” Enraged, Linzee dispatched yet another landing party with orders to burn the town by torching the fish flakes. However, Gloucester militiamen quickly swarmed the landing party and took them prisoner. As Linzee would bitterly report, “A second Attempt was made to set fire to the Town, but did not succeed.”

At four o’clock in the afternoon, Linzee made one final push to seize the schooner and rescue his captured sailors. As several boats closed on their targets, the Falcon continued to pour broadsides into the fishing village. Surprisingly, the militiamen did not yield. As Gloucester’s Reverend Daniel Fuller recalled, “Lindsey, Capt of a man of war, fired it is supposed near 300 Shot at the Harbor Parish. Damaged ye meeting House Somewhat, Some other buildings, not a Single Person killed or wounded with his Cannon Shot.”

A wounded officer and a few men were rescued from the grounded schooner. The rest of the crew, including several impressed Americans, were eventually captured or rescued by Gloucester militiamen. By 7 p.m., all the British small boats had been seized. In a last attempt to recover his men, Linzee sent the prize schooner into the harbor. However, he later believed that the original crew had taken the chance to overpower the British prize crew and retake the vessel. As Linzee explained, “After the master was landed, I found I could not do him any good, or distress the rebels by firing, therefore I left off.” Linzee and the Falcon remained off Cape Ann until the next morning and then sailed back to Boston.

The ship-to-shore engagement resulted in a decisive American victory. Gloucester's men recaptured both schooners and took thirty-five British sailors, several wounded, with one dying shortly afterward. Twenty-four of the captured men were sent initially to the “Ipswich Gaol” and then ultimately transferred to an American prison camp in Cambridge. At the same time, local sailors who had been previously impressed into the British Navy were released and allowed to return home.Captain Linzee's failed raid on Gloucester significantly influenced later British naval reprisals. In October 1775, Admiral Graves ordered Captain Henry Mowat of HMS Canceaux to punish several New England coastal towns, including Gloucester, when her ordered “If possible first go to Cape Anne where Rebels thought it proper to fire upon the Falcon and where they took her Officers and Crew, and sent Prisoners in the Country.”. Although Gloucester was among the targets, Mowat chose not to attack it, concluding that the town's spread-out buildings made bombardment ineffective. Instead, his decision to burn Falmouth, now Portland, Maine, was crucial in motivating the Continental Congress to create the Continental Navy.

"No. 16, passing into possession of Thomas Hancock" - How Many Hancock Souls Were Laid to Rest in Tomb 16?

Today the Nerds are once again joined by historian and blogger Jess Bruce, who continues her fascinating investigation into one of Boston’s most famous and surprisingly complicated burial sites: the Hancock family tomb in the Granary Burying Ground. Jess has been hard at work untangling the documentary and physical evidence surrounding Tomb 16, and in her latest post, she tackles a deceptively simple question with major historical implications: just how many members of the Hancock family are actually buried there?

You can read her original and very detailed post at the link here.

To understand why this question matters, you first have to appreciate the setting.

Boston’s Granary Burying Ground, established in 1660, is one of the city’s most historically dense landscapes. Within its walls lie the remains of Revolutionary icons such as Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Paul Revere, and James Otis, along with thousands of ordinary Bostonians whose lives made the city what it is. Although only about 2,300 markers are visible today, many more people are buried beneath the ground and inside its tombs.

Tomb No. 16, commonly known as the Hancock family tomb, has long been identified as the final resting place of Governor John Hancock, a prominent first signer of the Declaration of Independence. While this association is accurate, the tomb was originally constructed as a family vault intended for use by multiple generations. The identities and interment dates of those buried within have been the subject of ongoing confusion, speculation, and historical inaccuracies.

In her new post, Jess does what good historians do: she goes back to the records.

Drawing on archival material and a detailed burial index compiled with the help of a FindAGrave contributor, she reconstructs a list of known and likely interments connected to the Hancock and Scott families. Based on surviving documentation, 15 coffins have been confirmed as placed in Tomb 16. Two additional individuals, Captain James Scott Jr. and Elizabeth Lowell Hancock, are very likely candidates as well, though the evidence for them is indirect. If they are included, the total rises to seventeen.

The list of those buried in the tomb reads like a compressed family history of the Hancocks. Alongside John Hancock himself are his brother, Ebenezer Hancock; his tragically young son, John George Washington Hancock; and a range of relatives stretching into the nineteenth century, including John Hancock II, Elizabeth Lowell Hancock Moriarty, and siblings such as Charles Lowell Hancock and George Hancock. What emerges is not merely a list of names but a multi-generational story of a prominent Boston family whose private lives unfolded alongside the public history of the new nation.

A particularly compelling piece of evidence presented by Jess is an 1883 sketch of the tomb’s interior, depicting 12 coffins stacked within the vault, with the smallest, believed to belong to Hancock’s young son, placed on top. This image serves as a powerful visual reminder that these tombs functioned not as abstract monuments but as tangible spaces, continually filled and revisited over time, shaped by grief, family custom, status, and reputation.

Jess’s work is particularly valuable because it demonstrates that even the most prominent figures in American history are subject to uncertainty, assumptions, and oversimplification. Upon closer examination, the Hancock tomb emerges as more than a tourist destination; it serves as a case study in familial remembrance, the preservation and loss of records, and the meticulous effort required to transform legend into history. For those interested in Revolutionary Boston, burial grounds, or the investigative process of historical research, Tomb 16 proves to be significantly more complex and populated than it initially appears.