These pictures are of our remaining Revolutionary War soldiers. If you missed Part 1, check it out here!

 

Peter Mackintosh was 16 years old and working as an apprentice in Boston on the night of December 16, 1773. Even in his old age, he remembered seeing men headed for the Boston Tea Party that night. The Boston Tea Party was the event that propelled the new country into war with England. Mackintosh later served in the Continental Artillery as a craftsman. I’m not sure about the marks on Mackintosh’s face and head. I can’t tell if the picture is slightly damaged or if there was some kind of abnormal growth there.

 

William Hutchings enlisted at the age 15 in New York. He was born on October 6, 1764. Libras are known to be very pleasant people. He was taken prisoner but the British were sensitive to his age and released him. Possibly Hutchings was able to charm the British officers.

 

Lemuel Cook was born in 1759, when Connecticut was still a British colony. He enlisted at age 16, and was a witness to the British general Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown, which achieved independence for the new world. He received an honorable discharge signed by George Washington himself on June 12, 1784. After the war, Cook went home and became a farmer. He married Hannah Curtis and they had seven sons and three daughters.

Having survived the Revolutionary War and seen the end of the Civil War, Cook died at the age of 106. It’s hard to believe he is 105 years old in this picture. He looks very strong!

 

Simeon Hicks was a Minuteman from Massachusetts. He served several short enlistments and fought in the Battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777.

 

Samuel Downing enlisted in July of 1780, at age 16. He served as a private from New Hampshire and was at the Battle of Saratoga when British General Burgoyne was defeated. His rank as a private did not seem impressive enough to his admirers back in his community. For the remainder of his life, they called him Captain Downing as a mark of their respect. At the time his picture was made, he was 102. Downing lived until the age of 105.

 

Daniel Spencer was born in 1761. He enlisted in 1777 and served as a member of the elite Dragoons and saw some action in the war. Spencer was granted a pension which was soon revoked, leaving him in dire straits financially. Here is his signature from his pension file.

 

Happily, his pension was eventually restored.

 

 

Dr. Eneas Munson, who sometimes spelled his first name “Aeneas” and his last name “Monson,” was commissioned as a surgeon’s mate when he was 16 years old in Col. Swift’s 7th CT Continental. Dr. Munson had a Forrest Gump-like ability to show up at important locations with famous people. He knew Nathan Hale and, in 1781, he was with George Washington and Alexander Hamilton.
Dr. Munson gave up medicine after the war but enjoyed reminiscing about his days in the service as a teenage officer.

 

Daniel Frederick Bakeman (sometimes written Bochman) was born on October 9, 1759, in New York. There was some controversy as to whether he was truly a veteran. Bakeman was known as an honest man so maybe there was nothing in that.

He was unlucky, though. He was the victim of three house fires, one of which burned up his military records and cast a cloud of suspicion on whether he really did serve. He doesn’t look over 100 years old but some people age well. If he was truthful, he was the longest-surviving veteran of the American Revolution. Bakeman lived to be 109 years old.

Thinking back to the comments about people born in the 1700s, did you notice how many of these older gentlemen had long hair? By the time these pictures were taken, that was no longer the fashion for men. These old soldiers still look very dignified.