Captain David Brown's Company

Entered the Contest at Concord.
Names from George Tolman's list.
-- Frank Warren Coburn, The Battle of April 19, 1775 p. 8-9.

PART ONE: The Muster Roll

Captain: David Brown
Lieutenant: David Wheeler
Lieutenant: Silas Man
Sergeant: Abishai Brown
Sergeant: Emerson Cogswell
Sergeant: Amos Wood
Corporal: Amos Barrett
Corporal: Stephen Barrett
Corporal: Reuben Hunt
Corporal: Stephen Jones
Drummer: None listed
Fifer: John Buttrick, Jr.
Privates: Phineas Alin [Allen]
Privates: Humphrey Barret, Jr.
Privates: Elias Barron
Privates: Jonas Bateman
Privates: John Brown, Jr.
Privates: Jonas Brown
Privates: Purchase Brown
Privates: Abiel Buttrick
Privates: Daniel Buttrick
Privates: Oliver Buttrick
Privates: Tilly Buttrick
Privates: Willard Buttrick
Privates: William Buttrick
Privates: Daniel Cray
Privates: Amos Davis
Privates: Abraham Davis
Privates: Joseph Davis, Jr.
Privates: Joseph Dudley
Privates: Charles Flint
Privates: Edward Flint
Privates: Edward Flint, Jr.
Privates: Nathan Flint
Privates: Ezekiel Hagar
Privates: Isaac Hoar
Privates: David Hubbare [Hubbard]
Privates: John Laughton
Privates: David Melvin, Jr.
Privates: William Mercer
Privates: John Minot, jr.
Privates: Thomas Prescott
Privates: Bradbury Robinson
Privates: Ebenezer Stowe
Privates: Thomas Thurston
Privates: Joatham Wheeler
Privates: Peter Wheeler
Privates: Zachary Wheeler
Privates: Ammi White
Privates: John White
Privates: Jonas Whitney
Privates: Aaron Wright

Comment 1

As with the other extant muster roll, there appears to be no geographical locus for the companies. Though there are three companies of regular militia, they do not at present seem to be made up of residents located in one of Concord's traditional three quarters. Places of residence for all members as well as for the officers must be established.

PART TWO: Biographies and Genealogies

DAVID BROWN
Captain.

DAVID WHEELER
Private.

SILAS MAN
Lieutenant.
The enlisted men's first choice as captain under the revised 1776 selection procedures, Man was vetoed by the Governor's Council in favor of Thomas Barrett. "The twenty-nine-year-old Man had been nearly propertyless only two years before the war, and there is no sign that he gained an estate by the time of his election. What the Council did not know, however, was that Silas apparently had connections with the Barretts. In 1782 he would marry Colonel Barrett's niece and shortly be one of the wealthier gentlemen in town." [Gross, Minutemen 151-2] On reaching age twenty-one in December 1767, Silas paid a "full and compleat and Honourable Treat: to Hepzibah and Joseph Barrett and Persis Blood. Perhaps he was a ward or apprentice of the Barretts." [Gross Minutemen 229 citing Shattuck, Old Concord Docs.]

ABISHAI BROWN
Sergeant.
A farmer who was voted onto the town's committee of correspondence in March 1777 for what turned out to be one term. Displeased with how the "natural" leaders had handled price controls, the town voted out all previous members. Still displeased in March 1778, the town voted most of the old members back onto the committee. [Gross, Minutemen 161.]

EMERSON COGSWELL
Sergeant.
An Ipswich born tanner who's nineteen-year old brother James was both a private in htis company and Emerson's apprentice. [Gross, Minutemen 71.] This apprenticeship was apparently recorded at General Sessions, Middlesex County, vol. ? (1761-1771) p. 54 as cited by Gross, Minuteman 204.

AMOS WOOD
Sergeant.

AMOS BARRETT
Corporal.

STEPHEN BARRETT
Corporal.

REUBEN HUNT
Corporal.

STEPHEN JONES
Corporal.

JOHN BUTTRICK JR
Fifer.

PHINEAS ALIN [ALLEN]
Private.

HUMPHREY BARRETT JR
Private.

ELIAS BARRON
Private.

JONAS BATEMAN
Private.

JOHN BROWN JR
Private.

JONAS BROWN
Private.

PURCHASE BROWN
Private.

ABIEL BUTTRICK
Private.

DANIEL BUTTRICK
Private.

OLIVER BUTTRICK
Private.

TILLY BUTTRICK
Private.

WILLARD BUTTRICK
Private.

WILLIAM BUTTRICK
Private.

DANIEL CRAY
Private.

AMOS DAVIS
Private.

ABRAHAM DAVIS
Private.

JOSEPH DAVIS JR
Private.

JOSEPH DUDLEY
Private.

CHARLES FLINT
Private.

EDWARD FLINT
Private.

EDWARD FLINT JR
Private.

NATHAN FLINT
Private.

EZEKIEL HAGAR
Private.

ISAAC HOAR
Private.

DAVID HUBBARE [HUBBARD]
Private.

JOHN LAUGHTON
Private.

DAVID MELVIN JR
Private.

WILLIAM MERCER
Private.

JOHN MINOT JR
Private.

THOMAS PRESCOTT
Private.

BRADBURY ROBINSON
Private.
As "Brabry Robson", he was part of the third group to subscribe to the Two-Month "Seige of Boston" Company raised in Concord about 25 November 1775 [Link to Siege Company Page.]

EBENEZER STOWE
Private.

THOMAS THURSTON
Private.

JOATHAM WHEELER
Private.

PETER WHEELER
Private.

ZACHARY WHEELER
Private.

AMMI WHITE
Private.
Twenty-one year old Ammi was the young man reputed to have struck with an ax a British soldier severely wounded at the North Bridge fight, thus killing him. [Gross, Minuteman 127]

Ruth Wheeler in 1967 told the story thusly: "Ammi White moved to Concord as a young man and was in Captain David Brown's Minute company. {NOTE: Brown's company was one of the town's regular militia units and not one fo special "minute" companies.] In 1788, he married Mary Minot and lived in one end of the Minot family house which is now the Colonial Inn. They had five children before 1800 and them moved to Westmoreland< New Hampshire, where his gravestone, somewhat more pretentious than its neighbors, says he died in 1820, aged 66. This gives his age in 1775 as 21 or 22. It appears that the British soldier, left for dead by his comrades, was given the coup de grace by a soldier in the heat of battle, a somewhat less horrible story than the whispered gossip or the loud accusations of 1775." [Wheeler, Concord 228.] All versions of the story agee that one of the wounded British soldiers mad some sort of movement that the young American soldier interpreted as threatening, and the American responded by killing the British soldier with a blow to the head with a hand-held weapon.

Ammi went on to join the Continental Line. In support of his Pension Application he submitted his War Journal (W18402, NARA cited by Gross, Minutmen 230). One of the many eye-opening experiences he recorded was being stationed in New York in 1776, where "he experienced greater religious diversity within a month than Concord offered in his lifetime. He could attend Presbyterian services one week, a Low Dutch Church the next, and a Baptist meeting soon after, hearing there "a very good Sermon". [Gross, Minuteman 169-70.]

JOHN WHITE
Private.

JONAS WHITNEY
Private.

AARON WRIGHT
Private.

Updated 7/27/07.

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