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Daniel Robinson, Elite Patriot Soldier

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By Randolph R. Beebe © 22 June 2022

Occasionally, in the course of the study of a family's history, you run into the story of an individual that just begs to be retold; Private Daniel Robinson lived that kind of life. This is the unabridged story written in a first person format, prepared to be told to an assembly of his descendants at the July 2022 Kenneth Crocker Reunion:

Contents

The Story of Daniel Robinson

Hello, my name is Daniel Robinson and I have come here today to tell you my story. You don't know me, but you should.

I stand 5 feet 6 inches tall; I am light complected, with light eyes, and brown hair. [1]

My story begins with my birth and subsequent infant baptizism [2] on the 22nd of May 1757 at the First Congregational Church of Cromwell Connecticut, this being the church you would know as the Puritans. My dad was Amos Robinson Sr. (1711-bef.1791), and my mother was Lydia (Wentworth) Robinson (1724-aft.1791). The folks were from Topsfield, Massachusetts and had only recently moved to Cromwell, shortly before my baptism. I was one of thirteen children, but only eight of us lived long enough to become adults. A tough fact of my life but not uncommon in my day.

My childhood was like any other of my day we all worked hard to scratch out a living from our family farm, but it was a good life, and we were blessed with the freedoms and opportunities we, as the working class, now enjoyed on the New Continent, and as a young man my father taught me the skills of farmer and that of a blacksmith. [1]

Life in the Colonies had progressed from the primitive roots of the earliest settlements planted about one hundred and thirty years earlier. It was my great-grandfather John Robinson (1642-bef.1727) who had come to the Colonies from England in the early 1600's that had lived this wilderness frontier lifestyle. In my youth I recall the stories of my great grandad, who as a teen-aged soldier had been taken as a prisoner of war in the second English civil war; [3] he was exiled in chains across the Atlantic, and was sold, by the English Crown, into slavery in the New England Colonies; yet he overcame, and it is his fighting spirit that flows through my veins. The lives of us who followed were built on the accomplishments of the previous generations and were guided by the endless opportunities of freedom before us, bounded only by the self-imposed disciplines of our Christian values. So almost everyone was experiencing an ever improving lifestyle in this environment of freedom and we were happy, prospering, and delighted King George the third, and the English Crown had been remote and largely disinterested in the Colonies; British royalty remained a dirty word the Robinson clan.

But the winds of discontent had started blowing. In 1750, seven years before I was born, Rev Jonathan Mayhew preached a sermon against "Unlimited Submission" an idea which spawned the slogan “No Taxation without Representation” a phrase which became the catch phrase of rising discontent among my friends and neighbors. For over three generations we had developed our own way of life, and had never been to, nor had we been assisted by the mother country, thank you very much. And we were all increasingly annoyed and vexed by the ever escalating edicts of this foreign empire imposing their vision of European working class serfdom onto our lives; first by confining where we could live, then taxing our economy, conscripting our citizens, forcing us to house their army of oppressors, and by passing laws to restrict our freedom and forcing us to conform to their subjugation. Did the empire care about what we wanted or give us a voice in these dictates? Of course, not; the King was the King and he was exercising his Royal power to impose his Sovereign will, and for the all powerful King George the colonies had become a cow to be milked and the place of a commoner was to do his bidding.

By the time I was 18 years of age, the political environment had become a powder keg of discontent waiting for a match to ignite it. In 1775, the political divide between friends and neighbors was so deep and the tension so high you could cut it with a knife, (somewhat like what you are experiencing in your day) and sometimes it got really ugly. Everyone was forced to pick sides, and my family and I chose to embrace independence and freedom—it was largely the rich and power elite who profited from the English rule who became “Tories” and remained loyal to the king. So when the “shot heard round the world” was fired in Lexington on 19 April 1775 and ignited this powder keg of discontent, I was ready to join the fight to have a political voice and I answered the Lexington Alarm on the 19th of May 1775--the day I signed up with the Connecticut militia at Colchester. I was assigned to the company of Captain Hezekiah Holdridge, part of the 2nd Connecticut regiment of Col. Joseph Spencer Sr. and Lt. Col. Samuel Wyllys. [4] We dropped everything and marched off to Roxbury, Massachusetts post haste, where we were attached to the command of General John Thomas. In your time, this battle is better known as the Siege of Boston. Fifteen to twenty thousand minutemen, such as myself, appeared from all over New England and set up a blockade at Roxbury in order to pin down the British in the town of Boston. Roxbury, is a geographic choke point strategically located on the path between Boston and the mainland, and we had succeeded at cutting them off. But then they were the army of the most powerful kingdom in the world and also had the greatest Navy, and we had none; so on June 17, the British launched an sea-based assault on the peninsula of Charlestown to regain an alternate access to the mainland from their Boston headquarters. After a long and deadly battle, the British were able to defeat the Patriot forces defending Breed's Hill and the Charlestown peninsula, but their victory came at a at a high cost. On that day they suffered about 1000 casualties from their deployed army of 2200; and their officer corps was hit hard. Furthermore, they failed to break the land blockade adjoining Charlestown to the mainland and so they were still cut off from the mainland. So despite their victory at Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill, they failed to achieve the prime military objective of the assault which was to secure a land bridge access to the mainland; and they now knew that the cost of breaking out of Boston would carry a much higher than anticipated cost; it would require significant reinforcements of manpower and supplies before launching another assault.

1775: Roxbury & The Siege of Boston

When I first arrived at the Roxbury camp, it was a chaotic gathering of 15 to 20 thousand angry young men; but without a plan, leadership, nor military discipline. Consequently, the outpost quickly turned into a cesspool of human filth and disease, and it was devoid of the supplies, strategy, tactics, and structure needed to achieve the simplest of military objectives, let alone the dislodging of the entrenched and disciplined British army from Boston; it was more of a mob than an army. But then on July second General George Washington arrived on the battlefield and things began to change. Washington quickly reviewed the encampment, and was aghast with what he saw. He immediately set into motion a plan to turn this unruly mob into the first continental army, and within weeks rumors began to swirl within the camp that General Washington would take bold action and use his numbers superiority to attack and drive the British out of Boston. But alas it was not to be, as cooler heads in Washington's military council warned him that an attack would be a disaster; our army was untrained, undisciplined and our gunpowder supplies had nearly been depleted in the defense of Breed's Hill. And as is the case with all great leadership, Washington heeded the wise council.

The army slogan to hurry up and wait applied in my time just as is in does in yours, and wait we did, for eleven long months our blockade confined the British to their Boston outpost. In fact this siege went on so long that in December, my initial seven month enlistment term expired, as it did for most of the rest of the Continental army. Many chose to be discharged, took their leave, and returned to their civilian life, but I was in the fight to win; though it was beginning to look to me like this war was going to last for a long time. It was winter, supplies were short, and the conditions dreadful; but the need was great and the cause just; and so I re-enlisted for another one year term. In January, shortly after my re-enlistment, my regiment commander, Samuel Wyllys, was promoted to a full Colonel, and our unit was reorganized from the second Regiment of the Connecticut Militia, into the 22nd Regiment of the Continental Army and I was now part of a federal army under the command of General Sullivan.

1776: Battle of Dorchester Heights

In the end, Washington never faltered in his pursuit to aggressively push the British from Boston and eventually he and his war council hatched a plan that would give the Patriot army a strategic advantage in the coming battle. The plan was brilliant and daring; and it set the stage for my next assignment. The plan was to take over Dorchester Hill, adjacent to Roxbury, and build on it an offensive artillery site, which from the high ground above Boston, would provide sufficient artillery range to pick off the British ships in the harbor and enable us to cut off resupply to the British despite the fact that we did not have a defensive Navy. Meanwhile the British artillery in the low ground and in the harbor, would have insufficient range to the reach the installation on Dorchester Heights. There was just one problem with this plan, we didn't have the necessary artillery for the installation at Boston; even though we had acquired the necessary firepower from our March 1776 conquest of Fort Ticonderoga, in upper New York. Those munitions were 300 miles away; it would take a miracle to deliver them across the Berkshire Mountains to Boston in the dead of winter. Nevertheless, on 16 Nov 1775 Henry Knox left Boston with orders from General Washington to retrieve the cannons. Knox executed this mission with brilliant ingenuity, and with the help of God, he brought the Ticonderoga artillery into Roxbury on 25th of Jan 1776. It took another two months, another long story, for a sufficient supply of gunpowder to arrive, so that on the evening of March 4th, 1776; I, along with 2,500 other soldiers from the Roxbury camp, were deployed under the direction of Gen. Thomas to occupy, defend, and install two prefabricated heavy artillery fortifications on Dorchester Heights overlooking the city of Boston and it's harbor. After eleven long months of boredom, the action was exhilarating and terrifying as this offensive action was certain to provoke an immediate and deadly counteroffensive by the British, and from the body count at Breed's Hill we all knew what lie ahead. The installation was executed overnight, with utmost secrecy; if the British somehow managed to get wind of what we were doing and launch an assault before we were able to make an effective installation of the artillery fortifications, all would be lost. Every precaution imaginable was implemented, we installed stacks of hay along the road to Dorchester Heights to hide the movement on the road and absorb the noise of moving the 60 tons of artillery and the pre-fabricated "Chandeliers and Fascines" needed to build defensive walls for the artillery emplacements at the top of Dorchester Heights. Wagon wheels were covered with straw to dull the sound of the oxcarts going over the frozen ground, but we could not have completed our mission without the finger of God, for you see we were able to labor all night under bright moonlight, while the British, in their Boston outpost were shrouded in fog. The operation was executed perfectly, and on the morning of March fifth, British General Howe and his army awoke to "see not one, but two" fully-built forts, and a line of entrenchments, complete with cannon, built on the top of Dorchester Heights, overlooking their position in Boston. Howe, immediately ordered an artillery barrage on the newly placed heavy artillery, but quickly found that at his his lower elevation, the forts were out of range of his artillery, allowing the patriot artillery on the high ground to lob shots into the British outpost and their ships in the harbor unopposed. Grasping the implications of this new predicament, Howe then launched an expedition of 1,200 men to attack this new fortification, but once again the finger of God intervened because high winds prevented this expeditionary force from landing before the high tide began to recede. There was another high tide around midnight, but once again the hurricane winds returned and rendered an amphibious assault impossible. The next day the high winds and rain returned once again, giving us another 24 hours to fortify our positions; Howe sensing the gravity of his situation convened a war council which concluded that an assault on the Dorchester Heights would be a suicide mission, a mission which may have preserved his honor, but would have destroyed the strength of his army. This British war council concluded their position was now indefensible and advised that the only tenable action was to vacate Boston. Howe, then cautioned Washington that he would burn the city if the evacuation force was fired upon. So on March 17, 1776, Howe, his army of 11,000 troops and a contingent of 1000 Loyalists abandoned the city and the end of the beginning was over without a bloodbath. I was there, I saw it all, I watched the British sail out of Boston Harbor, I stood in harm's way to play my part in this victory, and I witnessed the finger of God acting on our behalf.

After Boston, Washington was convinced that the next British move would be to invade New York City in order to exploit that harbor facility needed to amplify their strategic Naval advantage; the British would need a major port for their transatlantic supply line and their colonial war operations and New York City was the obvious choice. With this understanding of the strategic importance of the city, Washington resolved to prevent the fall of the city. So in April 1776, we got our orders and made the 220 mile march to New York City, making it to the city in early May. We were then ordered to set up defensive positions around the City on Manhattan; General Sullivan's army, including my regiment under the command of Col. Wyllys, were assigned to fortify the Long Island Highlands, presumably because of our experience in fortifying the Dorchester Heights at Boston. And yes, you deduced correctly, I was sent to the front lines. So the hard labor of soldiering began as we set about building forts and defensive positions around the city; my regiment and that of Col. Chester Wills were assigned to prepare and defend the Bedford Pass situated between Flatbush and Bedford on Long Island.

In July of 1776, we received the news that the Continental Congress had signed a Declaration of Independence, and instantly the war changed; it was no longer about getting the crown to address a list of grievances, it was now about self-determination, and there was an enormous celebration in our camp! ....But the celebrating was short lived.

1776: Flatbush & The Battle of Brooklyn Heights

Washington had been authorized, by the Continental Congress to recruit up to 28,500 troops for his army, but by August the size of his army stood at only about 19,000, with the bulk of this army stationed on the Manhattan peninsula. Washington had been spot on about the New York harbor serving as a magnet to to attract the attention of British military interests. On June 29th, British warships began to arrive in the New York Harbor, and on July second, they captured the weakly defended Staten Island as an operating base; and by early August the British had assembled, in New York Harbor, the largest amphibious assault force to be amassed in the 18th century; an invasion force of 30 battleships armed with 1200 cannons, 300 support vessels manned by 10,000 sailors, along with an invasion force of 32,000 ground troops. The British troop numbers suggest loyalist spies had revealed to the British the troop strength required to assemble a superior force. King George had decided it was time to spank this insolent colonial child, teach him a lesson he would not forget, and put a stop to the endless temper tantrums. Independence Bah!!

As the British assembled their invasion force, Washington was warned by his senior staff that he was in not a position to stand against the now vastly superior British force, but that rather he should retreat and conduct a guerilla campaign. However, Washington had the advantage of entrenched defensive installations and remained steadfast in his commitment to defend the largest, and most strategic port on the continent. The stage for control of New York City was set and between August 22 and 25th, the British landed an invasion force of about 20,000 men from Staten Island onto Long Island. However, when Washington received word of this incursion, his intelligence informed him that the size of the British invasion force on Long Island was only about 9,000 men. Washington then deduced the Long Island invasion must be a diversion, and so he only deployed about half of his troops to Long Island, sending about 9,000 troops to defend Long Island, but then held the remaining 10,000 troops on reserve at Manhattan to defend against an imagined attack on Manhattan by what Washington believed to be the bulk of the British invasion force still stationed on Staten Island. It was an error that nearly ended the war in favor of the enemy, and it set the stage for my work later in the war.

The Patriot armies of General Sullivan and Stirling had been deployed to the Long Island front lines with a total troop strength of about 3,000. General Sullivan posted his army at the main pass between Flatbush and Bedford, and mustered my regiment under Colonel Wyllys to the secondary pass. So the stage had been set, but Washington's defensive battle plan had a flaw. There was another pass, the Jamaica pass, further to the east that had not been fortified and local loyalists had passed this information to the British

On the twenty-sixth of August 1776, the British launched their invasion of Long Island, and if I were to be honest with you, my story should have ended on that day. The invasion was launched with the British having superior numbers exceeding a ratio greater than 2:1 in total troop strength and an even more overwhelming 7:1 advantage relative to the front line deployment. Armed with a superior force and battlefield intelligence, British General Howe devised a battle plan to split his army in two; half directed to a frontal assault and the other half to flank our front lines on an overnight advance through the Jamaica pass. We were later told this flanking formation was a line four abreast and two miles long. Howe's plan was brilliant and was executed perfectly. The British flanking movement penetrated the highlands with little resistance, and when the battle commenced the next morning, we were faced with a frontal assault, an attack from the rear, and our line of retreat to the Brooklyn Forts had been cut off by the flanking army. It was a total rout. On that day about 2,000 of the 3,000 American soldiers stationed on the front line were killed, wounded, or captured. Both General Sullivan and General Stirling were captured. The only reason I escaped was that the British had focused the energy of their frontal assault on the main Flatbush pass guarded by General Sullivan's army and had largely ignored the pass guarded by my regiment, so most of my regiment managed to retreat to the Brooklyn forts dodging through the flanked British army on the way. But, even then, it wasn't over.

By the time I reached the Brooklyn Forts, Washington had arrived on Long Island with some reinforcements, and the gravity of the situation became painfully obvious. We had lost close to a fourth of our fighting force on Long Island, the British had surrounded and now controlled the highlands overlooking the Brooklyn Forts. It was now clear that Long Island was the sole assault objective and the British now outnumbered us on the Long Island battlefield by almost 3:1. Furthermore, there was a mile of open water cutting off our only path of retreat from Long Island, waters that were now controlled by the 30 British warships of Admiral Howe, and General Washington, our commander-in-Chief, was now trapped with us on Long Island.

You may or may not believe that God intervenes in the affairs of men, but I do. For the second time in a year, I was an eyewitness to a set of events that can only be described as supernatural, a deliverance like that of the Hebrews from the army of Pharaoh, if you will. For on the afternoon of the 27th, the weather changed; there was a massive downpour that delayed any further attacks by the British, and there was a rare and strong wind out of the Northeast that prevented Admiral Howe from moving his warships into the mouth of the East River, between Long Island and Manhattan, as that would have completely cut off our only path of retreat. These storms continued on through the 29th; and while these rare Northeast winds prevented the British warships from entering the East River they also made the water too choppy for our retreat across the river. But then, around eleven PM, there was a calm and Washington ordered the retreat under a directive of strict silence. The Marblehead Men launched their boats, and a gentle southwest breeze wafted through the channel enabling the evacuation vessels to hoist their sails and evacuate four times as many troops per hour. The sky cleared and the moon shone brightly, but God had closed the eyes of the British sentries and our exit was undetected and unimpeded. By the crack of dawn there were still hundreds of men huddled along the shore now in peril of certain detection and capture, but then a dense fog rose up from the Brooklyn shore and concealed the operation for another hour and a half, despite the warming by the bright August sun. By 8:00 AM Washington departed on the last boat, and the Patriot cause was saved. I was there, I saw it all happen; once again an eyewitness to God's intervention on our behalf, on my behalf.

1776: Sheldon's 2nd Regiment of Light Dragoons

We were driven from Manhattan in September of 1776 and my regiment was now stationed at White Plains, New York, though we were not engaged in the battle of White Plains. The British continued to press and we were forced to continue to retreat, so by December my regiment had been pushed back to Peekskill, NY where my second enlistment expired. Then something happened to make my life even more dramatic. On Dec. 11, 1776, the Continental Congress, at the request of Washington, established a regiment of Horse Dragoons under the command of Lt. Col Elisha Sheldon, the first Continental Cavalry. This was an elite corps and I saw this as an opportunity of a lifetime, so on the 22nd of December 1776, only 11 days after the regiment had been authorized by Congress, I enlisted in the Company of Capt. Benjamin Talmadge, in the Second Regiment of Col. Elisha Sheldon's Light Dragoons at Peekskill, New York. [1] Washington had been fighting Congress for a professional army from the beginning, the need to re-recruit and train a new army every year was devastatingly inefficient and had been a tremendous impediment to his war effort. As you can see from my service record, my enlistment with Sheldon's Horse, endured through the balance of the war; Washington never received a professional army, but with Sheldon's Horse he had been authorized to build one elite and professional regiment; trained, capable, experienced, and available to accomplish the most difficult and critical missions. It may not sound like much to you, but Sheldon's Horse was much more than a regiment of cavalry soldiers, it became Washington's Battlefield Early Warning System, Seal Team [1], CIA and a secret service detachment, all rolled up into one. To put it in terms you can relate to, I had become the "Top Gun" soldier of my day and no doubt wore the swagger needed to constantly stand in harm's way and face the prospect of mortal injury on a daily basis.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

From the beginning the Light Dragoons were envisioned as a special forces unit and were issued a new and unique uniform to provide an instantaneous visual distinction for the Horse Regiments; my first orders for this new service were to report to Wethersfield, Connecticut, where Capt. Benjamin Tallmadge (1754-1835), who was only four years older than myself, had been placed in charge. It was a bit like boot camp, except we started with no horses, weapons, uniforms, or training program. Everything had to be gathered and created from scratch and the men and horses needed to be trained in time to serve in the War campaigns coming in the spring 1777. I was one of 23 men to show up at that first camp and we immediately set to work. Capt. Talmadge, who was the finest and by far most talented and daring officer I ever had the honor to serve, had managed to acquire a set of dapple gray horses for the entire unit, and when our new uniforms arrived we looked spectacular, if I must say so myself; and by late spring, I envisioned myself as part of the finest fighting unit in the Continental Army.

With the onset of winter in late 1776 and January of 1777, Washington had managed to pull off a couple of surprise victories over the British at Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey, and in the spring of '77 he was keen to engage the enemy as soon as the weather would allow operations to resume and his intelligence could reveal the intentions of our enemy. Accordingly all operational Light Dragoon units were ordered to report to his Morristown, New Jersey Headquarters as soon as possible. As troop 1, was the only operational troop in Sheldon's 2nd Regiment, we immediately were dispatched to join the army. We rode to Peekskill, New York and crossed the Hudson at King's Ferry completing the 150 mile journey to the army encampment at Morristown, NJ on 23rd of June. Washington then complimented us for the appearance of our unit and ordered us to report to his headquarters at Middlebrook about 20 miles south of the army. The next day the three newly commissioned light dragoon units were on parade before the commander-in-chief and were immediately dispatched to reconnoiter the enemy. We encountered the enemy at Woodbridge and were immediately exposed to intense musket fire, and were flanked on the right and left, but we managed to break through their line and suffered but minor casualties considering the intensity of the assault; we then retired to camp reporting to Washington that the British army was on the move and stationed for battle. That was my first day on the battlefield as a light dragoon and it was to be a harbinger of my daily existence for the next five years. The following day Washington sent Stirling's army and he engaged the army of Cornwallis at the Battle of Short Hills, the battle waged throughout the day to a near standstill, but with a few Patriot field pieces lost to the enemy. Howe had hoped to draw Washington into an open battle, but Washington had signaled his army to man their fortified positions, and Howe withdrew; it stalemate for the day.

1777: The Battle of Brandywine

Shortly thereafter Howe recalled his New York outposts and his army was sighted sailing out of New York harbor by an observation post at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, suggesting that Howe's next objective was the colonial capital of Philadelphia. So Washington ordered his troops to march to Philadelphia. Howe had sailed his army through the Chesapeake bay and arrived in Elk Head, Maryland on the 25th of August. Washington upon hearing this, then deployed his army to Wilmington, Delaware along the Brandywine Creek and set up defenses to confront the enemy at Chadd's Ford just a mile, or so, north of the Pennsylvania border. Then on the eleventh of Sept 1777, I found myself engaged in yet another major battle. Each side brought close to 15,000 soldiers to the battlefield; though, once again the British enjoyed a slight advantage of perhaps seven percent, in the size of their deployed army. In the early stages of the battle, Washington's army held well against a frontal assault led by Lt. General Baron von Knyphausen, commander of the British-paid Hessian army, but it turns out the reason for this early success was that Howe had deployed the larger portion of his army under General Cornwallis on a flanking maneuver, reminiscent of the Battle of Long Island. The main force of Howe's army, under Cornwallis, had been committed to yet another well executed, and undetected flanking operation. The size and skill of the flanking army overwhelmed a weak perimeter defense and they rapidly penetrated and poured in behind Washington's right hand frontal defense line; faced with an assault from both the front and the rear, our right hand line of defense began to collapse. Washington quickly deployed reinforcements under General Sullivan and Lord Stirling (both back in service after a prisoner exchange) and they fought valiantly, but it was too little and too late. The damage had been done, and we were forced to retreat. Washington then strategically redeployed the army of General Nathanael Green, from the left hand line of defense to protect our line of retreat and this maneuver prevented a battlefield loss from becoming a total defeat, the capture of our entire army, and the end of the war. Perhaps a more effective use battlefield intelligence may have detected and prevented penetration by the flanking army. This was the first real operational test of the intelligence capabilities of the light dragoons on the battlefield, and we had failed to detect the British flanking movement in time to effectively confront it; but on that day I and my Troop, the 2nd light dragoons, were able to deliver news of the changing battlefield scenario to General Washington many times faster than any foot soldier and we may well have been the edge that bought the time needed to redeploy, reorganize, retreat, and save the day. Notice in the Brandywine painting, the artist has memorialized the significance of the light dragoons, visually associating us with Washington and Lafayette even in this our first major battlefield endeavor. That day our army lost 1300 combatants while the British only lost about 600. This was a major loss for us, Washington had once again been outfoxed on the battlefield by the wily General Howe, he had failed to repulse the attack advancing on the Capital, and the size of his army which had been at near parity was now demoralized and at a fifteen percent disadvantage in troop strength. This was not a happy day, but there was a victory in this; we had faced a vastly superior enemy head on and we had stood our ground; we had been bruised, but we had not been crushed; overpowered yes, but were able to escape as an army, and able to fight another day. The Marquis de Lafayette on tour of the colonies, had joined in the fight with Washington and was wounded in the action, and on that day he became a friend and advocate of Washington and the Patriot cause within the French aristocracy.

1777: The Battle of Germantown

We then pulled back to Philadelphia, where Washington assessed the geography and determined there was no defensible position to be found in the city, so the city was left to be occupied by the British force and Washington deployed his army to the Highlands of Germantown a few miles north of Philadelphia, leaving a small army with General Wayne at Paoli, to guard the rear. Howe quickly advanced on, and defeated General Wayne at the Paoli. Howe then moved on and then seized Philadelphia; however atrocities committed by the British at Paoli, inflamed the American army at Germantown and hardened the Patriot resolve against the British.

The fourth of Oct 1777, brought me to yet another major battle, this time Howe deployed his army to Germantown, having left a contingent of 3,000 of his army at Philadelphia. Sensing the opportunity for a numbers advantage, Washington launched an attack with four separate columns, of which two were flanking columns, and it started out well, but a fog descended on the battlefield and in the resulting confusion a friendly fire situation caused the attack to collapse into an unwarranted retreat. The lines began to collapse and the as the troops retreated from the field, Washington ordered my light dragoon troop to block the road of retreat, but we were unable to stop the exodus, so despite the advantage offered, the British prevailed and in the end Washington was forced to retreat.

Thirteen days later, up at the mid-state New York war front, British General Burgoyne was forced to surrender in defeat to Patriot General Horatio Gates at the Battle of Saratoga, New York. This major American victory is often cited as the turning point of the war and was won, in a large part, because British General Howe had decided to deploy his army to Philadelphia, on a campaign of city conquest, rather than to follow a strategic deployment to Saratoga as had been the British plan. In the aftermath of the Battle of Saratoga there were two epic consequences, the first of these being the entry of the French as a Patriot ally, and the second major consequence of this Battle was that Benedict Arnold, one of the commanding Patriot generals, got his ego tutu in a knot; he seethed with anger having failed to receive the glory for the victory he thought due him. This second item had a direct impact on my unit down the road.

After Germantown, General Howe did not pursue us, but rather pulled his army into Philadelphia and focused the energy of his army on clearing the debris we had sunk in the Delaware River to make it unnavigable. Howe knew the winter was coming, the British were not welcome in Philadelphia, and there would be few Loyalist and profiteers to sustain his army from local provisions; he would be dependent on a Naval supply chain while in Philadelphia. This was a correct long-game strategy, but by the winter of 1777, pot-shots were being fired at Howe by officials in the British government and media, accusing him of weakness and incompetence because he had failed to pursue and crush the Colonial vermin in Washington's rag-tag band of traitorous rebels. His critics were quick to point to his three battlefield victories, which had failed to capture Washington and his elusive band of rebels, nor had he been able to bring the conflict to a successful conclusion. The criticism had taken it's toll; General Howe tendered his letter of resignation, which was accepted. Consequently, General Howe was replaced by his underling General Henry Clinton, perhaps a less capable tactician, but undoubtedly a superior strategist.

In the meantime, the foot soldiers in Washington's army were sent to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania for winter quarters. You have undoubtedly heard the story of the suffering and of the dreadful shortages of provisions for the camp; but the story you may not have heard is that under the direction of Friedrich Wilhelm Baron von Steuben the foot soldiers at Valley Forge received an education, for the first time, in military professionalism--the art of war from a fully qualified expert. They spent the winter learning how to be victorious, and emerged from Valley Forge with new battlefield skills, approaching that of their enemy.

As for von Steuben, he became aware that the American commoners were not as the subservient serfs of Europe, but were critical thinkers; in the context of hoping to order and address the American soldiers as servile servants, he is quoted as saying:

"...I should have been pelted had I attempted it, and should inevitably have failed. The genius of this nation is not in the least to be compared with that of the Prussians, Austrians, or French. You say to your soldier [in Europe], “Do this” and he doeth it; but [at Valley Forge] I am obliged to say, “This is the reason why you ought to do that,” and then he does it." — Baron von Steuben to Baron de Gaudy, 1787-88

It should also be noted that during the winter of 77-78, the soldiers of Valley Forge built 1500 log huts, two miles of fortifications, five redoubts, and a state of the art bridge across the Schuylkill river, making the camp the fourth largest city in America. This activity provides irrefutable evidence of a thriving organization and debunks the notion that army at Valley Forge was down trod, defeated, and starving.

The now Major Talmadge and my troop, troop one, of the second light dragoons, now under the command of Capt. John Webb, had been assigned to scout the no-man's land between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, watching the enemy movements and preventing the flow of supplies into Philadelphia. However, Howe's British light horse was also assigned to patrol this very same area and they far outnumbered us; our encounters were so frequent that we had to constantly keep on the move to avoid capture. For the entirety of this operation we were on high alert; Maj. Tallmadge had directed us to never leave our mounts unsaddled for more than an hour, and we seldom slept through the night at the same place. But, by the end of December the winter had become so intense that our operations had become impractical and the light horse brigade was sent to winter quarters at Trenton NJ.

The Highest Honors

Muskets and revolvers are all well and good and they make a lot of noise, smoke, and flame and are the weapon of choice for the infantryman; but they are essentially good for one highly inaccurate shot when fired from a moving horse, and hence of a very limited value to a dragoon. On the other hand the sword never needs reloading, therefore it is the sword that is the weapon of choice for the dragoon; it is a slashing weapon, but deadly only within a sword's reach of the Light Dragoon. What I am telling you is that I was constantly engaged in hand-to-hand combat and an expert swordsman. In that day I was in top physical condition, a world class athlete with cat-like reflexes. I was one of the finest swordsman of my time, and I can prove it. After all I engaged in daily contests where the one left standing was the winner, and after five years of continuous contests I was still standing.

It has been said that that a Light Dragoon "without a sword is a dead man riding a horse." Hence my most valued and prized possession was my sword, but swords were hard to find, and not all swords were created equal. The typical colonial sword, if you could get one, would have been hand made by a local blacksmith, who would generally would not have had the tools or skills to produce a high quality carbon steel blade. The good stuff was made by European blade smiths, who had developed the forge and metallurgy technology along with the art and skills to make a high carbon steel blade; a thinner, lighter weapon, with far superior strength to a blade made by a blacksmith. The low carbon blades of the blacksmith were also subject to breaking in combat, and a dragoon with a stubby blade quickly gets lumped into the "dead man riding a horse" category. The problem was how did you get one of the good blades?

In 1777 Revolutionary Colonial America there was only one generally correct answer to that question, you had to take it from one of your European enemies--not an easy thing to do. Enter the sub-plot. Back up in New York, in the time leading up to the battle of Saratoga, British General Burgoyne's army was running dangerously low on supplies and munitions, and was fully expecting to be soon facing the Patriots in a major battlefield engagement, and deep in the interior of New York his Canadian supply lines were long and slow. About this time, he received an intelligence report that the Patriots had built a sizeable cache of supplies and weapons at nearby Bennington, Vermont, and that this cache was lightly guarded. Baron Friedrich Adolph von Riedesel, the commander of General Burgoyne's German contingent, recommended Burgoyne dispatch a raid on the American depot to capture the supplies and while there round up enough horses to re-outfit the then horseless Brunswick dragoons. So on the 11th of August 1777 a contingent of British soldiers under Lt. Col. Baum, including the horseless Brunswick dragoons, were dispatched to execute the raid. However, when Baum reached his destination he discovered the supplies were far more heavily fortified and protected than Burgoyne had been led to believe; so he retreated, sent a request to Burgoyne for reinforcements and set up a defensive camp to wait for the reinforcements, this rather than to stay mobile as he had been ordered. The Patriots got wind of his encampment and before reinforcements from Burgoyne could arrive, the Patriot army at Bennington under Brig. General John Stark attacked Baum's encampment on the 15th and The Battle of Bennington was on. Baum's group fought valiantly, but ran out of ammunition, then rather than surrender, they came after the Patriots with their swords. In this scenario, guns beat swords every day, and the entire detail under Baum was either killed or captured, Burgoyne's reinforcements, unaware of the rout then came onto the scene and suffered additional losses. As a result of the Battle of Bennington, Burgoyne suffered the loss of 1,000 fighting men, and the Americans found themselves in possession of one Light Dragoon troop's worth of high carbon, European blade-smith made sabers, which were promptly delivered to General George Washington.

Now there are military honors and then there are military honors. One type of involves medals and ribbons with pomp and ceremony; the other type involves putting advanced technology weapons into the hands of the fighting men most likely to be able to make effective use of them, and then granting those so the honored ensuing assignments to the most important and dangerous missions. On January 1, 1778 Washington the ordered swords carried by the Brunswick Dragoons to be issued to the Light Dragoons of Sheldon's Regiment. On that day I held in my hands not only the ultimate high-technology Light Dragoon weapon, but also a symbolic military award issued by the Commander in Chief himself, acknowledging to us and to anyone in his army knowing the significance of our weapons, that Washington thought we were the best there was. The weapon also carried the unspoken message that with high honor comes high expectations, and was a daily reminder we had become the "first in battle" Marines of our day.

The Second Light Dragoons 1778 -1783

The Second Light Dragoons were known as Sheldon's Horse, but I, and the men of my Regiment, can tell you that it was really Talmadge's regiment; it was the brilliant and inspirational leadership of Benjamin Talmadge that set our unit apart, and after the war he wrote a book about what he, that is what we, did during the war. You ought to get a copy and read it. [5]

The victory of the Americans at Saratoga in October of 1777 set the stage for a shift in the balance of power in the war, and on Feb 6, 1778, the French signed the Franco-American Treaty of Alliance and entered the war as an American ally. This action, immediately turned the conflict into a world war, shifted the balance of power, neutralized the British naval advantage, and sealed off the possibility of a negotiated peace settlement between the British and Americans.

The British, now under the direction of Gen, Henry Clinton, immediately responded with a change in their War strategy. With the British transatlantic supply lines now in jeopardy, Clinton was convinced the key to victory was to rally the Loyalists to the British cause, and to vanquish Washington and his the army, the shining star and great hope of the separatists, rather than waging a campaign of conquest of cities as did his predecessor, General Howe.

The immediate impact was for Clinton to withdraw the British army in Philadelphia and to re-consolidate his forces in New York City, with this force he would pursue the opportunity to crush and kill Washington and his army; the heart and soul of the separatists. He then shifted his efforts of conquest to the southern colonies where he perceived there to be a greater Loyalist sentiment and sought to take the Southern Colonies by turning the southern populace to the British cause.

Battle of Pound Ridge

For myself and the 2nd LD, Gen. Clinton's new strategy put a bullseye on our backs as we had become the eyes, ears, and battlefield protection detail for Washington, and it was rumored that General Clinton was convinced that it was the operations of my unit which had enabled Washington to escape at Brandywine and Germantown. There is tangible evidence that this is true, and I wear that evidence to this day. It is here that I should mention that back in May of 1778, I was promoted to trumpeter for the troop. This made me responsible for transmitting the orders of the commanding officer to the troop. It also means that in battle the enemy looks for the guy with the trumpet and sets out to kill him first.

On May 25, 1779, the British now under the command of Sir Henry Clinton launched their Spring campaign to expand their control of the Hudson River corridor northward from their Kings Bridge, New York position and to overtake the fortified American positions at Stony Point and Fort Layfayette along the banks of the Hudson River. The British assault was immensely successful and bythe third of June they had achieved their objectives and were in control of the area. In the meantime my unit under Talmadge and the 2nd LD regimenthad consolidated and were operating with about 90 dragoons out of Pound Ridge, New York about thirty six miles to the east of the conquered territory. Emboldened by his success, British General Clinton then ordered Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, (later known as "Bloody Ban, the Butcher,") and his British Legion, a Light Dragoon force of as many as 300 Cavalry, to plan and launch a surprise assault on Sheldon's 2nd Light Dragoons with the objective of destroying my regiment, and Maj. Ebenezer Lockwood known, by to the British by spy reports, to be operating out of Pound Ridge.

Banastre, eager to prove his military prowess, set out at 11:30 pm on the evening of July first from Armonk, NY with his 200+ horsemen (possibly up to 200 of his own legion, 70 from 17th light dragoons, plus additional Queens Rangers and Hessian Jaegers) on an overnight raiding party in order gain the advantage of a crack-of-dawn surprise attack on the American dragoon forces assembled at Pound Ridge. Fortunately for us, Tarleton's march was delayed by heavy rains and he later missed the turn off to Pound Ridge; furthermore his unit's movement had been spotted by our American sentries, but the darkness had cloaked the identity of the British horsemen. By this time, dawn had broken, and Col. Sheldon dispatched Talmadge with a scouting party to confirm the identity of the approaching horsemen. Shortly outside of Pound Ridge, Talmadge encountered the advancing British column and was fired upon by the same, we wheeled our horses and we raced back to the camp hotly pursued by Tarleton's squadron

{The Pound Ridge Historical Society has made available a thirty five minute video chronicling the events of this battle in a chronological order. The video, entitled The Raid on Pound Ridge, NY 1779 is available on their Pound Ridge Historical Society web page.

At 7:00 AM on July 2, 1779, the Battle at Pound Ridge ensued; the British had completely lost the element of surprise and were faced with my regiment mounted and fully prepared and arrayed for battle. It was a ferocious clash of several hundred horse-mounted soldiers engaged in vicious sword fights, packed within the confines of a narrow village lane in Pound Ridge. On that day, for the first time, I was wounded. Col. Sheldon quickly assessed that we were hugely outnumbered and ordered a retreat; I bugled the command, and the troop responded immediately beating a retreat to the south. The British pursued us with great passion, but failed to catch us, and Tarleton realizing he was deep in enemy territory with little chance to destroy the 2nd Light Dragoons, retreated. That day they succeeded in the capture of only a couple of our unit whose horses had stumbled during the retreat; they managed to wound ten men in my unit, myself included; and captured our battle ensign and some of Talmadge's spy papers. But Tarleton's unit had completely failed in the prime objective of their mission; the second light dragoons remained fully operational and were still able to come to the aid of General Washington in short notice. My wound quickly healed and I continued to serve the unit as before, to the end of the war. Once again I witnessed the finger of God; had the British been able to arrive undetected as planned, Tarlton would have had his massacre and would indeed have put an end to the Second Light Dragoons; but on that day I once again was saved by the hand of the Almighty God. As a footnote to this story, Col. Banastre Tarleton succeeded in capturing the battle standard of the 2nd Light Dragoons during the action at Pound Ridge, which he took home with him to England as a trophy of war. This artifact was then handed down to his descendants until it was put up for public auction in 2006, at which time the flag sold for $12.3 M, perhaps this will give you a sense of the historic value of my story.

In July of 1781, Washington met with compte de Rochambeau at his headquarters on Lt. Joseph Appleby's farm at Dobbs Ferry. Over time Washington's army grew stronger, had become skilled in the art of war, and now, with the capable French army of Gen. Rochambeau as his ally, the day had come for Washington to plan an assault to retake New York City. The Generals met and planned a reconnaissance-in-force. Reconnaissance-in-force is a battlefield tactic whereby the attacking army approaches the enemy's defensive positions with a force of sufficient size, to bait the enemy into revealing the extent and location of their defensive positions by firing their artillery and small arms at your feigned advance. On the twenty second of July, the second light dragoons were once again on the move with Washington to New York City, and participated in the execution of this faux assault on the City. Our approach and the maneuver was executed perfectly as Washington and Rochambeau gathered notes as the British eagerly revealed the size and location of all of their key defensive installations surrounding the city, All went as planned, with the exception of an incident where Washington and Rochambeau had become isolated and stumbled onto a party of about 20 Tories; quick action by Washington's guard and a few of our light dragoons saved the day. We then retreated, with this new battlefield intelligence, to Washington's headquarters on Joseph Appleby's farm at Dobb's Ferry. Washington and Rochambeau proceeded to draw up contingency plans to attack the city. The British had done their homework well and had implemented a highly effective defensive plan for the city; an American and French assault on the city would be very costly. But before the assault could be executed, fate intervened as Washington and Rochambeau received news that the fleet of French Admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse was enroute to Virginia. This sealed the decision to deploy the armies of Washington and Rochambeau to do battle at Yorktown, Virginia, rather than launch an assault on New York City. But to freeze the British army in place at New York City, we launched a massive smokescreen of misinformation intended to deceive the British at New York into believing their army at New York City was the objective of this massive Patriot troop movement. The ruse was successful and Brits froze their army in place at New York City, while Washington and Rochambeau deployed their armies to Yorktown, Virginia. This was the first time second Light Dragoons were not deployed with Washington to the battlefield, so I was stuck in New York.

But we were not idle, the operations of the 2nd Light Dragoon of this time period were so numerous and intricate, that a full account of would take far too long to tell. Nevertheless the boldness of exploits of the unit under Major Talmadge warrant your attention for a summary hearing.

  • Major Talmadge had built a spy network, known as the Culper Spy Ring inside the British army and the British stronghold of New York City. Talmadge was the mastermind of this network composed of civilian spies; the role of our regiment in this operation was serve as message couriers to ensure this "top secret information" was securely delivered to Washington in person.

  • It was also Major Talmadge who unmasked the treachery of the infamous traitor General Benedict Arnold and his spy handler British Major John Andre. The Second Light Dragoons where tasked with overseeing the trial and execution of this Major Andre.

  • We were assigned to patrol and enforce martial law in the no-man's land between our headquarters in the Westchester area and New York City; in this mission we would track down and arrest looters known as cow-boys and skinners preying on the local population.

  • Major Talmadge was a native of Long Island and was vexed at the British occupation of his homeland; as the recipient of strategic intelligence he conceived a number of targeted, special force missions against fortified British outposts on Long Island. I participated in successful seek and destroy missions by the 2nd Light Dragoons, under the command of Major Talmadge at St. George, Fort Salongo, and others.

  • In addition, I participated in special forces whale-boat operations Major Talmadge devised to disrupt the flow of supplies by loyalists and profiteers through the Long Island Sound into New York City. In addition were on call to support General Washington's army with light dragoon services as needed.

PEACE!!!

The campaign by Washington, Rochambeau, and French Admiral Howe and the ensuing siege of Yorktown, Virginia which resulted in the surrender of General Cornwallis, proved to be the final victory in the war; a victory which destroyed the will of the British to continue the war. On November 30, 1782, the Continental Congress signed a preliminary peace agreement with British and this brought an end to the military hostilities; even though the formal end of the war, signified by the signing of the Treaty of Paris, did not happen until ten months later on 3 September 1783. With the onset of peace, my unit was gathered at Danbury, Connecticut and on the 12th of June 1783, where I was granted an honorable discharge. [4] What a bittersweet day, it was the pinnacle of a fighting man's glory to have served as the lowly David and to have prevailed against the giant British Goliath. But by the time I was discharged, I was twenty six years of age, and had served the continental forces for almost eight and a half years; I had been at war for a third of my life and that experience defined my life. The intense moments of glory and sheer terror were over, the underlying purpose which had provided the motivation for me to rise and perform incredible feats of courage and heroism on a regular basis had been accomplished, and the relationship to my fellow soldiers in Troop 1, of Sheldon's Light Dragoons, to whom I entrusted my life on a daily basis, was now severed. In the end, I had served the country as a fighting man even longer than Gen. George Washington, and I had a front row seat to many of the most important events the War. It was time to move on with my life, but nothing would ever come close to the experience of that chapter of my life, it just couldn't.

I then returned home to my family at Cromwell, and my life began to re-form around the daily routines of living a peacetime life. It was time for love, and I found love and a partner to share my life. On the 25th of September 1783, a bit more than three months after my discharge, I married my sweetheart, Thankful Sage, [2] a grand union for which I am indeed truly thankful. Our marriage further cemented the bond between the Robinson and Sage families as Thankful was a sister to the wives of two of my older brothers. But it is in this peacetime chapter of my life that our stories intersect, for you see I am the great-grandfather of Kenneth Crocker. Kenneth descended from my son Lewis Samuel Sage Robinson (1791-1864), the father of my grand daughter Rosetta (Robinson) Walker (1824-1872), mother of my great-grandson, Jerra Lewis Walker (1854-1928), father of my 2nd great grand daughter Addie Eliza (Walker) Crocker (1887-1976), mother of my 3rd great grandson Kenneth Floyd Crocker. And so I am the great grandfather to all of you gathered together here today. If I were to be honest, I would venture a guess that most of you have never heard of me, or if you have; you are unaware of the grand story of my life--as you have seen my story tells the story of the Revolution from the beginning to end; so let this be a lesson to you--in five generations your work and what you did with your life, no matter how important or noble it may seem to you or to the annals of history, will soon be forgotten. What will remain are your descendants. Did you teach them to love God and obey his commandments? Did they learn that integrity is always more important than temporal gain? Do they live their lives loving their neighbors, and are known to treat others as they wish to be treated? Do they know that God, Immanuel, came to earth and made a way for all to be reconnected to their creator and to endure with Him in a glorious, divine, and eternal Kingdom? I hope you have, for it is all you have to offer that is of lasting value.

The war had cut deep and left some empty chairs in our families. There were two empty chairs at at the Sage table left by Matthew, Thankful's younger brother who was killed in the war in 1776 and her older brother Willett, who died of smallpox while on duty. And at the Robinson table, my brother John was missing. He was captured in the Battle of Norwalk on 18 July 1779 and died of starvation and deprivation on the British prison ship the HMS Jersey at the age of 34; he left this world with six fatherless children and a pregnant wife.

The pain of this grief cuts deep, but peace from victory brought a springtime of hope and new life to the infant nation and to the Daniel Robinson household also, Thankful and I had eleven children. Sally was the first in 1784 and Polly next in 1785, both born while we were still living at Cromwell. Throughout the war the Continental Congress paid us in Continental currency which was essentially worthless paper, so General Washington had promised his troops that the new government would issue land warrants to those who would enlist and serve for longer periods of time, and by golly he came through. In February of 1790 I was issued a Land bounty, which I assigned to a land speculator named Theodosius Fowler, for cash. This grant provided the funds Thankful and I needed to strike out to find our place in the now-open Western lands to those daring to live a pioneer life; and after eight years of living under the stars, the idea of a pioneer life certainly appealed to me. So around around 1800 we headed out to Clinton County, New York where Thankful and I settled in the Plattsburgh area where we raised our family. I built an Inn about a half mile south of the old road near Beakmantown, and was known as "Governor" by my friends. [6]

Before we part I have one more story to tell you. The Platts had built a grist mill located on the Saranac river; well, one spring we had received a heavy rains that caused a flash flood and the highwater and swift current were threatening the local grist mill. So I and a couple of other neighbors went into the mill to remove stored equipment before the floodwaters carried the building away. But as we we gathering the equipment, the building began to collapse; the others got away safely, but the building crumbled around me and so I clung to the millstone for safety. But the current was so fast and furious that it ripped away the millstone and caused it to hydro-plane, and I surfed that millstone 100 rods (over a quarter mile) downstream before it sank. No one would believe me, but after the flood subsided, we found the millstone right near the point where I had been rescued from the flood waters--let me tell you that was one wild ride that will never be topped by your best amusement park attraction! [6]

Oh by the way, Joseph Appleby III (abt.1737-1791), the man I mentioned earlier as having loaned his home and farm for several weeks to serve as General Washington's headquarters during the reconnoitering of New York City, is also your great-grandfather. He is the 2nd great grandfather of Mahala Jane (Lester) Crocker (1827-1873), the wife of John Russell Crocker (1820-1892) (the great grandfather of Kenneth Crocker).

The wound I received at Pound Ridge took its toll, eventually causing me to go lame. Congress set up a pension system for Revolutionary war veterans and I applied for and received this [[#1818|pension in 1818], at the age of 60. This entitlement only ran a few years and then was terminated, with the Continental Congress tightening eligibility they then required all recipients to reapply in 1820. My financial and physical condition continued to deteriorate, so when the Congress updated the veteran's pension structure in 1832, I re-applied, and was once again granted a service pension set at $10/month. This pension was delivered to me at a time when I was nearly penniless and scratching out a living as a fisherman. This pension system required all applicants to submit a court verified deposition of the applicant's service record as proof of qualification [4], and for this you should be grateful, as this is the only known, surviving record of my life story, and without it, my remarkable story would be lost to you.

So this is my story and it is all true. In the book of Matthew, Jesus affirms that the Old Testament command to Honor your father and mother continues to stand as a prime directive of God, the Father, under the New Testament Covenant. An important element of this directive to honor is to remember; and the essence of remembering is to tell the stories of the fathers and forefathers to the next generation. I am indeed your forefather. On July 4th, just a few days ago, did you remember me or what I did for you? What about last memorial day? The legacy I gave to you, at an exceedingly high cost to myself and my family is your privileged life, you are able to live your life in an environment that embraces personal freedom, and rejects slavery to an evil and oppressive government. Perhaps next year you will remember me and protect my legacy by passing the lessons of my story on to your children and grandchildren. Blessings on each of you.

Genealogical Records

The following section of this essay provides the detailed information found in the various historical documents used to recreate the preceding story of Daniel Robinson. The core document is Daniel Robinson's Revolutionary War Pension application. This document ties Daniel to a defined set of commanding officers and battle scenes, which can then can be correlated to other historical narratives on the war to regenerate an accurate narrative reflecting Daniel's experience in the war. In addition, this section provides a platform to analyze, cross-correlate, and comment on important aspects of the cited historical data record.

Church Records

  1. ) Cromwell, Conn. Church Records; Page 111-113; Image 115 of 218: First Congregational Church Cromwell, Connecticut; Church Records for Amos Robinson: Amos Robinson renewed baptismal covenant 1 July 1753. {The covenant renewal was concurrent with the baptism of his son Hezekiah.}
    1. ) Asa Robinson, son of Amos & ____, was baptized 15 Aug 1762.
    2. ) Sintha Robinson, son of Amos Robinson Jr. & ___ was bapt. 16 Aug 1767. {The Jr. designation suggests that the father and grandfather of Sintha were both named Amos. As the Jr. designation is absent from the birth record of Amos the father of Asa, Daniel; the language of this record suggests that Amos Robinson Jr. was born in 1747 or before, and was the older brother of Daniel and Asa.}
    3. ) Daniel, son of Amos Robinson & ____ was baptized 22 May 1757.
      1. ) Daniel Robinson married Thankful Sage 25 Sept 1783
        1. ) Polly Robinson, daughter of Daniel and Thankful, was baptized 11 Sept 1785.
        2. ) Sally Robinson, daughter of Daniel and Thankful, was baptized 10 Oct 1784.
      2. ) Daniel & wife Thankful Robinson, ch. conf. Sept 19, 1784.
      3. ) Daniel Robinson, & w. renewed baptismal covenant Oct 10, 1784.
    4. ) Elizabeth Robinson, dau. of Amos &____ bapt. 5 Jan 1755.
    5. ) Hezekiah Robinson, son of Amos & ____ bapt. 1 July 1753.
      1. ) Hezekiah Robinson, son of Amos, died 12 Jan 1754.
    6. ) Priscilla Robinson, dau. of Amos &____, bapt.12 Aug 1759.
      1. ) Priscilla Robinson, married Jacob Colburn, 8 Feb 1785.
    7. ) Reuben Robinson, son of Amos & Lydea, d. 4 June 1765. {Editorial Comment (RRB), the notation in the prior transcriptions imply that the mother of each of the cited children was named, but that the name was undecipherable by the transcriptionist. Therefore, as Lydea is named as the mother of Reuben, it may be that Lydia was also the mother of Amoses' other children, but her name was illegible in the original script; or perhaps Lydia was the second wife of Amos; or much less likely, this Amos was not the father of the other cited children.}

Military Records

  1. ) Rev War Pension; Image 701 of 1247: Bounty Land Warrant Card. Warrant Number 6416 issued Feb 1790.
  2. ) 1818 Daniel Robinson Pension Application; image 710 o 1247: Deposition given by Daniel Robinson to the Clinton County Court of Common Pleas on 31 March 1818.
    1. ) Transcription: "To the Honorable Secretary of the war Department at the City of Washington. I Daniel Robenson of the Town of Plattsburgh Clinton County, State of New York aged sixty years, did on the nineteenth day of May Seventeen Hundred and Seventy five in the Town of Molbury State of Connecticut list in the Service of the united States as a Soldier in Capt. Holdrige's Company in the Regiment Commanded by Col. Willis for seven months and about six days before my time of service expired I again enlisted in the Town of Roxbury and State of Massachusetts for the term of one year in which Company and Regiment I remained untill I again Enlisted at Peekskill on or about the twenty second day of December Seventeen Hundred and Seventy Six in Capt. Benjamin Talmage Company of light Dragoons in the Regiment Commanded by Elisha Sheldon for and during the war as a Trumpeter and was wounded at the Battle of Pound Ridge in which regiment I remained untill I got my discharge at the Close off the war at the Town of Danbury in the State of Connecticut on the twelth day of June 1783 and that I am now in Indigent Circumstances and further this deponent is not Plattsburgh March 31st 1818. Signed Daniel Robinson.
    2. ) The above Described Daniel Robinson personally appeared before me Hinner Newcomb one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Clinton and state of New York who being sworn made solemn oath that the above Certificate of his service done in the revolutionary war is true and I am acquainted with the said Daniel and have been for nearly twenty years and I know that he at this present time is in Indigent Circumstances and that he comes under the law of Congress giving a pension to the indigent. Plattsburgh March 31st, 1818; Himmel Newcomb, Judge.
  3. ) Rev War Pension; Image 706, 707 of 1247: Daniel Robinson Second Pension Application, 3 Oct 1820.
    1. ) Statement of War Service: 'Clinton County, New York, 3 Oct 1820. Daniel Robinson, age 63, resident of Chazy, Clinton, New York, "doth on his oath declare that he served in the revolutionary war as follows:" That on the 19th of May 1775 he enlisted at Colchester in Captain Holdridges Company of Infentry Col. Willys Regiment of the Connecticut line eight months. At the expiration of that time when he enlisted at Pecks Hill in Captain Benjamin Talmages Company of Dragoons in Col. Elisha Sheldons Regiment Connecticut line for during the War and continued to serve therein till the 12th of June 1783 when he was honorbly discharged at Danbery, Connecticut. He was in the battles of Roxbury, Dorchester, Flatbush, Brandywine, Germantown and several others.
    2. ) Previous Pension: original declaration to obtain a pension was made 21 March 1818, and he received a pension certificate # 20417 on the 7th of August 1818.
    3. ) Declaration of Assets: Real estate: none. Personal Estate: besides necessary bedding and cloathing none except the following: Nathaniel Griffin owes me on account eight Dollars which he has owed me eight or nine years and which I consider of no value as he is unable to pay it, 1 gill net 3 rods long, 1 scoop net, and 1/2 of an old seine ____$10. I am by occupation a fisherman & have no family except my wife, Thankful Robinson aged 61 years and very infirm with the Rheumetism. I live in the House with one of my sons who afsists in supporting myself and my wife and I am myself lame caused by a wound received by me while in service of the United States. Daniel Robinson
  4. ) Rev War Pension; Image 704 of 1247: Pension Certificate: issued to Daniel Robinson, soldier of the Revolutionary War, 25 July 1832 and sent to Pensioner at Plattsburgh, NY. Awarded a Pension of $180.
  5. ) Rev War Pension Record; Image 714 of 1247: Department of the Interior, Bureau of Pensions. Military and Pension history for Daniel Robinson. Recap of service history, Died 21 Oct 1838. Remarks: Wife Thankful age 61 years in 1820; at that date sons are referred to--names not stated. No further family data.
  1. ) Lt. Holdridge; page 89.
  2. ) Capt. Benjamin Talmadge; page 273. First Troop of the Second Regiment of Light Dragoons under the Command of Col. Elisha Sheldon.
    1. ) 'Daniel Robinson, Private, Enlisted 27 December '76; Promoted to Trumpeter 1 May 1778; Town: Middletown; Trade: Blacksmith; Stature: 5' 6; Complexion: Light; Eyes: Light; Hair: brown.
  1. ) DAR Lineage record 112355; Page 116, Image 118 of 370: Descendants of Daniel Robinson:
    1. ) Daniel Robinson (1757- 1838) married Thankful Sage (1758-1837) in 1783. Daniel was a private in the American Revolution serving in the Company of Captain Holdridge under the Regiment of Col. Wyllys. He was also a soldier in the Light Dragoons of Col. Sheldon. Born in Middleton, Connecticut; died in Plattesburgh, NY.
    2. ) Lewis S. Robinson (1791-1838), son of Daniel Robinson, married Hannah Eldred (1792-1873).
    3. ) Eleazer Robinson (1813-1864), son of Lewis S. Robinson, married Mary Ann Stearns (1816-1901).
    4. ) Daniel Samuel Robinson (b 1839), son of Eleazer Robinson, married Margaret Pringle (b. 1842) in 1862.
    5. ) Ernest James Robinson (b. 1870), son of Daniel Samuel Robinson, married May Barrett (b. 1873) in 1891.
    6. ) Mrs. Margaret Barrett (Robinson) Lee, daughter of Ernest James Robinson, was born in Plattsburg, NY., and married Howard Lee.

Published Genealogical and Historical Information

  1. )
  • Secondary Source, Jacobus, Vital Records from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. [3]
  1. ) Scotch Prisoners sent to Massachusetts in 1652, by order of the English Government; page 378. John Robinson a passenger on the John and Sarah 13 May 1652, Scottish prisoner prisoners sent to Massachusetts as indentured servants (slaves). Second English Civil War.
  1. ) Clinton Co. History; page 151: ... Zephaniah Platt, Theodorus Platt, and Melancton Smith ... erected a grist mill about this time (1796) situated back from the street, near the west end of the dam.
    1. ) A few years later this building was carried away in a flood, when the location of the mill was changed to the site of the present Saranac Mills, on the east side of the river. "At the time of this freshet," says Judge Palmer, "several persons were engaged in removing machinery from the mill when the building fell; all escaped except Daniel Robinson, who was carried down the stream as far as Mr. Saily's ashry, one hundred rods below, where he was rescued by persons standing on the shore. When the water subsided the millstone was found at the place where Robinson had been drawn out of the river. The 'Governor' declared that when he found the mill was tumbling to pieces he clung to the millstone for safety, and floated upon it to that point. The story seems improbable; still the fact that the stone was found at the place where he landed is evidence of its truth. This freshet was for many years afterwards known as the one when 'Governor Robinson rode down the river on a millstone.' "
  2. ) Clinton Co. History; page 188: Plattsburgh Tax Assessment Roll, (May 1811): Daniel Robinson: H. F. 228 1/2 a.; Real Estate, $457; Personal Estate, $0; Total Tax: $1.50.
  3. ) Clinton Co. History; page 199: Soon after the year 1800, Lyman Clothier, Eliphalet Hascall, Daniel and Robert Baker, Thomas Cudworth, Simon Goodspeed, and Daniel Robinson located in the town. This period may, with some propriety, be called the era of tavern-keeping. This seemed to be the chief object those who settled at this time. The Plattsburgh and Ogdensburgh road had been roughly laid out through the town, and travelers made such slow advances over this principal highway to the St. Lawrence River that they were obliged to make frequent stops at the various small inns that were erected every few miles along its course.
    1. ) ... Daniel Robinson, often known as "Governor," erected a tavern about half a mile south of the old road, near the Beekmantown line.
  4. ) ... A son of Robinson, Lewis, called the "Young Governor," about 1810 built a tavern on lot 95 of the same patent, known as the Rowlanson Place. He kept it a good many years and died there. Some of his descendants still reside in town. His daughter, Samantha, now occupies the old place. Calvin and Lewis live in Chazy, Eleazer lives in Plattsburgh, Matthew lives near Potsdam.
  1. ) Cutter Page 92, 93 Daniel, the youngest child of Benjamin and Jerusha (Bingham) Robinson was born 19 May 1757, in Middletown, Connecticut, died 25 March 1838. {Editorial Comment (RRB): This parental assertion, offered by Cutter, claiming that Benjamin and Jerusha Robinson were the parents of the Daniel Robinson of this profile is INCORRECT. The Cromwell Conn. Church record [2] offers clear evidence that Daniel Robinson, husband of Thankful Sage was the son of Amos Robinson. } He was a soldier of the Revolution, enlisting 19 May 1775, and served until 12 June 1783, when he was discharged. He removed from Middleton, Conn. to Plattsburgh, New York and lived on Margaret St. of the town and other points in Clinton County. He was known as "Governor" Robinson, and had a mill on the Saranac River, near Plattsburgh, {Editorial Comment (RRB): the narrative from which this text was clearly derived, [6] states that this grist mill was owned by the Platts.} and was carried down the stream in a freshet while trying to save some of the machinery. He said he rode on the millstone for about one hundred rods, and the discovery of the millstone after the flood had subsided a the point where he was rescued seemed to confirm the tale. One who knows the power of waters in flood can easily conceive of their bearing a millstone 100 rods , though no one believes it will float in still or ordinarily moving waters. He married 25 Sept 1783 Thankful Sage of Middletown, born 15 August 1758, died 20 Dec 1837. Children: Polly (died young), Polly, Deborah, Patty, Lewis Samuel, Lucy, Leudiah, Sally, Thankful, Ira, and Lydia.

Sources

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Henry Phelps Johnston (1842-1923), Connecticut Adjutant-General's Office; Record of service of Connecticut men in the I. War of the Revolution, II. War of 1812, III. Mexican War; Hartford, 1889. Public Domain.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Connecticut, Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920, Vol 22 Cromwell Ancestry.com database on-line. Provo, UT, USA: 2013. Connecticut. Church Records Index. Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut. Cromwell First Congregational Church (1715-1875) Title Page
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Vital Records from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (Compiled from articles originally published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.) 1847 Volume 1
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900, Ancestry.com. U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900, [Ancestry.com database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files (NARA microfilm publication M804, 2,670 rolls). Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Talmadge, Col. Benjamin; Memoir of Col. Benjamin Talmadge, Continental Light Dragoons (1776-1783); Gilliss Press, 1904.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton); History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers; J.W. Lewis & Co., Philadelphia; 1880.
  7. ↑ Gillentine, Flora Myers (Historian General), "Lineage Book, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Volume 113," Washington, D.C., Press of Judd and Detweiler Inc., 1930. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000., Book Title: Lineage Book : NSDAR : Volume 113 : 1914. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000. Ancestry.com database on-line. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
  8. ↑ Cutter, William Richard, Genealogical and Family History of Northern New York, Volume I; New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Co. 1910. (Public Domain)

Other Sources

The following section provides a listing of source material that is pertinent to the profile subject, but not presently cited in the narrative text of the profile.

The American Revolution:

Connecticut Regiments in the Revolutionary War:

The Battle of Long Island:

Sheldons's 2nd Regiment of Light Dragoons;

YouTube Library

Collection of YouTube videos of various battle sites mentioned in the Daniel Robinson story:

If you enjoyed the story of Daniel Robinson, the following video is a must see. It is a collaborative video prepared by the historians of "Sheldon's Horse" and the Pound Ridge Historical Society. The video may be accessed here, (35 min). Note this hot-link will take you to an index page of the Pound Ridge Historical Society, once there you will need to scroll down to the icons near the bottom of the page and activate the icon labeled, "The Raid on Pound Ridge, NY 1779."

Excellent power point presentation by Eric Chandler on Sheldon's Horse presented to the Norwalk Historical Society.





Collaboration


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