Revolutionary War Soldier Joses Bucknam:

Another Unexpected Military Experience

Joses Bucknam, my 5X great grandfather was born on 7 March 1761 in Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts, the son of James Bucknam and Mary Goddard. In a family of eleven children, Joses was a middle child at #7.

Joses was also of militia age in 1776 when the American Revolution began and I was hoping to find a Revolutionary War ancestor so I could join the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. This was way before the internet age, so research was done in person at libraries and via the U.S. post office. I kept my mail lady very busy!

Joses was not in the DAR Patriot Index so no one had previously joined under any service he might have had so, if I could prove that he served, a new Patriot Ancestor would be added to the database.

Youngsters have no real idea about war and Joses was probably like most other young men in Medford. After the Battle of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775 and with all of the pro-independence families in town, Joses must have been chomping at the bit, waiting to do his part because he enlisted for a three year term as a private in Captain Child’s Company, part of Colonel Greaton’s 3^rd Massachusetts Regiment on 3 March 1777, a few days before his sixteenth birthday.

His service was somewhat fluid with men being sent where they were most needed because a return of men serving in Lieutenant Stephen Hall’s Company, 1^st Massachusetts Regiment includes the name of Joses Bucknam on 19 February 1778.

Joses’s Army pay accounts show his service pay from 3 March 1777 until 31 December 1779 and mentions that he served in Captain Abijah Child’s Company, part of Colonel John Greaton’s Regiment and also in Captain Joseph Williams’ Light Infantry, also in Col. Greaton’s Regiment.

However, records then show that he had deserted! How could this be?

To be fair, there was a lot of chaos happening during the war. Yes, men went AWOL because they had to get back to their families, but then returned voluntarily to service. Others were listed as deserters simply because they were missing after a battle and their whereabouts were unknown. Some of those men had been killed, some taken prisoner and some simply separated from their companies during the altercations.

What happened to Joses?

He actually applied for a military pension in the early 1818 group of men and he had a story to tell. His actual pension file documents aren’t the easiest to read with a combination of not-so-great cursive and some blurry images. However, descendants had written for information about Joses’ war service and there is a typed response from the National Archives clerk who abstracted information.

His initial military experience occurred when he was only fifteen years old:

While a resident of Medford, Massachusetts, he enlisted in July 1776, and served six months as private in Captain Hall’s Massachusetts Company, on the expedition to Ticonderoga. . . .

The “Captain Hall” from Massachusetts who was at Ticonderoga is further identified in other records as Lieutenant Stephen Hall. Joses’ mentioned General Burgoyne. That siege took place from 2-6 July 1777 and ended with British victory.

Joses’ original deposition:

I, Joses Bucknam of Mason in the County of Hillsborough and State of New Hampshire and formerly of Medford Ma) Husbandman, depose that I enlisted as a Private soldier in July AD 1776 into the Massachusetts’ line in the Continental Service and then served against the common enemy six months and then reenlisted and served three months longer as a Guard, and at the end thereof again enlisted, as a Private Soldier, into the 3d Massachusetts Regiment in said Service for three years: and then faithfully served against the common enemy till within one month of the expiration of said time, when I was taken prisoner and honorably discharged December 20^th, 1780, as appears by the annexed certificate.

Joses further explained that his service as a “Guard” was at Fort Hill in Boston. This fort wasn’t the site of any real skirmishes, but it was located on a hill overlooking Boston, which made it strategically important during the war.

His final enlistment for a three year term is dated 3 March 1777:

The Battle of Stony Point took place on 16 July 1779 in Rockland County, New York, just outside of New York City. Interestingly, to me, is that I lived in Wayne, New Jersey, named for General “Mad” Anthony Wayne, who not only commanded this battle, but it was at this time that “Mad” was added to his name due to his actions on the battlefield.

The general suffered a head wound when he was hit by a musket ball. In spite of his injury, he was carried into the fort with his sword ready and the British took heavy losses with 600 men dead compared to 100 patriots.

It was during this enlistment that Joses was taken prisoner in February 1780 and held in New York [City] until he was part of a prisoner exchange on 20 December 1780 at West Point, New York.

Few details are provided about Joses’ final days of service, which extended far past the closing of his 3-year enlistment in 1777.

Subsequently, he went to Salem [Massachusetts], entered on board an armed ship, after several weeks was taken prisoner again, carried to Ireland, thence to England, was tried and sent to Mill Prison, went on a Letter of Marque [a government license that authorizes private individuals or ships to attack and capture enemy vessels during wartime] to the West Indies, and after the proclamation of Peace, returned home.

These four lines of details don’t come close to describing Joses’ time as a prisoner of war in the closing years of the Revolutionary War. It was in April 1781 that Joses enlisted to serve on board a 20 gun ship. The “few weeks later” happened in June 1781, when they were defeated by a 36 gun British frigate.

I’ve crossed the Atlantic in 3000+ passenger cruise ships with stabilizers. I don’t think I would have cared much for frigate travel, especially being locked in the bottom of the ship.

The trip to England might well have been the less scary event compared to life in Old Mill Prison.

First, colonial prisoners could be charged with treason, which meant facing possible execution.

Captured officers fared better than enlisted men. As Joses was a private, he didn’t enjoy any of the niceties given to those of higher rank. Joses’s daily rations consisted of something like one pound of bread, a quart of beer, 3/4 pound of beef and one cup of peas five times a week. Not only was nutrition there very poor, but the bread was said to have been baked with many straw ends in it.

His bed would have been straw on the ground. If he arrived at the prison with any decent clothes still existing, they would have been taken from him and replaced with wornout rags.

Medical care was almost non-existent. Scourges of smallpox killed some of the prisoners, other maladies and injuries brought on the deaths of others.

The only hope for these men was escape or exchange. Even if they escaped, they faced the huge obstacle of where next to go. With no money and no local family or friends to help them, they had little chance of remaining free and even less of a chance to return to the colonies.

It wasn’t until 1781 that the British recognized men classified as “prisoners of war.” Before then, they were just plain rebels or considered outright criminals. No written record exists today detailing any escape attempts made by Joses, but a year after he was captured, he was part of a prisoner exchange of British and rebel troops. Benjamin Franklin was an integral part of the efforts to successfully implement these exchanges.

Joses stated in his pension affadavit that he was freed in June 1782, but no details are given as to how he arrived back in the colonies and made his way home to his family.

They must have been shocked when Joses appeared!

Joses didn’t marry until well after the war ended. On 19 September 1786, he married Abigail Hay of Stoneham, Massachusetts. They were the parents of eleven children, three of whom married and had children. They lived in Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts until c1794. By February 1795, the birth of son Caleb was recorded in Mason, Hillsborough, New Hampshire, where Joses lived until he died on 18 April 1835.

Abigail survived him by 19 years. She died on 19 September 1854, on what would have been her 58^th wedding anniversary, in Glenburn, Penobscot, Maine, where she lived with her daughter Mary Goddard (Bucknam) Scripture’s family.

I have visited the graves of both Joses and Abigail. I also established Joses Bucknam as a new Patriot Ancestor in the Daughters of the American Revolution and it was under him that I joined the society.

Looking back at the title of this post – it’s difficult to say whether Joses was ever truly a deserter. If he did go AWOL, there must have been a good reason because he returned time and again to fight for American independence until the British were defeated.