David Hamilton – Revolutionary War

Letter in Revolutionary War Pension File:

While residing in said Sharon [on?] May 1775 he enlisted and served as a private five months in Captain William G. Hubbell’s Company, Colonel Charles Webb’s Connecticut Regiment. In May 1786 he enlisted and served as a private five months in Captain Simeon Smith’s Company, Colonel Bradley’s Connecticut Regiment.

In January or February 1777 he enlisted and served as a Corporal three months and as a Sergeant three years and six months in Captain Josiah Stoddard’s Company, Colonel Elisha Sheldon’s Second Continental Dragoons. He was in the battle of Brandywine and the battle of Germantown where he was severely wounded by a shot in the breast and in the face by the cut of a broad sword, was captured and carried to a hospital in Philadelphia, then confined in the “new jail” until the British evacuated the city when he was placed on the prison ship “Enterprise” and taken to New York where he was exchanged the last of November 1778 and rejoined his regiment at White Plains.

He was allowed pension from January 26, 1809 on account of disability resulting from said wounds. In 1833 he was a resident of Ira, Cayuga County, New York where he died March 13, 1840 leaving children, Pamelia Smith, Maria Valentine and Luther Hamilton who died in June 1850 leaving wife and children whose names are not stated. Soldier’s wife Millicent died several years prior to his death.

Note: after wife Millicent Marks died Nov. 3, 1805, he married Rachel Church and they had three children.

Connecticut Men in the Revolutionary War:

Stature: 5’7″, Complexion: light, Eyes: dark, Hair: dark.

Family links:

Spouse:

Rachel Church Hamilton (1759 – 1822)*

copied from: The genealogical and biographical history of the Manning families of New York, by William Henry Manning, pp. 786-787

65. THADDEUS MANNING was a Revolutionary soldier. He enlisted at Sharon, Ct., 1777, Jan. 18, as a private; promoted corporal 1778, May. He was previously a farmer. Was in the 3d Troop, Col. Elisha Sheldon’s Light Dragoons, 1777-80, of which the adjutant was Jeronimus Hoagland. The above is from the Revolutionary Rolls of Ct., which, in addition, thus describe him: Height, 5 ft , 8 1-2 in.; complexion light; eyes gray; hair brown; killed 1780, Aug. 18. More light is thrown upon the rank he attained, and on the particulars of his death, by a letter written at the time by a fellow officer to Thaddeus’ widow, and of which a copy was furnished some years ago by his grandson of the same name [Thaddeus Manning, born 1809, Dec. 19], and which is here given:

North Castle Aug. 18, 1780. Madam. It is with extreme sorrow that I am obliged at this time to open a Correspondence with you on a subject that gives me the greatest pain. I cannot without dropping a sympathetic Tear Inform you that by a most unlucky accident your husband Thaddeus Manning (a Capt. in my Troop) was killed last evening by a buckshot which entered an artery in the back of his head and Penetrated his brains—he was last night on Duty below our lines, where he Commanded a party & there fell In with Serj. David Hamilton who was also out with a party, they each mistook the other for the Enemy & when poor Manning was hailed and desired to stand, he Immediately ordered his party to charge, and gave Hamilton’s Party a fire & push’d through them Supposing them to be the Enemy; on which Serj. Hamilton’s party who likewise took him to be the Enemy fired & killed poor Manning & Wounded Dan1. Patchen before they Discovered who each other were—Hamilton had one ball & one bock shot flr’d through his Jacket but was not hurt—This afternoon your husband will be buried, the whole Reg’, will attend & we shall shew him every mark of respect that (in our present situation) Can be Confer’d on a brave worthy man—I hope it will be Some Consolation for you to hear, that he has at all times behaved well. I assure you from the Colonel to the private Soldier, all lament the loss of so brave & Good a soldier—I shall take particular care of his property in your behalf & by the next Conveyance shall Send you his Property; the Necessary Certificates &c &c. If I Can Do you any Service pray Command me—I am in haste your Real friend,

Jero» Hoagland, Cap’. 2d Reg’. Dr. Dragoons.”

From this letter it will be seen that Thaddeus had reached the rank of captain, and if the letter was correctly dated, the date of his death was Aug. 17, not the 18th, as given in the Rolls. His home, at the time of his death, was Durham, Ct., and descendants know he was “young, “then, but they do not know where or when he was born, nor what was his parentage. The present writer long entertained the belief (and has not wholly abandoned it) that he was a son of David and Anne Manning, of Sharon, Ct. [Cambridge family, No. 121]. His probable age and the fact that he enlisted at Sharon favor this theory. The name of “Thadeus Maning,” so spelled, occurs, in 1775, in the list of patriot “Associators” in Northeast Precinct, Duchess Co., N. Y. (which lies adjoining Sharon), and is, it might seem, that of the same Thaddeus. He may have continued to reside there, and have gone to Sharon to enlist, in which case his motive was either that Sharon was the home of his family or that he took the step simply because enlistment was in progress there, and not because of any family tie. He married (probably during the war, though the date is lacking) Elizabeth Parsons, of Durham, Ct. This place is remote from New York, and, while the circumstantial evidence is not conclusive, the fact appears to point to affiliation with the State of Ct. and its people, such as would be natural if it were the home of his ancestors. The uncertainty which exists as to the full number of the children of the above David Manning [121] leaves room for Thaddeus, as far as is known, but the compiler has failed to find, among David’s known descendants, any one who remembers a Thaddeus by tradition, or the tragic death in war of any member of the family at that time. Capt. Thaddeus had but one child (see below).

David Hamilton—According to the D. A. R. Lineage book this veteran was born in 1756, and died in Syracuse in 1840. He married Rachel Churchill, and enlisted from Sharon, Ct., in a company of dragoons. In 1790 his name appeared in Blandford, Mass. Mr. Wm. T. Matson, however, writes: “There is one David Hamilton buried at the Ira and South Hannibal Union cemetery, about four miles N. W. from the village of Lysander. The inscription on his headstone shows that he was born Dec. 18th, 1756, and died March 14th, 1840.”