Know Your Revolutionary War Heroes from North of Boston 

With independence hanging in the balance, this region’s forebears helped tip the scales.

Glover’s Troops Traverse the Frozen Delaware

Colonel John Glover forsook shoemaking, bought a fishing schooner, and soon amassed a fleet of vessels. By the time the “shot heard round the world” was fired, he commanded the Marblehead militia. A trusted friend of George Washington, Glover was enlisted to move supplies and famously rowed Washington’s army across the icy Delaware River. His legacy is kept alive by Glover’s Marblehead Regiment, which holds reenactments at Marblehead’s Fort Sewall.

Pickering’s Supply Chain Seals Capture of Cornwallis

Salem’s Timothy Pickering was a Harvard-educated lawyer who devoted his time to civic duties and penning the widely used An Easy Plan of Discipline for a Militia (read a copy at the Phillips Library in Rowley). As Quartermaster General and a Board of War member, he provisioned the military during the lead-up to the siege of Yorktown and capture of General Cornwallis.

A Cruel Keepsake for Kennison’s Widow

Known as “the first Beverly man to die for his country,” Reuben Kennison was tending fields when church bells signaled the call to action. Wife Apphia outfitted him with a horn of gunpowder, and off he went to the Battle of Menotomy. En route he was shot and bludgeoned by British troops. Heartbroken, Apphia kept his bloodstained shirt for the rest of her days. Find Kennison’s grave at Leech Cemetery in Danvers.

Coffin’s Sand Dunes Dupe the Royal Navy

Spotting a 14-gun sloop in Squam Harbor, Major Peter Coffin of West Gloucester assembled a handful of armed neighbors, who hid behind sand mounds, shooting in rapid fire. Believing they had a bigger fight on their hands, the British retreated to their ship, abandoning their plans to steal sheep and invade Gloucester by land.

Poor’s “Brave and Gallant” Actions Prompt Petition

Salem Poor was born an enslaved person in Andover. He bought his freedom at age 22 for 27 pounds before enlisting. At the Battle of Bunker Hill, he took the life of British Army Lieutenant Colonel James Abercrombie. Fourteen officers petitioned, unsuccessfully, to have him cited for heroism, the only such documented commendation from the American Revolution.

Coburn Carries a Uniquely High Rank

Sampson Coburn joined the service from Cape Ann, fought in William Prescott’s regiment in the Battle of Bunker Hill, and remained on the muster rolls through August 1775. Little is known about his life and service, but his rank of corporal is the highest received by a patriot of color in the American Revolution.

Nurse Hollers from House, Emboldens Cause

When British soldiers decided to walk the streets of Salem looking for weapons hidden by colonists, they didn’t factor in getting yelled at by nurse Sarah Tarrant. From her window she barked at them to go home, and when a musket was pointed at her, she taunted, “Fire, if you have the courage, but I doubt it.” Tarrant and her sharp tongue are at rest in Salem’s  Broad Street Cemetery (she lived to be 85).

Misspelled March Honors General Brickett

Brigadier General James Brickett was a doctor and soldier from West Newbury. Highlights of his career include being injured by a cannonball at Bunker Hill but soldiering on to help the wounded, and later marching prisoners to Cambridge for repatriation to Great Britain, commemorated in the tune “General Bricket’s March.”

Photo: Fort Sewall, Marblehead, by NBCVB 

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This blog is an excerpt from our digital guide “250 Ways to Explore, Discover, and Celebrate North of Boston”. To view the full guide, click here.