Military History

The following data is extracted from History of Croydon, Sullivan County, New Hampshire.

Revolutionary War

The sympathies of the first settlers of Croydon were early enlisted in the Revolutionary struggle. Soon after the Battle of Lexington, they sent Eleazer Leland and Abner Brigham to join the Provincial army; enrolled a company of twelve minute-men; raised eight pounds to purchase a town supply of ammunition, and chose Moses Whipple, Stephen Powers, Phineas Sanger, Abner Brigham and Joseph Hall a "committee of safety." In 1777 nine men from Croydon joined a company of militia, commanded by Captain Solomon Chase, of Cornish, and marched to Ticonderoga. Eight men joined the company of Captain Hardy, of Hanover, and united with the forces of General Stark, at Charlestown. Captain Moses Whipple, with a company composed partly of men from Cornish, "turned out" to stop the progress of Burgoyne. Croydon maintained its interest and contributed its full share of men and means until the close of the war.

   The following is an imperfect list of those citizens who served in the Revolutionary War:

 

Bazaleel Barton	Stephen Powers
Benjamin Barton	Urias Powers
Abner Brigham	David Powers
Cornel Chase	Samuel Powers
John Cooper, Jr.	David Putnam
Joel Cooper	Caleb Putnam
Sherman Cooper	Jacob Hall
Ezra Cooper	Benjamin Sherman
Benjamin Cutting	Ezekiel Rooks
John Druce	Daniel Rooks
Amos Dwinnell	David Stockwell
Enoch Emerson	Phineas Sanger
Timothy Fisher	John Sanger
Ezra Hall	Isaac Sanger
Daniel Emerson	Robert Spencer
Edward Hall, Jr.	Benjamin Swinnerton
Amos Hagar	Benjamin Thompson
Bazaleel Gleason	Greshorn Ward
Jonas Cutting	Aaron Warren
James How	Moses Warren
Abijah Hall	Moses Whipple
James Hall	Thomas Whipple
Joseph Hall	Aaron Whipple
Samuel R. Hall	Isaac Woolson
Eleazer Leland	Nathaniel Wheeler
Rufus King	Samuel Whipple
Rufus Kempton	Seth Wheeler
Phineas Newton

War of 1812

The following is an incomplete list of the citizens of Croydon who served in the War of 1812.

 

Major, Abijah Powers	Ensign, Amasa Hall
Private, Nathaniel Wheeler	Private, Samuel Powers
Private, Charles Cutting	Private, Elijah Darling
Private, Levi Winter	Private, Sibley Melendy
Private, Isaac Cooper	Private, Abijah Dunbar
Private, Tyler Walker

The Rebellion

The following is an imperfect list of those citizens who served in the Union Army during the Rebellion:

Chaplains Robert Stinson, Anthony C. Hardy; Captains John W. Putnam, E. Darwin Comings; Lieutenants Paine Durkee, Albert Miner, (wounded at Fair Oaks); Sergeants Oscar D. Allen, (wounded at Antietam, killed at Gettsyburg), Lloyd D. Forehand, (wounded at Fair Oaks), John Blanchard, (wounded), Hiram K. Darling, William D. Angell, (died in the service); Corporals George E. Frye, (killed at Chancellosville), Alvah K. Davis, Henry H. Haynes, Irving D. Tobie, Ephraim Plympton; Privates Alonzo Allen, (wounded at Fair Oaks), Thomas Ames, (died in service), George Angell Jr., Sanford T. Barton, (wounded at Fair Oaks), Henry Barton, (killed in battle), Frederick J. Burge, William Bushy, Charles Baggatt, Charles L. Bryant, Rufus W. Clark, Alonzo C. Crooker, John Cabner, James P. Darling, (wounded), Warren K. Darling, Walter P. Darling, George S. Davis, (died), Robert Dinsmore, Leroy Forehand, Stephen G. Ford, George H. Goodhue, Jeremiah Haynes, Charles C. Howard, (wounded), Franklin J. Hersey, (killed at Fair Oaks), Philip Harding, (killed at second battle of Bull Run), Edward Hall, Hiram C. Hall, Charles N. Harridon, Herman Jacobs, Ambrose Jerome, Charles K. Jackson, (died), John A. Johnson, W. Wallace Kidder, Thomas Mack, Abraham Nutting, Elias F. Powers, (died at Poolesville, MD., February 17, 1863), Charles S. Partridge, Theodore H. Payne, Nathan Peyton, Isaac P. Rawson, George H. Ross, Albert F. Robbins, John Riley, Henry H. Stockwell, (killed at Fair Oaks), John G. Stockwell, (died at Harper's Ferry), Henry H. Squires, Charles L. Stockwell, (mortally wounded), George N. Smith, George Tasker, Austin L. Whipple, (died in service), Emile Warren, (died at Andersonville Prison).

A few of the above were substitutes, and not actual citizens of the town. Twenty-five of them enlisted in the early part of the war, and received but ten dollars bounty. They were all volunteers. The highest bounty paid by the town was one hundred dollars per year. No citizen of Croydon is known to have deserted from the army during the war. Many of them re-enlisted and served until the close of hostilities.

The following are a few of the many natives of Croydon who enlisted from other places during the war:

Chaplain Joseph Sargent, (died in the service); Surgeons Ira W. Bragg, (naval surgeon, died in the service), Sherman Cooper, David C. Powers, Marshall Perkins, Willard O. Hurd, Willard C. Kempton; Captain Walter Forehand; Liutenant Edward Dow; Shapr-Shooter Sergeant Walter P. Blanchard; Privates Leonard Barton, (mortally wounded in battle), Peter Barton, Hiram E.W. Barton, Edward W. Collins, (wounded at first Bull Run battle), David R. Eastman, Marshall P. Hurd, (killed at Antietam), Henry Humphrey, (died in the service), Orren Marsh, Simeon Partridge, Dexter Stewart, Stephen M. Thornton, John Thornton, George H. Thornton, (died in the service), Horace P. Hall.

Croydon has furnished to the militia of the State the following officers:

Maj.-Gen. N. Emery

Colonels

 

Jarvis Adams	Calvin Kempton
Otis Cooper	Samuel Powers
Freeman Dunbar	Nathan Wheeler, Jr.
Daniel R. Hall	Moses Whipple

Majors

 

Abijah Powers	Lemuel P. Cooper
Peter Stow

The Croydon Light Infantry, and subsequently the Rifle Company, with their tasty uniforms and equipments and fine drill, were for many years a source of pride to the town.

Source: History of Croydon, Sullivan County, New Hampshire

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