Knox during the Revolutionary War

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At the time of the Revolutionary War, all four Hilltowns were part of the West Manor of Rensselaerwyck. After the war ended (1790), Rensselaerville was created from part of the Town of Watervliet and contained what is now Berne, Knox, Rensselaerville, and most of Westerlo. The Hilltown area was either sparsely settled or wilderness at the time of the Revolution. Thus it is difficult for towns to lay claim to home-grown revolutionary war heroes.

Many Revolutionary War veterans came to the area to make use of the "Free Land" promoted by the Rensselaerwyck Patroon, not realizing that they were leasing the land and would never be able to own it. Most town lists include veterans who were born in and fought in militias from other states, but who later settled in the Hilltowns. Below are sources of veterans that Knox claims as her own:

From the Knox Sesquicentennial Booklet (1972) chapter: Knox at War

History records that Knox has always responded patriotically to the country's need in time of War.

Captain Benjamin Fowler, Lt. Henry Dennison (Denison), Capt. Elisha Williams, and James Dyer served in the Revolutionary War and rest in silent majesty at High Point Cemetery. James Dyer has the distinction of having been an orderly to General George Washington. Colonel Asa Abbot's resting place is in a small plot found at the Robert Whipple farm. Amos Torrey, Silas Blodgett, and John Saddlemire also served in this war and are buried in the Knox Cemetery.[1]

June 1, 1840 Census of Pensioners in Knox, Albany County, New York
Name Age Head of family, with whom residing

1934 - Knox is Smallest Town in County of Albany - Altamont Enterprise - October 12, 1934
In the American Revolutionary Period - The Militia of 1775-76
Albany county as it existed at the time of the revolution, first organized seventeen regiments of militia, under the law of 1776. We give the officers of such as belonging wholly or in part to the present Albany county. They were numbered and officered, as found to the Historical records of the state, as follows: First regiment, city of Albany, first company, John Barclay, captain later spelled "Barckley."

Mentioned in Pension application of Peter Young: Private John Jacob Shultes of Knox

Altamont Enterprise - March 23, 1956
A little south of his (Whipple's) old home all the early Whipples lie buried in what is known as High Point or the Whipple cemetery. Here the settlers from Connecticut established a community burying ground as early as 1785. Here we find the Whipples, Chesebroughs, Gallups, Seaburys, Crarys, and Williamses. Here are such Revolutionary heroes as Captain Benjamin Fowler, Lieutenant Henry Dennison, Sergeant Elisha Williams, and George Washington's own orderly, James Dyer, neighbors in Old Mystic and Stonington, neighbors in the wilderness and neighbors in their last resting place.

Biography

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Knox area Men in the Militia

Revolutionary War soldiers buried in Knox:

Sesquicentennial List

  • Benjamin Fowler Captain 1808
  • Gideon Dennison Captain 1826
  • Edward P. Crary 1861

Names mentioned in Landmarks of Albany Country, Parker:

  • Samuel Abbott, from Connecticut
  • Andrew Brown, from Connecticut

Loyalists

Hessian soldiers who settled in Knox

Sources

Mentioned in Landmarks of Albany County, New York

  1. ↑ Knox Sesquicentennial Booklet
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