Thomas Seward, Continental Artillery Officer
Seward also joined the Boston militia artillery company, or train, founded in the early 1760s and commanded for most of that time by Maj. Adino Paddock. As I described in The Road to Concord, Paddock remained a Loyalist while most of the company were Patriots. In September 1774 the train fell apart, and its four brass cannon disappeared from the militia armories under redcoat guard.
By May 1775, Seward was outside Boston. He joined Col. Richard Gridley’s new artillery regiment as a lieutenant and rose to the rank of captain-lieutenant at the end of the year. On 15 July 1776 Henry Knox wrote back from New York to his brother William in Boston:
Pay Mrs Sarah Seward wife of Capt Lt Seward 20 Dollars, and inform her that Cap Seward is well and gone up to the Highland Forts about 50 miles from this City up the river—he lives near [??] ferry—don’t neglect thisThat summer Seward signed a petition to Col. Knox seeking better pay for artillery captain-lieutenants. At the start of 1777, Seward became a captain in charge of his own company in Col. John Crane’s Continental artillery regiment.
Seward shows up in the documents on Founders Online only once during the war, as Gen. George Washington considered ordering him to move from one spot of the lines around New York to another. There are some letters from, to, and about Seward in the papers of Gen. Knox. The Massachusetts Historical Society holds an orderly book he kept in late 1782 with some company returns.
Seward remained in the army until June 1783, and he was given the brevet rank of major that September as a retirement gift, along with a warrant for land.
Seward returned to Boston, his family, and his business. On 7 June 1788 he advertised in the Massachusetts Centinel:
THOMAS SEWARDThis is the only advertisement I’ve found for Seward’s shop. Obviously he was able to keep customers without newspaper promotion. That orderly book also includes some of his personal accounts from the 1790s.
INFORMS the publick, and particularly his friends, that he has REMOVED from the Shop he lately occupied in Dock Square, to STATE STREET, adjoining Mr. Elliot’s Snuff-Store—where he continues to carry on the
HATTER’s BUSINESS—
Where any commands will be punctually executed—and every favour gratefully acknowledged.
TOMORROW: Drawing on military connections.
2 comments:
If Seward enlisted in Gridley's artillery company in May 1775, then he, most likely, was involved in the battle at Bunker Hill where, as you are aware, the artillery regiment didn't exactly cover itself in glory. The one company that apparently did, Capt. Trevett's company, was from Marblehead so it's unlikely that Seward was a member of that company. Seward was probably also involved with ferreting the guns of Ticonderoga to Dorchester Heights.
Yes, Seward was in the provincial army by the time of Bunker Hill, but how involved he was in the battle itself is another question. The artillery regiment was spread out along the siege lines. Gen. Artemas Ward worried that the British would try to break through somewhere else besides Charlestown, and at the end of the day we know there was an artillery battle across the Boston Neck.
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