“Very much subject to the Poorly’s”

Here’s my favorite Revolutionary document of the month, from the William Bond Papers at the University of California at San Diego library.

It’s labeled “James Richardson / Discharge,” and it reads:

Prospect Hill March 10th. 1776

James Richardson of Capt. [Abijah] Child’s Company & 25th. Regiment, being a Lazy, Idle Fellow, unwilling to do his Duty, & very much subject to the Poorly’s he is therefore Discharg’d from the Continental Service, he having provided Silas Lamson (a much better Man than himself,) to take his place, and serve the remainder of the time for which said Richardson was Inlisted—————

William Bond was from Watertown, as was Abijah Child. Bond became a Continental Army colonel in July 1775, taking over from Thomas Gardner, who died of wounds suffered at Bunker Hill. He led the regiment until 31 Aug 1776, when he died from illness at Mount Independence.

Among the many entries for James Richardsons in Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, a man from Woburn is linked to Bond’s regiment. He enlisted in May 1775 and served the rest of that year. He was, incidentally, set down as 5'9" tall.

The one entry in those volumes for Silas Lamson describes a man from Greenwich, then out in Hampshire County (and now under the Quabbin Reservoir). He’s listed as serving under Col. Jonathan Brewer in the second half of 1775, which is odd since Brewer and most of his men came from Middlesex County.

One notable detail about this document is the date of 10 Mar 1776. That was just as it became clear that the British military was about to leave Boston. Col. Bond no longer needed to have so many men immediately on hand, but he did need someone reliable for the regiment’s next assignment.