Don Hagist on Drummer Thomas Walker’s War

Don Hagist, author of British Soldiers, American War and editor of the Journal of the American Revolution, is my go-to advisor on British military records. 

Every so often Don unearths a new gem of information about redcoats who served in Massachusetts, such as the record of Edward Montgomery and Mathew Kilroy, the two privates convicted of manslaughter after the Boston Massacre, retiring in 1776 just before the 29th Regiment was sent back to North America. 

Now as a guest blogger Don shares another new discovery about a soldier prominent in Boston 250 years ago:

In the months leading up to the Boston Massacre, a number of altercations occurred between soldiers of the 14th and 29th Regiments of Foot and civilians in Boston. One of the best-known soldiers involved in these scuffles was Thomas Walker, a drummer in the 29th Regiment.

The 29th’s drummers were of African heritage, but those those whose place of birth is known were born in the Caribbean—Jamaica, St. Kitts, St. Domingo, Antigua. The first of them joined the regiment in 1759 and were replaced by others as attrition demanded, well into the nineteenth century.

The earliest surviving muster rolls for the regiment indicate that Walker was already serving as a drummer in 1765. He was a key player in the fighting that occurred at the ropewalks in Boston on March 1, 1770. He is frequently mentioned in this context, but what about his subsequent career?

The 29th Regiment was removed from Boston soon after the events of March 5, 1770, and after a few more years in other American colonies they returned to Great Britain. Their stay in the home islands was not long, though; the outbreak of war in American necessitated a significant military buildup there, and in early 1776 the 29th Regiment was ordered overseas once more.

As a drummer in the regiment’s grenadier company, Walker may have been among the first ashore when the regiment landed in Quebec in June 1776 to relieve the besieged city. With several other regiments, they drove American forces out of Canada and up Lake Champlain. Walker may have been among the 29th’s soldiers that served on board British ships and gunboats at the battle of Valcour Island in October.

After spending a cold Canadian winter dispersed in various locations between Quebec and the northern end of Lake Champlain, the British army regrouped for a new campaign in 1777. While most of the 29th Regiment remained in Canada, their light infantry company and grenadier company, including Thomas Walker, went with the army under General John Burgoyne up Lake Champlain. The grenadier battalion, formed of grenadier companies from ten regiments, was involved in some of the campaign’s hottest fighting including the battles of Hubbardton, Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights. The campaign ground to a halt in October and Burgoyne’s army capitulated in October. Thomas Walker became a prisoner of war.

The prisoners were marched to the outskirts of Boston where they spent the winter in crude barracks on Winter Hill and Prospect Hill. From here Walker had a good view of the city where he had spent two years almost a decade before. The following summer the prisoners were moved inland to Rutland, Massachusetts. In November they were marched Albemarle, Virginia, where they arrived in the January snow for two more years in poorly-constructed barracks.

British campaigning in Virginia in 1781 provoked yet another overland march for the beleaguered prisoners, this time to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The prisoners arrived there on June 16. Since their capture in 1777, they had walked over 1,000 miles from prison camp to prison camp. By this time, only four men of the 29th Regiment’s grenadier company remained, the others having escaped, deserted, or died.

Thomas Walker got to Lancaster, but his time had run out; by the time a list was made of the prisoners, on July 18, Drummer Thomas Walker was “dead in the Barracks.” The cause of his demise is not known. Dying in captivity was a sad end for a man who had served as a soldier for over sixteen years.

I’m struck by how Drummer Walker remained with his dwindling company, not escaping and deserting. As a black man, he may have seen fewer opportunities to move around in American society. And he may have commanded more respect as an army drummer than he expected as an unattached black laborer. 

Thanks again, Don!

Fort Plain Museum’s American Revolution Conference, 9-12 June

The 2016 Conference on the American Revolution in the Mohawk Valley will take place on 9-12 June. I’ll be one of many speakers at this event, organized by folks at the Fort Plain Museum in New York. It’s designed both to introduce visitors to the Revolutionary War sites of central New York state and to bring in speakers on the whole conflict.

On Thursday, 9 June, there will be a “Western Frontier Bus Tour” taking registrants to many historic sites in western Mohawk County: Fort Plain/Fort Rensselaer, the General Herkimer Home, the 1747 Nellis Tavern, the Van Alstyne Homestead & Tavern, Fort Klock, the Palatine Church, the Stone Arabia and Klock’s Battlefields, the Stone Arabia Churches, and the grave of Colonel John Brown.

On Friday, 10 June, a second tour covers the “Sites of Eastern Mohawk Country”: Fort Johnson Historic Landmark, Fort Hunter (Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site), Johnson Hall State Historic Site, the Drumm House, the Tryon County Courthouse, the Colonial Cemetery, the Fort Johnstown Jail, the Johnstown Battlefield, the Montgomery County History & Archives, and the Kateri Indian Museum (Liberty Pole Site).

The conference presentations will take place over the weekend at Fulton-Montgomery Community College in Johnston, New York.

The program on Saturday, 11 June, includes:

• Bruce Venter, “The Battle of Hubbardton: The Rear Guard Action that Saved America”
• James Kirby Martin, “Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero: An American Warrior Reconsidered”
• Edward G. Lengel, “First Entrepreneur: How George Washington Built His and the Nation’s Prosperity”
• Lois Huey, “Molly Brant: A Legacy Of Her Own”
• Todd Braisted, “Grand Forage 1778: The Battleground Around New York City”
• J. L. Bell, “The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War”

Don Hagist of British Soldiers, American Revolution will deliver the keynote presentation during that evening’s banquet at the Historic 1765 Goose Van Alstyne Tavern in Canajoharie.

On the morning of Sunday, 12 June, the presenters will be:

• Darren Bonaparte, “Colonel Louis Cook, Oneidas at Oriskany”
• Philip D. Weaver, “The 3rd New Jersey in the Mohawk Valley”

The last event will be a panel discussion of archeology at New York’s Revolutionary War fortifications featuring Dr. Amy Roache-Fedchenko on Fort Stanwix (Fort Schuyler), Dr. Susan Maguire on Fort Niagara, Dr. Douglas Pippin on Fort Haldimand, Aaron Gore on Fort Oswegatchie, and Wayne Lenig on Fort Plain/Fort Rensselaer.

Registration for the conference (including Saturday lunch) and the Saturday banquet are each $50 per person. The bus tours are each an additional $35. For more information and registration forms, please visit the host’s Facebook page.