Nine-Months Men at Fishkill 1

The State of Massachusetts-Bay, in the House of Representatives, on April 20, 1778 passed a "Resolve for filling up and compleating the fifteen battalions of Continental troops, directed to be raised in the state of Massachusetts-Bay." According to Blandford Soldiers and Sailors, seven men were "enlisted to Serve in the Continental Army for the term of Nine Months" and started arriving at Fishkill in mid-June 1778. Their enlistments would have expired mid-March 1779. I'm posting on each of these men.

The Nine-Month's men:

• Samuel Hubbard
• Arunah Judd (1747-1836)
• Stephen Kibby
• David Knox (1758-1852)
• Peter Smith(1751- ? )
• William Kennedy
• James Morton

Kennedy and Morton were never actually required to fulfill this duty. Hubbard and Judd were taken from Capt. William Cannon's company, when Cannon retired in 1778. Kibby, Knox and Smith were taken from Capt. William Knox's company. Of these seven men, only David Knox is mentioned (and it's a brief mention) in Ulster Scots and Blandford Scouts.

Here's what I've learned about Abel Holden, captain of the company posted at Fishkill to which our nine months Blandford recruits were assigned. I'm also including the two older captains whose companies contributed these soldiers.

Capt. Abel Holden (1752-1818), of Sudbury.

• Sergeant, Capt. John Nixon's co. of Minute-men, Col. Abijah Pierce's regt., which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775; service 5 days;
• also, Adjutant; list of officers of Col. John Nixon's regt.; resolved in Committee of Safety at Cambridge June 5, 1775, that said officers be approved and recommended to Congress for commissions;
• ordered in Provincial Congress June 5, 1775, that commissions be delivered said officers; also, Adjutant Col. John Nixon's regt.; engaged April 24, 1775; service to Aug. 1, 1775, 3 mos. 15 days; roll dated Camp at Winter Hill;
• also, Col. Nixon's (5th) regt.; list of field and staff officers appearing on a return of Capt. Joseph Butler's (1st) co., dated Winter Hill, Sept. 30, 1775;
• also, receipt given to Benjamin Heywood, Paymaster, 4th regt., dated Camp Mt. Washington,  Sept. 27, 1776, signed by said Holden, Adjutant, and others, for money for enlisting recruits;
• also, 2d Lieutenant, Capt. Micajah Gleason's (3d) co., Lieut. Col. Thomas Nixon's (4th) regt., regimental return dated North Castle, Nov. 9, 1776; reported acting as Adjutant;
• also, Lieutenant and Adjutant, 4th regt.; receipts given to Benjamin Heywood, Paymaster, for wages for Sept.-Dec., 1776;
• also, Captain, Col. Thomas Nixon's regt.; Continental Army pay accounts for service from Jan. 1, 1777 to Dec. 31, 1779;
• also, Captain, 7th co., Col. Nixon's (4th) regt.; muster roll of field, staff, and commissioned officers dated Van Schaick's Island, Sept. 2, 1777, and sworn to in Camp near Stillwater; appointed Jan. 1, 1777; reported recruiting;
• also, same co. and regt.; muster roll of field, staff, and commissioned officers for Nov. and Dec., 1777, dated Albany;
• also, same regt.; abstract for rations allowed between July 1, 1777, and Jan. 1, 1778, certified at Albany; said Holden credited with 113 days allowance;
• also, same regt.; return of officers for clothing, dated Boston, April 30, 1778;
• also, 7th co., Col. Nixon's regt.; muster roll of field, staff, and commissioned officers made up from Jan. 3, 1778, to May 4, 1778; reported furloughed by Maj. Thompson for 40 days from March 10, 1778;
• also, same regt.; return of officers, dated Boston, Nov. 24, 1778, and who had not been absent subsequently except on furlough, certified in Camp at Peekskill, Feb. 16, 1779;
• also, Col. Nixon's (5th) regt.; muster roll for May, 1779, dated Highlands;
• also, Captain, 6th Mass. regt.; list of settlements of rank of Continental officers dated West Point, made by a Board held for the purpose and confirmed by Congress Sept. 6, 1779; commissioned Jan. 1, 1777;
• also, Captain, Light Infantry co., Col. Nixon's 96th) regt; Continental Army pay accounts for service from Jan. 1, 1780, to Dec. 31, 1780;
• also Lieut. Col. Calvin Smith's (6th) regt.; return for wages; wages allowed said Holden for Jan.-April, 1781, 4 mos.; reported discharged May 1, 1781, and succeeded by Capt. Mason Wottles;
• also, order on Benjamin Heywood, payable to Lieut. Levi Holden, dated Marlborough, Feb. 21, 1784, signed by said Holden, for wages and subsistence for service in (late) 6th Mass. regt.

The alarm mentioned April 19, 1775 we know as the Battle of Lexington and Concord.

Mount Washington is in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Stillwater is a town on the Hudson river, north of Albany. Highlands refers to the Hudson Highlands, between Fishkill and Peekskill. Van Schaick Island, at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers, was the camp from which Learned's brigade, under the command of Benedict Arnold, went to the aid of Colonel Peter Gansevoort at Fort Schuyler (Stanwick) at what is now Rome, NY. All of these locations, except Mount Washington, are located along the Hudson river. From which I conclude that this unit was protecting the north-south corridor leading to Albany.

Capt. William Knox (1722-1802), of Blandford

• Captain, 6th co., Col. John Mosely's (3rd Hampshire Co.) regt. of Mass. militia; list of officers chosen in said regiment, endorsed "April 26, 1776;" reported commissioned April 26, 1776; 
• also Captain, Lieut. Col. Timothy Robinson's detachment from 3rd Hampshire Co. regt., which marched to Ticonderoga Oct. 21, 1776, by order of Gen. Skyler (Schuyler) to reinforce army at that place; (service not given); 
• also petition dated Blandford, Jan 5, 1779, signed by said Knox, stating that he had served for a considerable time as a Captain of a militia company in Col. John Moseley's (Hampshire Co.) regt., and asking permission to resign his commission on account of age, lameness, and infirmity.

Capt. William Cannon ( ? - 1786), of Blandford

• Captain, 12th co., Col. John Moseley's (3d Hampshire Co.) regt.; list of officers of Mass. militia; commissioned April 26, 1776;
• also, same regt.; company marched to Ticonderoga Oct. 21, 1776, under command of Lieut. Col. Timothy Robinson to reinforce Continental Army; service, 28 days;
• also, petition dated Blandford, Sept. 30, 1778, signed by said Cannon, asking for a discharge from his commission as Captain of the 12th (Blandford) co. in Col. Moseley's (3d Hampshire Co.) regt.; allowed in Council, Oct. 6, 1778. 

This William Knox was father to David Knox of our seven Nine-Month's Men, and himself a veteran of the French and Indian War. Knox quickly volunteered again in May 1776, after the Massachusetts General Assembly declared independence in the name of "The Government and People of the Massachusetts Bay in New England" -- anticipating the Second Continental Congress' more famous declaration by two months.