1760; 4th Regiment, Essex Co., MA Militia; Col. Richard SALTONSTALL (1732-1785)
I am researching someone who was “Soldier in the Pay of the Province in Colo Saltonstalls Regiment in 1760.”
According to an abstract from the Harvard University Archives at…
http://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/collection/data/6561535...… Col. Richard Saltonstall commanded the 4th Regiment of the Essex Co., MA Militia in 1760:
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Soldier and Loyalist Richard Saltonstall (1732-1785) was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts on March 5, 1732, to Richard Saltonstall (1703-1756) and Abigail (Waldron) Saltonstall. He attended Harvard College, receiving an A.B. in 1751 and an A.M. in 1754. He received his first commission into the Army of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1754 and served for almost a decade, commanding a regiment in the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Saltonstall was also appointed a justice of the peace in 1758, sent to the House of Representatives in 1761, and selected as Sheriff of Essex County in 1763. He was a Loyalist and thus came under increasing threat in the years preceding the American Revolution. In 1774, he left his home in Haverhill to live in Boston, which was considered safer, and in 1776 he was among those who evacuated Boston for England, where he lived for the rest of his life. He never married. Richard Saltonstall died in London on October 5, 1785.
These three Commissions to the Provincial Army were issued to Richard Saltonstall in 1754, 1760, and 1762; each was issued by a different Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The first commission, issued on June 6, 1754, appoints Saltonstall "Colonel of the Fourth Regiment of Militia in the County of Essex, & Captain of the first Foot-Company in the Town of Haverhill." It is signed by Governor William Shirley and Secretary Josiah Willard. The second commission was issued on March 5, 1760 and appoints Saltonstall "to be Lieutenant Colonel of the fourth Regiment of Militia in the County of Essex [...] and Captain of the first Military Company of Foot in the Town of Haverhill." It is signed by Governor Thomas Pownall and Secretary Andrew Oliver. The third commission, issued on March 4, 1762, appoints him "to be Colonel of a Regiment of Foot [...] to be employed in his Majesty's Service under the Commander in Chief of his Majesty's forces in North America." This commission is signed by Governor Francis Bernard (directly under his seal) and by Secretary John Cotton.
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What details are available on the history of this regiment? Where did they travel? What battles did they fight?
Thanks for your help,
Perry Streeter (
perry@streeter.com)