Engrawd.!ry-J. C.:Buttn, .ftum. ci. ariginalntimature lr,-~.A:::iid!"all.m i:oz:s=imla!'CclJ'olmW.i=Ue-..,.."Yb1:k. • !'mttcci..m.. 1.3:,0 . .. LIEDT. COL. r'IEST ERODE ISLAJJD REGIMENT, A~r--.H OF THE A!-AERiCAN REVOLUTION. J3om 1Jov.J.'i'"- 1756. IJieiL~.16 th 1832. A MEMOIR FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT, ARMY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION; WITH A GENEALOGY OF THE \\TARD FAMILY. BY JOHN WARD NEW YORK. 1875. ,-===-=================-------.' :I 'I 'I !I ' I: I II I ,I il rI! ! ,i !I jl 1: ' 1: I I '.' \·. t. ,... \ ·. \' .fr:.!11 th<" origm;il .P9rtrait in Ccl. 7rumbu.ll's Picture of tbe Su:n:cnd.er ~! Lord. .Cornwallis_ "P11in:ted fm= ltfe at Paris in 1'78'7. D. C. ktinm~n Sc. JE'.Al\i"-F-!AF'TISTF. DONATIEN DE "VIME1JR. P REJ:t" ACE. Tars sketch was prepared for the July number of the New York Gene­ alogical and Biographical Record, from family letters and other manu­ scripts in the possession of the author. The various journals of the expedition to Quebec have also been consulted. ~ It is to be regretted that Lieut.-Col. Ward's private journal of the expedition is no longer in existence. The Life of Major-General Nathanael Greene, by George W. Greene ; Washington's Letters ( edited by Jared Sparks) ; and the " Order Book" kept by CoL Christopher Greene's Acting Adjutant-General, em­ bodying Gen. Sullivan's orders, etc., have also been carefully consulted. The Genealogy of the Ward Family has been prepared with great care fron1 the family records, with the assistance of a paper jointly compiled froa1 the saiue sources by Henry T. Drowne, and the author, and with the valu­ able aid ofJohn R. Bartletts Rhode Island Colonial Records. Governor Samuel Ward's life has been written by William Gammell, and will be found in the ninth volume of Sparks' Library of American Biogr_,aphy. It will be seen that an untimely death alone prevented his becoming one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, and thereby reaping the fruit of his great labors in the Contin~ntal Congress. Lieut.-Col. Ward's life has also been written by Professor Gammell as a closing portion of the biography just alluded to. WiUiam G. Goddard has described him in his biographical notices of graduates of Brown University : he has also been honorably mentioned by the Rev. Edwin M. Stone, in the sixth volume of the Collections of the Rhode Island Hirtorical Society. On the 15th of August, 1775, Governor Ward wrote from Westerly, R. I., to his son at Cambridge : "It gives me inexpressible pleasure to find Gen­ eral '\Vashington so universally acceptable to all the troops. I was sure, from the intimate acquaintance I had with him, his appointment would certainly be attended with the most happy consequences." Professor A. P. Peabody, D.D., in his recent Centennial Oration at Cam­ bridge, Massachusetts, states that " only in the Rhode Island Regiments, under Generai Greene, did he ['Vashington] discover aught of military order, system, discipline and subordination.'' Lieut.-CoL '\Vard, then Captain, was an intimate friend of General Greene ; and the ~ise counsels of his father, Governor Ward, and his influence in the Assembly of Rhode Island, not only brought about G:reene's first appoin-:n1ent as Brigadier-General, but materially aided in putting the troops in the most. effective condition. A manuscript Journal of the Count de Rochambeau in America, belong­ ing to Mr. C. Fiske Harris of Providence, R. I., also praises the Rhode Island Regiments as being the best troops the writer had seen in this country. The engraving of Lieut.-Col. Ward is taken from a beautiful miniature by Miss Anne Hall,---one of her nurnerous and remarkable works,-now in the author's possession. NEW YORK, :July 13, 1875. LIEUT.-CQLONEL SAMUEL WARD, OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. By CoL JOHN W:A,RD, of New York. SAMUEL WARD, fifth child of Governor San1uel Ward, of Rhode Island, and Anne Ray, was born at Westerly in that Colony, Nov. 17, 1756. On both sides he was descended from the celebrated Roge~ Willian1s. His ancestor, John Ward, born in 1619, was a cavalry officer in Cromwell'::, army, and his sword was preserved by his descendants for five generations. He came over to America from Gloucester, England, and_ settled in Ne,v­ port, R I., about 1673, and died there in 1698. His ton1bstone, and those of his descendants for three generations, may be seen in the old cemetery at Newport. His son, Tho1nas Ward, born in 1641, left England about 1671; and also settled at Newport, R. I. He was successively elected Treasurer, and a member of both houses of the General Assembly of the Colony. He married, for his second wife, A&1y Smith, and died in 1689, leaving two sons by this marriage, the elder of whom, ~'ho1nas, died in his thirteenth year, while the younger one, Richard, born in 1689, lived to be a very prominent man in the Colony, becoming Governor of Rhode . Island from 17 40-43. Gov. Richard Ward married Mary Tillinghast, and died in 1763. His second son, Samuel, born in 1725, after having been a member of the General Assembly of Rhode Island, represented that ·province,-with Governor Wm. Greene and i\1:r. John Andrews,-in the Convention called at Hartford in 17 58 by the .Earl of Loudoun, during the French war, for the purpose of arranging for the defence of the Colonies, and settling their quotas of troops. Subse­ quently, in 1761, Mr. Ward became Chief Justice of the Colony, and then served several terms as Governor, in 1762, and from 1765-67. On the 15th of June, 1774, he was chosen, together with Stephen Hopkins, by t.lie ·General Assembly of the Colony, to represent Rhode Island during the first session of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia. Governor \Vard's great capacity as a legislator speedily brought him into prominent notice. His private journal of the proceedings of Congress in 1774 and 1775 is full of interest. The session of the first Congress only lasted from Sept. 5th to Oct. 26th, when an adjournment took place; a second Con­ gress being chosen, and meeting at Philadelphia, May 10, 1175. Shortly I 6 .lieut.-Colonel Samuel Ward. after this date, while the country was still ringing with the excitement occasioned by the battle of Lexington, the· two colleagues, having been re­ appointed by the General Assen1bly of their Colony, again took their seats. Governor Ward, from this tin1e until his death, March 26, x 776, worked unre1nittingly in the cause of Independence ; and, as chairman of the Conunittee of the Whole, which sat daily, constantly presided over the working sessions of Congress. He was chairn1an when it was resolved to elect a General for the:· Continental forces, June 15, 1775, the choice of Congress unanin1ously 'falling on Col. George Washington, who was then one of the delegates from Virginia, and had becon1e intin1ately acquainted with Governor Ward. What is preserved of the subsequent correspondence of Gov. \Vard with General \Vashington is of extren1e interest. Gov. \Vard's son, Sa111nel, the subject of this mei11oir, was educated at Brown University, in Providence, and was graduated there, with high honors, in 1771. Throughout his youth and early manhood he was an inti­ mate friend of General Nathanael Greene's,_and their correspondence is very interesting. Samuel Ward evineed great ent"ttusiasm in the cause of An1erican liberty, and on the 8th of May, 1775, received a con1mission as Captain of a Company to be raised in Kings and .Kent Counties, R. I., "for the prese&ation of nis Majesty's loyal and faithful subjects of the Colony of Rhode· Island," a curious retention of previous forms, under an absolute change- of .circumstances~ . 1'his com1uission was signed, under authority of_ the: General Assen1bly, by Henry Ward, Secretary of Rhode Island, a brother of Gov. Ward's. Captain Ward joined the Rhode Island Anny of .Observation unq_er General_ Greene, and was stationed at Can1- bridge, where General Washington assumed com111and of the forces besieg­ ing Boston on the 3d of July, I 7 75. In a letter from General Washington to Governor Samuel Ward, dated at Can1bridge, August, 1775, be says: '' 1 did not know till yesterday that you had a son in the an11y : to-0av. J had the pleasure of his company at dinner, together with General Greene,-Colonels V arnu111 and Hitchcock had already done 1ne that favor,-1 think, if occasion should offer, I shall be able to give you a good account of your son, as he seems a sensible, well-informed young man." Governor Ward acknowledged Gen. Washington's kindness to his son in the following letter : PHIL..IDELPHI~ 17th Septr.~ 1775. DEAR SIR: Having nothing of immediate consequence to communicate, and determining to set out for this City in a few Days after the Receipt of your favor, I deferred acknowledging it un­ til my arrival here. I am greatly obliged to you for the very kind notice which you were pleased to take of my son, and the favorable light in which you view him. The advantages of travelling he wants; but those of a liberal Education he enjoys. He has seen some of the best Com­ pany in our Colony; and, from his moral and political Principles, I flatter myself his Con­ duct will make him not unworthy of your future Regard, every Instance of which I shall most gratefully acknowledge. With Pleasure I observe, that you have lately received some Powder, and expect some Lead and Arms, from our Colony.