Continental Navy

Phineas Hyde. Dr. Phineas Hyde was born at at West Farms (now Franklin), near Norwich, on 15 November 1749. He was the second of four children born to Phineas Hyde (1720-?) and Anne Rogers 1726 -1766) who were married five years earlier on 5 April 1744. Phineas was the brother of longtime New London County Court Judge John Hyde. The Frigate Confederacy papers in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania include an undated lodging bill from Samual Beldon to Major Joshua Huntington for a number of the Confederacy’s officers including Phineas Hyde for lodging and meals prior to her maiden voyage. The invoice seems to indicate that Hyde was last of the eight to arrive for duty. Hyde is noted as Surgeon’s Mate of the Confederacy in Silas Cleveland’s pension file #S-12486. Nathaniel Richards of Waterford, one-time Purser on the Confederacy, addresses Phineas Hyde of Stonington as ‘Doctor’ in Hyde’s pension application #S-32 which also states he was the 1st Surgeon’s Mate. This would suggest that John Gardiner was the 2nd Surgeon’s Mate, however, Seth Kennedy’s pension application states that Hyde was 2nd Surgeon’s Mate and Gardiner was the 1st Surgeon’s Mate. Gardiner was the longest boarded of the eight officers and his portion of the Beldon invoice was three times Hyde’s, suggesting that he was recruited for the 1st Surgeon’s Mate position by Huntington. Phineas Hyde’s pension application notes that he served on the Confederacy from the middle of October 1778 when it was “lying in the Thames” to the Spring of 1780 and as a British prisoner for 18-19 months. Phineas Hyde is declarent for Oliver Rogers, Richard Pearse, John Simons and Jesse Sip’s pension applications. Nicoll Fosdick writes in 1818 from New London that Phineas Hyde sailed with his private armed vessel Randolph as Surgeon in the Fall of 1780. He also recounts dining with the Confederacy’s officers in Martinique after his privateer was drove on shore near the Pearl Rock by a British fleet. Perhaps Fosdick first approached Hyde concerning employment after the Confederacy’s cruise during after-dinner conversation. Nicoll Fosdick, born 18 April 1750, was a resident of New London. Fosdick served in the ranks at the siege of Boston and also commanded the privateers Jay, Defiance, Randolph and Eagle during the Revolution. Page 18 of Records and Papers of the New London County Historical Society records, “Other items for the summer of 1780, were the advertising, as ready for a cruise, of the fast sailing privateer sloop Randolph, Captain Nicoll Fosdick, commander… This was about the 29th of July”. By September 1780 Fosdick was commanding the 140 ton CT Privateer Sloop Randolph. He helped capture the British Privateer Sloop Hibernia and took the sloop Venus in September. Surgeon Solomon Drowne of the sloop Hope records, “TUESDAY, OCT. 3 [1780]. Sailed from Providence on board the Sloop HOPE, mounting seven guns… 11th Whilst at Dinners a Sail cried. Immediately give chase, and discover another. One… bears down upon us; the other a brig. Make every preparation for an engagement; but, on approaching and hailing the Sloop, she proved to be the Randolph, Capt. Fosdick from New London, mounting 18 four pounders, The Brig, with only two guns, her prize from England, taken at 8 o’clock this morning. Capt. Fosdick says her Cargo amounted to £20,000 Sterling. What good and ill fortune were consequent on that capture!” On 2 May 1781, while on another vessel, he took the ship Hunter and, later, the brig Pontus. Back on the Randolph, Fosdick captured the British Privateer Schooner Fox on 5 April 1782. He took a total of sixteen prizes during the war. Phineas Hyde married Esther Holdridge on 4 September 1782. The daughter of William Holdridge and Prudence Gavitt, Esther was born on 28 July 1766 in Groton. The couple lived in Poquetanuck as early as 1783 until at least August 1794 before moving to Mystic by June 1796. Their children included: John (6/16/1783-1861), Ann Nancy (10/3/1784-3/20/1855) who married Darius Denison, Prudence (10/16/1787-?), Harriet (10/13/1788-9/2/1819), Laura (12/12/1790-12/12/1850), Elizabeth (5/27/1792-5/1/1810), Sarah (8/14/1794-9/20/1795), Theophilus Rogers (6/18/1796-3/31/1852) who married Agalice Conrotte, Benjamin F. (7/12/1798-7/15/1798), William (12/19/1799-6/2/1858) who married Jane Van Buskirk, Enoch (10/16/1801-2/17/1833), Caroline Esther (6/23/1803-?) who married New Orleans merchant George Washington Moss, Elisha (11/5/1805-?) who married Anne Brown, Joseph Addison Phineas (9/16/1807-6/19/1837) and Frances Elizabeth (7/1/1810-10/1/1810). Esther Holdridge Hyde died in Mystic, CT on 6 July 1810, five days after the birth of their fifteen child. Phineas Hyde served as a representative to the state assembly from Groton in 1804 and was listed in the Connecticut Directory of 1812 as practicing medicine in Lyme. By the time of his pension application, Hyde is “unable to pursue my profession” but is responsible for the care of four children; Laura 28, Caroline 17, Elisha 14 and Joseph 12. Dr. Phineas Hyde died at Mystic, CT on 5 September 1820, less than two years after his inclusion on the pension list of the General Act of 1818 on 18 January 1819. His $240 annual pension was granted retroactive to 31 March 1818, however he only collected a total of $538.28 before his death. His pension records are in the New London State Archives Record Group #3. His burial stone reads, “For beauty, wit, for sterling sense, For temper mild, for eloquence, For courage bold, for things wauregan, He was the glory of Moheagan, Whose death has caused great lamentation, Both in ye English and Indian Nation”. He was remembered as “an eminent physician, surgeon, and linguist, and in the service of the Continental army and navy during the war of the Revolution. For a time… he acted as private secretary to General Huntington. It may be mentioned that Dr. Hyde and Benedict Arnold studied medicine together under the preceptorship of Dr. Theophilus Rogers…and when the British, under the traitor Arnold, burned New London and put the citizen soldiers of Fort Griswold to the sword, Dr. Hyde was one of the most skillful operating physicians on the field of battle.”

Samuel Laboyteaux. Samuel Laboyteaux served as Midshipman aboard the Confederacy. It is highly probable he is Samuel Smith Laboyteaux, second son of Captain John Laboyteaux, (originally La Boitteaux) and Hannah Smith, born on 22 February 1766 in New York City and baptized two days later at the First Presbyterian Church. John and Hannah were married in the Fall of 1762 at Trinity Church in New York City. Of French Huguenot descent, his father was Captain of a company of New York grenadiers prior to his relocation to Philadelphia when New York City was occupied by the British. John Laboyteaux served as Captain of Marines under Captain Woolman Sutton on the Pennsylvania privateer ship Aurora which sailed from Philadelphia headed for St. Eustatius on 25 May 1780, just days after his will was executed in the presence of witnesses Timothy Brundige, William Hinman and John Vandergrift. Philip Freneau in his short book, Some Account of the Capture of the Ship “Aurora,” records that on Friday 26 May 1780, the Aurora was engaged by the British frigate Iris and two brigs. Freneau recounts, “at last a twelve-pound shot came from the frigate and, striking a parcel of oars lashed upon the starboard quarter, broke them all in two, and continuing its destructive course struck Captain Laboyteaux in the right thigh, which it smashed to atoms, tearing part of his belly open at the time with the splinters from the oars; he fell from the quarter deck close to me and for some time seemed very busily engaged in setting his leg to rights. He died about eleven the same night and next day was sewed up in his hammock and sunk.” Captain Laboyteaux’s will was probated just over one month later on 29 June 1780 and names son Samuel Smith Laboyteaux as well his living siblings. “In the name of God, Amen. I, John Laboyteaux, of Philadelphia, being of sound memory, thanks be to God. After all debts are paid, I leave to my wife Hannah the use of all household furniture, while she remains a widow. If she marries, then I leave all to my wife and children, John, Samuel Smith, Peter, Gabriel, William, Hannah, and Mary, and such child as my wife may have. But to my son I leave £50 more than the rest, he being my eldest son. I make my wife and my friends, Thomas Pearsall, of New York, merchant, and Benjamin Helme, of New York, attorney at Law, executors.” Less than seven months after his father’s death on the Aurora, Samuel Smith Laboyteaux would sail on the ill-fated last cruise of the Confederacy. According to the crew list published in Neptune’s Militia: The Frigate: “South Carolina,” 1782-1783, it appears older brother John born in 1764 and younger brother Peter born in 1767 also sailed as Midshipmen within a year of Samuel on the frigate South Carolina. The ship was leased in Europe to Commodore Alexander Gillon of the South Carolina Navy and manned with American officers and European crew, sailing in 1781 and arriving in Havana, Cuba on 12 January 1782. After participating in the recapture of New Providence during April and May, the frigate arrived in Philadelphia on 28 May 1782 where she remained for six months. The South Carolina’s command was assigned to Captain John Joyner of the South Carolina Navy and she was re-manned in Philadelphia with American seaman and Pennsylvania German marines. The frigate sailed from Philadelphia to Europe in November, the two Laboyteaux midshipmen aboard. On 19 December 1782, the South Carolina was engaged and captured by the British man-of-war Diomede and the frigates Quebec and Astrea with the officers and crew sent to New York. The extent of patriotism which ran in the Laboyteaux household is perhaps best illustrated in Captain John and Hannah’s naming of their seventh son George Washington Laboyteaux born on 17 September 1775. A note on his baptismal record of 1 October 1775 reads, “So called after his Excellency George Washington, Esqr., General & Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.” It is wishfully suggested that they are the first known parents in America to name a child after the man who had just four months earlier in June been designated to command the military forces of the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia.

Benjamin Ramshaw. Benjamin Ramshaw is likely the father of a father and son pair who are included in the List of Officers and Men of the Pennsylvania Navy 1775-1781 Series 2 Collection of the Pennsylvania Archives Volume I Pages 259-260; Boatswain Benjamin Ramshaw, Senior or Musician Benjamin Ramshaw, Junior. The senior Ramshaw served as early as 28 September 1775 and was promoted from Seaman to Boatswain on 10 June 1776. He is listed on the 28 September 1776 muster roll of the Pennsylvania galley Camden under the command of Edward York. A fellow crewmate on the Camden was carpenter John Cloud. The junior Ramshaw is noted as Fifer on 6 May 1776 and Drummer on 1 May 1777. The marriage records of Christ Church, Philadelphia indicate that Benjamin Ramshaw and Catherine Hutchinson were married on 2 December 1768, suggesting that the junior Ramshaw was only seven when he served as Fifer. Provincial Tax records of the city of Philadelphia from 1774 include Benjamin Ramshaw. The Effective Supply Tax list for the County of Philadelphia in 1782 notes that Benj’n Ramshaw signed for Edmund Beach’s estate. Edmund Beach, stavemaker or cooper of Southwark, was married to Elizabeth Osborn in 1767 and died 25 February 1787. He was interred in the burial grounds of the Third Presbyterian Church. Elizabeth Osborn remarried to John Springer in 1791.

John Richmond. According to his pension application #R-8705, John Richmond born about 1754, was married to Elizabeth or Betsey Walker, born 1758, on 2 December 1774 by the Episcopal Rev. Dr. Beach. The couple had at least three sons; John, Nathaniel C. and William. Richmond entered on board the privateer Beaver as a seaman in 1777. In 1778, he was “engaged assisting to rig the frigate Confederacy” at Norwich and acted as midshipman. John Richman is listed on the frigate Confederacy Riggers’ Returns 1778-1779 and noted as “returned”. It is doubtful that he sailed with the ship. On 9 March 1779, Richmond entered on board the privateer Tyranaside under Captain Allen Hallet. On 29 March they captured the British privateer Revenge with 54 enemy and 31 American casualties. Afterward they took a schooner and the Lilly Glasgow of Scotland. In July, Richmond was engaged in the Penobscot Expedition under Captain Cathcart. He then went on board the Renown under Captain Robert Anderson as Gunner’s Mate. He then served on the frigate Trumbull under Captain Nicholson and was in the engagement with the Watts with eighty killed or wounded. In July of 1780, John Richmond entered service on the Essex under Captain Cathcart. He came down sick with yellow fever and was put into port in Ireland. Taken prisoner, he was sent to Mill Prison in Plymouth for 18 months. Put on a British frigate, he escaped in the Cove of Cork, arriving in America on the cartel Chatham in the Spring of 1782 or 1783. John Richmond was lost overboard and drowned in June of 1796 off North Carolina on a voyage between Perth Amboy and “some Southern port.” Elizabeth Richmond remarried to James Renton who died on 5 June 1810. Elizabeth Renton lived in New Brunswick, NJ until at least 1838. Richmond also had a brother-in-law N. Hoope of New York. Richmond kept a journal of his exploits but it is thought to have been lost in a tornado in June of 1835.

John Robertson. According to his pension application #S-17063, John Robertson was born in 1758 and was living in New London at the start of the war. In the Spring of 1777 he enlisted as steward, presumably on the frigate Warren, under Captain Hopkins for the term of the cruise. At the conclusion of the voyage, the crew were “all paid off and discharged in Boston.” He immediately proceeded to New London and went on board the Confederacy in the “same capacity of steward” for the term of the cruise. Robertson served on the Confederacy “from the time she was first fitted out until she was captured” returning from St. Domingo where they had been ordered to receive a large quantity of clothing sent there from France for the Continental Army. He was taken prisoner for six months on the Jersey prison ship. Six men with this name appear on the prisoner list of the Jersey prison ship. Robertson recounted that “very many of the crew perished during their confinement” and that “he lost every one of his mess mates by sickness.” He was “himself thought to be the the very point of death” and suffered a total and permanent loss of hearing. The testimony of his nephew Charles Holt in pension application #W-3141 indicates Samuel Holt and John Robertson were acquaintances while living in New London after the war. It is likely that Charles Holt (1772-1852) is the son of William Holt, Samuel’s brother with whom he lived with for a short time immediately after the war. An obituary for John Robertson which appears in the Samuel Holt pension file sketches his Revolutionary War exploits stating, “He was a native of New London, Conn., and entered the Navy at the age of 17, as a midshipman.” It is possible that Robertson served earlier than his pension record indicates and perhaps even as midshipman as one of his deponents Richard Law served as midshipman on board the frigate Trumbull under Captain Nicholson in 1775. The obituary continues, “After five years hard and gallant service, he was captured in the Confederacy ship of war, off the Capes of the Delaware, and sent with his companions in arms on board the Jersey prison ship at the Wallabout; where he was confined nearly two years… He was appointed to a responsible station in the prison ship, and in that station he was instrumental in procuring the liberation of some hundreds of his countrymen.” The obituary indicates that “after the war Mr. Robertson was a ship master out of this port (New York), and subsequently became a merchant, and made a competent fortune, which was left to his children.” John Robertson’s deposition in the pension application indicates he was living in New York in 1838 just before his death and served on the Confederacy with Samuel Holt when she was captured. The deposition for the widow Holt was taken “while on his dying bed, and though too weak to sit up, he recollected perfectly the services of the deceased officer and made the affidavit which will secure the widow’s pension, and the large arrears to which she is entitled. Robertson himself was placed on the pension rolls on 21 March 1834 with an annual allowance of $120, the commencement of his pension dated 4 March 1831. Captain John Robertson was first married to Maria Sperry who died on 18 February 1804. They had at least one son. His second marriage was to Catherine Mulford Prentis (1780-1837), daughter of John Prentis & Esther Richards, on 25 October 1806. Catherine and John had three sons who died single, William, Arthur and Albert, and two daughters; Catherine M.T. who married Stiles Curtis and Mary H. who married Gardner Spring. John Robertson died on 6 January 1838.