Aaron Strong

Quick Facts

Date of Birth:

1736

Place of Death:

Schuylerville, New York

Date of Death:

October 16, 1777

Aaron Strong (born 1736) of Southampton, Massachusetts and his wife, Sarah, were the proud parents of a young, growing family with five children when the Revolutionary War erupted in 1775. The Strongs supported the American Cause and dozens of men and boys of their extended family fought against Great Britain. Aaron himself was called up to serve a short stint in the militia during the mid-August 1777 “Bennington Alarm,” and was able to return home after a mere week.

The “Bennington Alarm” wasn’t the only crisis facing the north that summer, as the British Army from Canada under the command of Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne continued its inexorable advance toward Albany, New York. Massachusetts authorized militia to turn out and stave off the enemy’s progress, and localities like Southampton answered the call. Aaron volunteered as a private soldier in Captain Pomeroy’s company of Colonel Ezra May’s Regiment of Militia on September 20. As Aaron departed his farm, leaving behind his pregnant wife and five children (the eldest of whom was 13), he must have taken solace in the fact that his term of service was for only 25 days – this meant that he could return home when his enlistment expired, no matter the situation facing the revolutionary cause at the time.

May’s Regiment joined the American Northern Army at Bemus Heights in early October and was assigned to Brigadier General John Nixon’s Brigade. The Second Battle of Saratoga was fought a few days later on October 7, but Nixon’s Brigade wasn’t directly involved. The British retreated the following day and set up defenses in the small community of Saratoga (present-day Schuylerville, New York). The Northern Army arrived shortly thereafter and began a siege of Saratoga on October 10. Three days of cannonading, skirmishing, raiding, and small arms firing followed.

It was during this siege that Aaron was hit with a British cannonball “by a random shot, on the south side of Schuyler's [Fish] Creek.” Family histories state that Aaron was killed on October 16, but that was the date he passed away from his mortal wound. He was 41 years old.

Aaron’s militia regiment was dismissed and marched for home on October 14.

Sarah gave birth to their daughter, Sarah, in 1778. She died at age 25 and was permanently memorialized with her long-deceased father.