Abel Ephraim

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Hopkinton, Massachusetts(?)

Date of Death:

June 20, 1778

The following is from the 2004 National Park Service study Patriots of Color researched and prepared by George Quintal:

Nothing is known of the early life of Abel Ephraim.^I

Enlisting from Hopkinton (MA), he joined the eight month’s service on 27 April 1775 in the company of Capt. James Mellen, in Col. Jonathan Ward’s regiment. On 18 June 1775, one day after the Battle of Bunker Hill, he was listed on an order ‘for cartridge boxes dated Camp at Cambridge.’^II This is a strong sign of participation in the Battle. He was also recorded on the October 1775 roll of the company.^III

There is no record of 1776 service.

He joined the Continental Army on 1 January 1777, enlisting from Dedham (MA), in the company of Capt. Nahum Ward, in Col. James Wesson’s regiment.^IV This regiment suffered causalities at Saratoga and was at Valley Forge. His captain died in March 1778^V and Lt. William Watson took over command. Abel Ephraim himself died in the service on 20 June 1778, just eight days before the Battle of Monmouth.^VI

A soldier named Abel ‘Eperiam,’ possibly his son, enlisted from Dedham in 1780.^VII

Footnotes:

1. See Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Natick, Deaths. All twenty persons with the surname of Ephraim are listed as ‘Indian.’
2. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908) 5:384, listed as ‘Ephraim.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
3. Ibid, listed as ‘Epraam.’
4. Ibid, listed as ‘Ephraham.’
5. Heitman, Frances B. Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution (1914), 568.
6. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908) 5:384, under ‘Ephraham.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
7. Ibid 5:383.

Learn more about Quintal's study.