Cato Freeman (Liberty)

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Andover, Massachusetts(?)

Date of Birth:

Circa 1756

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

Cato was born circa 1756.^I

He enlisted in the eight months’ service from Andover in May 1775 in Capt. Benjamin Farnum’s company, in Col. James Frye’s regiment.^II His name appears on a 26 June 1775 receipt for advance pay as Cato and that name remains on the 6 October 1775 company return ‘dated Cambridge’ in which he is ‘reported a negro.’^III However, by the 13 November 1775 ‘order for bounty coat or its equivalent in money dated Cambridge’ he had changed his name to Cato Liberty.^IV

There is no record of 1776 or 1777 service.

By 1778 he was in Capt. Samuel Johnson’s company in the Essex county militia. From this unit he transferred from the Continental Army on 17 February 1778, enlisting from and residing in Andover. His enlistment was to expire on 1 January 1780.^V

His name next appears as Cato Freeman on a return ‘of recruits sent by State of Massachusetts as a portion of her quota of the Continental Army subsequent to Jan. 1, 1781, who were reported unfit for duty:^VI

age: 24
stature: 5 ft. 3in.
regiment 9^th Mass.
engaged for: Andover
term: 3 years
reported: a negro

Footnotes:

1. Birth date backwardly-computed, based on age in military descriptive roll.
2. Harris, Edward Mosely. Col. (Ret). Andover [MA] in the American Revolution … (1976), 173, listed as ‘Cato Freeman.’ No corroborating evidence has yet been found in Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908). Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
3. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908) 3:211, listed only as ‘___, Cato.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
4. Ibid 784, listed as ‘Libety, Cato.’
5. Ibid 3:211, listed again as ‘___, Cato.’
6. Ibid 6:34, listed as ‘Freeman, Cato.’

Learn more about Quintal's study.