Eben Foster

Quick Facts

Date of Birth:

1757

Place of Death:

Stillwater, NY

Date of Death:

September 19, 1777

Ebenezer Foster (born 1757) of Rochester, Massachusetts, was the second child born to teenaged parents James and Mary Foster who, by the time of the Revolutionary War in 1775, had eight children with more on the way (they eventually had 13)!

Eben was stanchly patriotic for the American cause, and he served in the 1775 siege of Boston as a teenaged private soldier in Colonel Theophilus Cotton’s Plymouth County, Massachusetts Regiment. It’s unclear if Eben also served in 1776.

On January 1, 1777, 19-year-old Eben was commissioned an ensign in Captain Turner’s company of Colonel Gamaliel Bradford’s (14^th) Massachusetts Regiment. Ensigns were the lowest-ranked commissioned officers in the infantry and were, usually, young men or even boys.

Bradford’s Regiment formed part of the defenses at Fort Ticonderoga / Mount Independence in the summer of 1777 when the British Army invaded upstate New York. The American Northern Army evacuated as the British onslaught advanced, and it was in full flight throughout July and August. However, by mid-September, the Northern Army’s fortunes turned favorably, and it was positioned to fight against the British at Bemus Heights, located just miles north of Stillwater, New York.

Shortly before the Northern Army moved up to Bemus Heights, the Army’s commander, Horatio Gates, ordered a corps of light infantry to be formed from “the most able, active, spirited Men” of his army’s Continental infantry regiments. Most regiments were instructed to provide one officer and 17 soldiers for the duty – Ensign Foster, now 20-years-old, was selected as his regiment’s officer. Commanded by Major Henry Dearborn, the Light Infantry were teamed up with Colonel Daniel Morgan’s southern riflemen.

The British finally made their attack on September 19. In this first Battle of Saratoga (the Battle of Freeman’s Farm), Morgan’s riflemen and Dearborn’s light infantry were the first units sent into action. Ensign Foster was killed during the eight-hour-long battle.

James and Mary took the news of Ebenezer’s death very hard, especially as their newborn son John had died that July after having lived for only two weeks. Both John and Ebenezer were memorialized by the family in a joint headstone commemorating their short lives.