Eber Wood (Allis)

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Hatfield, Massachusetts(?)

Date of Birth:

Circa 1751

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

Eber (Allis) was born circa 1751.^I He was the servant of Capt. Elisha Allis of Hatfield.^II

He enlisted from Hatfield (MA) on 8 May 1775 into the eight months’ service, in the company of Capt. Reuben Dickinson in Col. Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge’s regiment. His name appears on a 27 July 1775 receipt for advance pay ‘dated Charlestown,’ on the 1 August 1775 muster roll, on a 28 September 1775 company return ‘dated Prospect Hill’ and on a 26 October 1775 ‘order for bounty coat or its equivalent in money dated Prospect Hill.’^III

There is no record of service from 1776 to 1781.

On 23 May 1782 his name was listed on a receipt for bounty paid by Lt. Lot Whitcom, ‘Chairman of Class No. 3 of the town of New Braintree [MA], to serve in the Continental Army for the term of 3 years.’^IV

Further details about him are provided, in a petition for relief filed with the General Court, by his former master:^V

To the Honorable Council and To the Honorable House of Representatives in General Court Assembled at Watertown the [ ] day November 1775 -----

The Petition of Elisha Allis of North Hampton Hatfield In the County of Hampshire ----- Humbly Sheweth ---

That your Petitioner had Two Negro Servants Inlisted Into the Army in April Last. By Your Petitioners Consent. And Cloathed them Extraordy. And fixed them with Arms and been at Great Cost for their Education and Said Servants have Remained in the Army Ever Since -----

Your Petitioner Prays Your Honors He may Receive the Wages of the Said Servants that he may not be A Sufferer by Consenting to their Service in the Present distressing Times and Your Petitioner as is Duty Bound Shall Ever Pray, &c -----

Elisha Allis

The statement of facts was as follows:^VI

In the House of Representatives Jan 2^nd 1776

The Commit. On the Petition of Capt. Elisha Allis beg leave to report the following State of Facts viz:

That Two Negro Servants Named Asel and Eber were born in his House, baptized at his Desire, and Schooled and educated in a christian Manner, that he paid £200 Old Tenor for the education of one of them from the Age of about 2 to 10 Years who can read well and wright a good hand & that the Sd Asel & Eber lived quietly in his family having never deserted his Service, until last April when they went from him and proceed to Cambridge that they were taken up and confined there that he the Sd Allis followed them and finding them desirous to inlist into the Provincial Army, and understanding that the Legislature permitted Servants to enter the Army with the Consent of their Masters, he consented that they Should be inlisted into Capt. Reuben Dickensons Comp[any] Coll Woodbridges Reg[iment] that he furnished them with two Suits of Cloaths & two Great Coats & Shirts apiece, one with & the other with four pair Stockings, that they have Since had of their Coll a pr of Buckskin Breeches for each, which the Sd Allis paid the Coll for, that they have in all reports been well cloathed, and provided with fire Arms, and each of them has drawn [---] of their wages for Spending Money by permission of Mr Allis, that the Sd Asel is 26 & the Sd Eber 24 Years of Age & are again engaged in the Continental Army. That the Sd Allis being required by the Assessors hath given them into the rate Bill the present year, and is liable by a Law of the Province for their Maintenance

Moses Gunn per order

Footnotes:

1. See Massachusetts States Archives, Boston, MA, 180:219 below for his listed age of 24 in very early 1776.
2. See Massachusetts States Archives, Boston, MA documents below.
3. Secretary of Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908), 17:730. Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
4. Ibid.
5. Massachusetts States Archives, Boston, MA, 180:218, Petitions to General Court. On the cover sheet is written: “Ord to Subside.” NOTE: the Asel mentioned is Asahel Wood.
6. Ibid 180:219.

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