Eli Burdoo

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at Battle Road

Place of Birth:

Lexington, Massachusetts(?)

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

Eli Burdoo^I was baptized at Lexington (MA) on 20 July 1775, the son of Moses and Phebe (Banister) Burdoo.^II

In the Lexington town history, his name appears on a list of soldiers who served in Capt. John Parker’s Lexington militia company ‘in the morning and in the afternoon of the memorable 19^th of April.’^III He served in a special detachment of Capt. John Parker’s Lexington militia from 6 to 10 May 1775, ‘on command at Cambridge … by order of the Committee of Safety.’ He was called out in the same manner for two days on 17 and 18 June 1775.^IV

There is no record of 1776 service.

In 1777 he was a private in Col. Eleazar Brooks’ regiment of Middlesex County militia. With Gen. Burgoyne preparing to advance on northern New York, the call once again went out for soldiers to meet this serious threat. He was transferred on 29 September 1777, enlisting in Capt. Samuel Farrar’s company in Col. Jonathan Reed’s regiment, ‘to reinforce Northern army under Gen. [Horatio] Gates.’^V

Footnotes:

1. All known persons with the surname ‘Burdoo’ in New England in 1775 were persons of color. 
2. Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society. 4 vols, 2:81.
3. Ibid 1:424. While this statement does place Eli on Battle Road, it cannot be certain he was on Lexington Green.
4. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908) 2:828, listed as ‘Burdoo.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
5. Ibid 1:984, listed as ‘Berdue.’

Learn more about Quintal's study.