Isaiah Barjonah

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Stoneham, Massachusetts(?)

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

Isaiah Barjonah was baptized on 29 December 1754 in Stoneham (MA), the son of Simon and Hannah (Smith) Barjonah.^I

He enlisted in the eight months’ service on 3 June 1775 in Capt. Benjamin Locke’s company, in Col. Thomas Gardner’s regiment.^II This company served in the Battle of Bunker Hill, where his Colonel was mortally wounded. An October 1775 descriptive roll^III at Prospect Hill describes him as a ‘mulatto’ and as follows:

age: 21
stature: 5 ft. 7 in.

He is also listed on a 1 December 1775 ‘order for bounty coat or its equivalent in money.’^IV

Footnotes:

1. Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Stoneham, Births (under “Negroes”), 75; referencing Congregational Church record.
2. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908) 1:603, listed as ‘Issachar (also given as Isaiah).’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
3. Ibid 1:526.
4. Ibid.

Learn more about Quintal's study.