Ithamar Whitney

Quick Facts

Date of Birth:

1758

Place of Death:

Stillwater, NY

Date of Death:

October 1, 1777

Ithamar Whitney (born 1758) of Chesterfield, New Hampshire, was probably glad to leave his native Stow, Massachusetts behind, with its unbearable family tragedies. His father, Jeremiah, first married Elizabeth, but she died within days after bearing their third child (in 1754; she was 29). Jeremiah remarried within a year, but his sixth child lived for only 11 days…and Jeremiah himself died within the year (in 1760; he was 31). Fatherless, Ithamar and his two half-siblings moved to Chesterfield, New Hampshire to make a fresh start.

When the British descended upon Fort Ticonderoga in October 1776, Ithamar was called to serve in Colonel Ashley’s Regiment of New Hampshire Militia to help stop the invaders. Thankfully, the British returned to Canada and Ithamar returned home. Panic over a British invasion surfaced again in May 1777, and again Ithamar was called out. This time he found himself in a predicament: he was drafted from the militia rolls into the Continental Army as a newly minted private soldier in Captain Livermore’s company of the 3^rd New Hampshire Regiment. His term of service was 8 months.

Unfortunately, the Whitney family’s bad luck struck yet again when Ithamar was struck down with an unknown ailment. He was listed as being “sick in camp” on the eve of the First Battle of Saratoga (September 19) and didn’t live to see the second; the 18-year-old soldier died on October 1.

Ithamar was probably laid to rest in the camp’s burial yard on Bemus Heights.