James Clement, Jr.

Quick Facts

Date of Birth:

1759

Place of Death:

Stillwater, NY

Date of Death:

September 21, 1777

James Clement, junior (born 1759) of Haverhill, Massachusetts, was a teen who was keen to fight for United States independence. With the Revolutionary War in full swing in April 1777, young James enlisted as a private soldier for a three-year term.

But he wasn’t alone. His father, James Clement, senior (born 1733) enlisted with him. The senior James was a veteran of the French and Indian War, having served in the 1755 expedition which resulted in the Battle of Lake George. With both Jameses gone, this left Anna and six children – including a one-year-old – behind to tend the family farm.

The father-and-son team were assigned to Captain Greenleaf’s company of Colonel Ebenezer Francis’s (11^th) Massachusetts Regiment and repaired to Fort Ticonderoga. But they weren’t there for long since the place was beset by the invading British Army from Canada in early July.

The summertime retreat was a tough one, and James senior became very sick and was committed to the General Hospital at Albany. It appears that the 44-year-old suffered from a “Debility,” by which he missed the Battles of Saratoga.

But 18-year-old James junior wasn’t so lucky. It’s unclear if he was mortally wounded in the September 19 Battle of Freeman’s Farm (the First Battle of Saratoga), but he was listed as a patient in army’s Flying Hospital at Bemus Heights where he died on September 21. He was probably buried in an unmarked grave nearby.

James senior transferred to the Corps of Invalids in 1778 and was finally discharged in 1780 after having served his three-year term. His and Anna’s last child, born in December 1778, was named James.