Jesse and Samuel Kimpland

Quick Facts

Jesse (born 1760) and Samuel (born 1761) Kimpland of Bernardston, Massachusetts, were the teenaged sons of William and Jemima Kimpland. They, along with Samuel’s twin sister Judith, rounded out the small Kimpland family household when the Revolutionary War broke out in their home colony in 1775.

By 1777, the Continental Army was desperate for reinforcements and towns across Massachusetts such as Bernardston were called upon to do their part by raising men from their communities. The young brothers, Jesse aged 17 and Samuel aged 16, answered the call by enlisting in Captain Alvord’s company of Colonel William Shepard’s (4^th) Massachusetts Regiment in May 1777 for three-year terms.

Thanks to the summertime 1777 British invasion from Canada and the wholesale retreat of the American Northern Army, Shepard’s Regiment was sent north from near Peekskill, New York, to bolster the faltering Revolutionary forces. They arrived at Saratoga in late July, but from there continued the retreat south nearly to Albany. On September 12, the Northern Army moved up to Bemus Heights, just north of the village of Stillwater where the troops dug in.

16-year-old Samuel died two days before the army moved to Bemus Heights. It’s unclear as to exactly how this happened, but he was probably hospitalized and succumbed to wounds received in an early August skirmish with the enemy near Saratoga or he died from disease. His place of burial is unknown.

Jesse must have been heartbroken. But as a young, fit, reliable soldier, the teenager was now serving with the army’s newly-embodied Corps of Light Infantry and given that battle with the invading enemy was imminent, the 17-year-old prepared for action.

Jesse was seriously wounded in the September 19 Battle of Freeman’s Farm and died two days later. His body was probably buried in an unmarked grave nearby.