Jonathan Occum

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

New London, Connecticut(?)

Date of Birth:

1725

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

Jonathan Occum probably early resided in New London, Connecticut.^I He was born in 1725, the son of Joshua and Sarah (_____) Occum,^II and was the brother of the celebrated Sampson Occum ‘[Christian] missionary of all the tribes of southern New England.’^III

He served in the French and Indian Wars, in Capt. Ebenezer Leache’s company in 1755 and in Capt. Zachaeus Wheeler’s company in 1758.^IV

After the Lexington Alarm, he enlisted on 10 May 1775 in the company of Capt. John Durkee, in Col. Israel Putnam’s regiment. This company marched from Norwich CT to Cambridge was engaged in the Battle of Bunker Hill, stationed at the rail fence. He was discharged on 16 December 1775^V and ‘served throughout the war’^VI though no other service records have been found.

After the war, he ‘returned to Mohegan, received 20 acres of land in the distribution of 1790, and was living there in 1804. In lists he is called “a single man” and a “brother of Samson.”^VII

Footnotes:

1. "Revolutionary War Master List.” Mohegan Archives, Uncasville, CT, 15.
2. Love, W. DeLoss, Ph.D. Samson Occum and the Christian Indians of New England (1899), 354.
3. Ibid, 204.
4. Ibid, 354.
5. Adjutant General’s Office [CT]. Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the War of the Revolution (1889), 54.
6. "Revolutionary War Master List.” Mohegan Archives, Uncasville, CT, 14.
7. Love, W. DeLoss, Ph.D. Samson Occum and the Christian Indians of New England (1899), 354.

Learn more about Quintal's study.