Joseph Paugenit

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Natick, Massachusetts(?)

Place of Death:

Albany, New York(?)

Date of Death:

November 15, 1777

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

Joseph Paugenit^I was baptized in Natick (MA) on 10 November 1754, the son of Joseph and Zipporah (_______) Paugenit.^II

He enlisted on 24 April 1775 from Framingham in the company of Capt. Thomas Drury, in Col. John Nixon’s regiment.^III Twelve days before the Battle of Bunker Hill he, with others in his company, signed a petition to Gen. Artemus Ward ‘stating that they had enlisted to serve in Col. Nixon’s regiment, but had been shifted to Col. [Thomas] Gardner’s regiment, and requesting that they might be permitted to continue in Col. Nixon’s regiment.’ Their protest was evidently heard since we find him listed on the 1 August 1775 roll as still being in Drury’s company, in Nixon’s regiment.^IV He was stationed at Winter Hill in September.^V

In 1776, he was engaged in the New York campaign in Capt. Micajah Gleason’s company, in Col. Thomas Nixon’s 4^th Regiment, at North Castle (now Mt. Kisko NY).^VI He was probably involved in the Battles of Harlem Heights and White Plains. He was discharged in December 1776.^VII

On 12 February 1777, he enlisted into the Continental Army in the company of Capt. John Holden, in the regiment of Col. Thomas Nixon. This unit fought at Saratoga. Joseph Paugenit is ‘reported deceased’ on 15 November 1777.^VIII He could have been wounded at one of the battles or could have contracted smallpox or some other disease. In either case, he would have probably been taken to the Military Hospital at Albany for care and died there.

Footnotes:

1. Love, W. DeLoss, Ph.D. Samson Occum and the Christian Indians of New England (1899), 95 states that this name was originally Kenepaugenit, meaning codfish.
2. Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Natick, Births, 73; described as an ‘Indian’ and referencing a Congregational Church record.
3. Secretary of Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908), 12:488, listed as ‘Pognot.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
4. Ibid, listed as ‘Pognit.’
5. Ibid, under ‘Pognot.’
6. Ibid, listed as ‘Pognet.’
7. Secretary of Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908), 12:488, listed as ‘Pognit.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
8. Ibid, under ‘Pognet.’ See also under ‘Pognot’ where he is listed as a member of Capt. Thomas Barnes company in the same 1777 time frame.

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