Joseph Tanner

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Montville, Connecticut(?)

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

Joseph Tanner was undoubtedly the son of Rebecca Tanner and a brother to Amos.^I

He enlisted on 8 May 1775 in the company of Capt. John Durkee, in Col. Israel Putnam’s regiment. This company marched from Norwich CT to Cambridge shortly after the Lexington Alarm and was engaged in the Battle of Bunker Hill, stationed at the rail fence. He was discharged on 16 December 1775.^II

There is no further record of service for him. The 1782 census of the Mohegan Tribe lists his mother:

Rebecca Tanner, widow, lost her 5 sons in ye Army.^III

It is of the highest probability that Joseph Tanner died in the service.

Footnotes:

1. "Revolutionary War Master List.” Mohegan Archives, Uncasville, CT, 18.
2. Adjutant General’s Office [CT]. Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the War of the Revolution (1889). 1 vol., 54.
3. Baker, Henry A. History of Montville, Connecticut, formerly the North Parish of New London from 1640 to 1896. (1896), 61.

Learn more about Quintal's study.