Micah Bumpo (Bumpus)

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Waltham, Massachusetts(?)

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

Nothing is known of the early life of Micah Bumpo.

He responded to the Lexington Alarm in the Waltham company of Capt. Abraham Pierce, in Col. Thomas Gardner’s regiment.^I This unit did not receive proper notice and arrived on the scene too late to engage the British.^II

He enlisted on 7 May 1775 in the company of Capt. Abijah Child, in Col. Thomas Gardner’s regiment. His Colonel was mortally wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill and Lt. Col. William Bond took over command. His unit was stationed at Prospect Hill from September to December. On 25 December 1775 he received an ‘order for bounty coat or its equivalent in money.’^III

The 1790 U.S. Census lists a ‘Mike’ Bumpo, head of a family of five of color from Hardwick (MA), who is undoubtedly the same man.^IV

Footnotes:

1. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908) 2:255, listed as ‘Bompo.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
2. Fischer, David Hackett. Paul Revere’s Ride (1994), 142.
3. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908) 2:802, listed as ‘Bumpo’ and ‘Bumps.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
4. United States Census, National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 29 (1790-1850). Index, 1790, Massachusetts, 221.

Learn more about Quintal's study.