Peter Tecoomwas

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

New London, Connecticut(?)

Date of Birth:

Circa 1749

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

Peter Tecoomwas was born circa 1749^I and may have been the son of Joshua Cuom.^II

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 shortly after the Lexington Alarm and was engaged in the Battle of Bunker Hill, stationed at the rail fence. He was discharged on 15 December 1775.^III

He enlisted again on 12 July 1780 in Col. John Durkee’s 4^th Connecticut Regiment but deserted on 6 September 1780.^IV

He married Lucy Tantaquidgeon, who was ‘cast off’ in 1782. They had at least three children:^V

• Eliphalet: born circa 1776
• Cynthia: m. ______ Hoscott
• Sarah: m. Jacob H. Fowler

Footnotes:

1. Birth date backwardly-computed, based on estimated marriage date of 1775.
2. "Revolutionary War Master List.” Mohegan Archives, Uncasville, CT, 20.
3. Adjutant General’s Office [CT]. Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the War of the Revolution (1889). 1 vol., 54.
4. "Revolutionary War Master List.” Mohegan Archives, Uncasville, CT, 20.
5. Ibid; also Love, W. DeLoss, Ph.D. Samson Occum and the Christian Indians of New England (1899), 353.

Learn more about Quintal's study.