Prince Sutton

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Woburn, 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 Prince Sutton.

He joined the eight month’s service from Woburn on 7 May 1775, in the company of Capt. John Wood in Col. Samuel Gerrish’s regiment. His name is on a 27 May 1775 list of those men who took a loyalty oath, on a 16 July 1775 list of those who served on the main guard under Lt. Col. Loammi Baldwin, on the 1 August 1775 muster roll, and also on a 10 August 1775 return of men sick and absent dated Medford. His name is also shown on a September 1775 pay abstract, on an October 1775 return and on a 30 October 1775 receipt listing him as a ‘mulatto.’ He is shown in the same unit on a 28 December 1775 ‘receipt for money in lieu of bounty coat dated Medford.’^I

On 22 December 1775, he agreed to serve one extra month until the end of January 1776.^II

With Gen. Burgoyne preparing to advance on northern New York, the call once again went out for soldiers to meet this serious threat. Now residing in Charlestown, Sutton joined the Continental Army on 10 April 1777 for a three-year term in the company of Capt. Edmund Munroe, in Col. Timothy Bigelow’s 15^th Massachusetts regiment. This unit served at Saratoga, Valley Forge, and Monmouth, where his Captain was killed. Payrolls for February to April 1779 place him in Providence. He was discharged 10 April 1780.^III

On 6 August 1780, he entered the service for duty in Rhode Island, in Capt. William Green’s company in Col. Cyprian How’s regiment. He was discharged on 1 November 1780 and allowed 80 miles travel.^IV

His last record of service is a receipt dated Boston 27 March 1782 for bounty paid in Ward No. 5, Class No. 4 for a stint of three years.^V

Footnotes:

1. Secretary of Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908), 15:266-7. Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
2. Ibid 15:267.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.

Learn more about Quintal's study.