Last updated: August 11, 2021
Person
Samuel Comecho
Quick Facts
Significance:
Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill
Place of Birth:
Natick, Massachusetts
Place of Death:
Ticonderoga, New York(?)
Date of Death:
March 14, 1776
The following is from the 2004 National Park Service study Patriots of Color researched and prepared by George Quintal:
SamuelI ComechoII was born in Natick (MA).III
He joined the eight month’s service on 24 May 1775 in the company of Capt. Benjamin Bullard, in Col. Jonathan Brewer’s regiment.IV This company served in the Battle of Bunker Hill on the diagonal between the redoubt and the rail fence. He was also recorded on the October 1775 roll of the company, dated Prospect Hill.V
On 1 January 1776, he enlisted into the company of Capt. William Hudson Ballard, in Col. Asa Whitcomb’s regiment, to reinforce the Army in Canada. The 27 November 1776 roll, dated Camp at Ticonderoga, reported that he ‘died March 14, 1776,’VI most likely of smallpox.
Footnotes:
- In all the Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns of southeastern Middlesex County and Norfolk County in which the name Comecho (or variations) is listed, the designation of the name is given as ‘Indian.’
- Love, W. DeLoss, Ph.D. Samson Occum and the Christian Indians of New England (1899), 95 states that this name was originally Sokomecho.
- Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Natick, Births. Three males by the name of Samuel were born in Natick during the time period.
- Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908) 3:863, listed as ‘Commechew.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree MakerTM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
- Ibid 3:857, listed as ‘Comechew.’
- Ibid 3:863. The exact position of this regiment in March is currently unknown, but reinforcements were headed to the Northern Army all through that winter. It is very plausible that this unit had indeed made it to Ticonderoga by March. Smallpox was then rampant in the American Army and it is of the highest probability that any man who died at Ticonderoga at that time had the disease.