Silas Burdoo

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at Battle Road

Place of Birth:

Lexington, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:

February 14, 1748

Place of Death:

Reading, Vermont

Date of Death:

January 23, 1837

Place of Burial:

Reading, Vermont

Cemetery Name:

Bailey's Mills Cemetery

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

Silas Burdoo was born in Lexington (MA) on 14 February 1748,^I the son of Philip and Mary (____) Burdoo.^II He ‘resided at Lexington & Cambridge alternately until near the close of the Revolutionary War.’^III

No military record could be found to prove his presence on Battle Road, yet he clearly claims that:

he volunteered in the service of the United States on the nineteenth day of April, seventeen hundred and seventy five, in Capt. Boardman’s company, and was in the Battle at Lexington Mastts on the same day, and after following the British for us back from Lexington to Boston, was dismissed.^IV

He enlisted from Lexington on 23 May 1775 into the eight months’ service, in the company of Capt. John Wood in Col. Samuel Gerrish’s regiment.^V Though portions of his regiment forged on to the Battle of Bunker Hill under Adj. Christian Febiger, his Colonel did not and was later court-martialed for cowardice. Silas himself remained stalled at Charlestown Common [now Sullivan Square]^VI with his company. He describes the events thus:

the Regiment took up a line of march for Bunker Hill in Charlestown and Capt. Wood’s Company, to which he belonged, proceeded as far as Charlestown Common, in plain sight of Bunker Hill, where the celebrated Bunker Hill Battle was then raging. That at Charlestown Common, they received several volleys of cannon & grape shot from the enemy, and after the American Troops were driven from Bunker Hill, he returned in s^d Woods company to Cambridge and after refreshing, immediately proceeded to Prospect Hill, near Bunker Hill, where he stood on guard during the night whilst the American Troops were entrenching and fortifying the place. That he occasionally guarded at Inman’s Point in Cambridge, and the remainder of the time, until Gen. Washington took command, encamped on Prospect Hill. That after Gen. Washington arrived and took command of the Army, he went in Capt. Wood’s company to Mistick (now called Medford) and was occupied as a guard at that place and Chelsea, on the opposite side of the river. That whilst at Mistick he once stood guard at General Sullivan’s quarters at the “Bishop house” …^VII

His name appears on the 1 August 1775 muster roll,^VIII on the August pay abstract, on the September pay abstract ‘dated Chelsea,’ on the October company return,^IX on a 22 December ‘list of men who declined to serve the month of Jan. 1776,’^X and on a 28 December 1775 ‘receipt for bounty coat or its equivalent in money dated Medford.’^XI

On 15 September 1781 he enlisted in Capt. John Hayward’s company in Col. Webb’s regiment.^XII He describes this tour of duty as follows:

That in seventeen hundred and eighty one, the town of Lexington aforsaid was required to furnish eight militia men to join the Army of the United States at Gallows Hill, on the bank of the Hudson River south of West Point, in the state of New York, and to serve three months. That he volunteered for this service, and started from Lexington, according to his best recollection, in the fore part of September 1781, in company with William Diamond traveled by the way of Springfield Mas^tts crossed the height of the green mountains at Mount Tom, near the west line of Mas^tts passed through Fishkill in the state of New York and arrived at Gallows Hill in about eight days. That he embodied under Major Porter, Capt. Gilbert, Serj. French and encamped on Gallows Hill in the rear of Col. Jackson’s Regt. That he was for a while employed on fatigue in making and repairing Roads, but that he subsequently volunteered with about ten or fifteen others, to go to Danbury in the state of Connecticut and receive one hundred and five head of Cattle designed to be driven to the American army under the command of General Washington then besieging Cornwallis. That the party took charge of said Cattle at Danbury, crossed the Hudson river at King’s Ferry, landed the cattle on the Jersey shore, and proceeded with them to Morristown in the state of New Jersey, when he returned to Gallows Hill.

That while at King’s Ferry he saw Capt. Calender of the Regular Troops whom he knew and who commanded a company of Artillery at the battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. That he remained at Gallows Hill but a few days only, when he was stationed at the Barracks in Fishkill, where he remained the remainder of the three months for which he volunteered. That he was in Fishkill on the day of General rejoicing for the taking of Cornwallis.^XIII

He was discharged on 4 December 1781.^XIV

Just after this last service he ‘removed to Rindge in the state of Newhamsphire, and from thence to Reading in Vermont.’^XV The 1790 census of Reading lists him as head in a household of three free people of color.^XVI

On 19 October 1807 he joined with his fellow townsmen to sign a ‘Remonstrance against petition to ratify allotment of lands in Reading.’^XVII On 11 October 1824 he joined with his fellow townsmen again to sign a ‘Petition for extension of time in which to complete a road leading to Plymouth [VT].’^XVIII During his years in Reading he made at least thirteen land transactions.^XIX

He had ‘resided for fifty years’^XX in Reading when on 7 September 1832 he applied for a U.S. pension.^XXI He died on 23 January 1837, at the age of 88, and is buried at the Bailey’s Mills Cemetery in Reading.^XXII

He married first Betsey ____, who died in 1816.^XXIII He married second Rosannah ____, who died in October 1836.^XXIV There are no known children, though a namesake of Silas served in the 54^th Massachusetts regiment.^XXV

Footnotes:

1. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Roll 441, Pension #S21099, Frame 114.
2. Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society, 4 vols, 2:81.
3. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Frame 114.
4. Ibid, Frame 113, Capt. Boardman has not yet been identified.
5. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908) 2:766, listed as ‘Burdoo.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
6. Thanks to Carl Zellner for explaining the current vs. 1775 geography of Charlestown.
7. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Frames 113-4.
8. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908) 2:766, under ‘Budoo.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
9. Ibid 2:829, listed as ‘Burdoo.’
10. Ibid 1:599, listed as ‘Bardoo.’
11. Ibid 2:69, listed as ‘Birdoo.’
12. Ibid 2:829, under Burdoo.’
13. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Frames 114-5.
14. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908) 2:829. Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
15. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Frame 114.
16. United States Census, National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 29 (1790-1850). Index, 1790, Vermont, Reading, 63.
17. Vermont State Archives, Montpelier, VT 46:248.
18. Ibid 57:168.
19. Research of Mrs. Laura Griggs. The numerous land transactions signify that Silas Burdoo was probably the most prosperous man in this study.
20. United States Revolutionary War Pensions, NARA, Record Group 15, Series M804. 2670 rolls, Frame 114.
21. Ibid, Frame 113.
22. Gravestone record, visited 9 October 2001.
23. Gravestone record, Bailey’s Mills Cemetery, Reading (VT).
24. Gravestone record, Bailey’s Mills Cemetery, Reading (VT).
25. Gravestone record, Morgan Hill Cemetery, South Woodstock (VT).

Learn more about Quintal's study.