Smith Coburn

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Dracut, Massachusetts(?)

Date of Birth:

Circa 1740

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

Smith Coburn was born circa 1740.^I He was the servant of Mr. Robert Coburn of Dracut.^II

He joined the eight month’s service on 6 May 1775 in the company of Capt. Oliver Parker, in Col. William Prescott’s regiment.^III This company served in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the redoubt. On 18 June 1775, one day after the Battle, he was listed on an order ‘for cartridge boxes dated Camp at Cambridge.’^IV This is a strong sign of participation in the Battle. He was also recorded as ‘sick and absent’ on the October 1775 roll of the company under Capt. Ephraim Corey.^V On 3 January 1776, he was on a list of men ‘who delivered firelocks.’^VI

The 1790 census of Dracut lists him as head in a household of four free people of color.^VII

He married Peg Conner, ‘Servant of Mrs. Deborah Coburn,’ on 10 July 1766 in Dracut.^VIII ‘They lived on the Fowler Road, a few rods from the highway leading to Nashua, where the cellar may be seen.’^IX

Footnotes:

1. Birth date backwardly-computed, based on average age of marriage of 26 (per study of compiler).
2. Coburn, Silas R. History of Dracut Massachusetts … (1922), 338.
3. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908) 3:736, listed as ‘Colbourn.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.” After the Battle of Bunker Hill, Capt. Parker left the service and command of the company fell to Lt. Nathaniel Sartwell. Capt. Ephraim Corey took command by October.
4. Ibid 3:695, listed as ‘Coburn.’
5. Ibid, 3:744, listed as ‘Colburn.’
6. Ibid 3:687, listed as “Cobourn.’
7. United States Census, National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 29 (1790-1850). Index, 1790, Massachusetts, Dracut, 140.
8. Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Dracut, Marriages, 161, under “Negroes, Etc.”
9. Coburn, Silas R. History of Dracut Massachusetts … (1922), 338.

Learn more about Quintal's study.