Samuel Adams (Loyalist)

For the Patriot, see Samuel Adams.
Samuel Adams
A woodcut of the 1774 public humiliation of Dr. Samuel Adams, the British Loyalist and American Revolutionary War military leader of Adams' Rangers. Adams was tied to a chair and hung from the sign of the Catamount Tavern in Arlington, New Hampshire Grants, in present-day Vermont, for falling out of favor with his enemies, the Green Mountain Boys, over land dealings in early Vermont
Born1730 (1730)
Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut Colony, British North America, British Empire, present-day Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut
DiedJanuary 1810 (aged 79–80)
Edwardsburgh, Upper Canada, British North America, present-day Edwardsburgh, Ontario, Canada
Other namesDr. Samuel Adams
Occupation(s)Physician, surgeon, farmer, land owner, soldier
Years active1777–1783
Children4 sons; Gideon Adams
Military career
AllegianceGreat Britain
Service / branchBritish Army
Years of service1776-1777
RankCaptain
CommandsAdams' Rangers
Battles / warsAmerican Revolutionary War

Dr. Samuel Adams (1730 – January, 1810) was a physician, surgeon, farmer, land owner, and loyalist soldier, from Arlington, Vermont.

Early life

Samuel Adams was born in Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut Colony, British North America, British Empire, now Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, in 1730.

New Hampshire Grants

In 1764, he moved with his family to Arlington in the New Hampshire Grants. On several occasions, Adams served as representative and negotiator, for Arlington and the other surrounding towns.

Conflict with Green Mountain Boys

In 1774, Adams came into conflict with Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys for dissenting with their land title policy. After a brief trial, Adams' captors had him tied to a chair and hung from the sign post, of the Catamount Tavern, as a public humiliation.

American Revolutionary War service

In 1776, Dr. Adams was captured by Whigs, for his British Loyalist sympathies and he and his sons were imprisoned. Adams escaped and fled north, to Canada, reaching the British lines, in Quebec. Joining the King's Army, Adams served, during the Battle of Valcour Island, during Lake Champlain Campaign, in 1776 and raised an independent, Loyalist company, known as Adams' Rangers, which served, under British General John Burgoyne, in the Saratoga campaign of 1777. Four of Adams' sons served in his ranger company, with his eldest son Gideon Adams, acting as ensign.

Exile in British Canada

Following the war, Adams and his sons settled in the province of Upper Canada now present-day Southeastern Ontario, Canada alongside other disbanded British Loyalist troops and their families. Adams ran a tavern in Montreal, serving British troops and expatriates.[1]

Death

In January, 1810, Samuel Adams died in Edwardsburgh, Upper Canada, British North America, British Empire, now Edwardsburgh, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 80.

References

  1. ^ "The Frustrating Loyalist Life of the Other Samuel Adams". New England Historical Society. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  • Adams, Robert Train and Douglass Graem Adams. A Family Record of Dr. Samuel Adams, United Empire Loyalist of Vermont and Upper Canada: The First Five Generations Descending from William Adams of Ipswich (1594-1661) and the Descendants of Dr. Samuel Adams of Arlington, (1730-1810). R.T. Adams, 1995.
  • Fryer, Mary Beacock. Kings Men, the Soldier Founders of Ontario. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1980.
  • Mathews, Hazel C. Frontier Spies; the British Secret Service, Northern Department, during the Revolutionary War. Fort Myers, FL: Ace Press, 1971.
  • Palmer, Gregory. Biographical sketches of Loyalists in the American Revolution. Westport, CT: Meckler Publishing, 1984.