Pvt. Moses Hutchins

 

Moses Hutchins was born in Charlton, Worcester County, Massachusetts in 1760. In 1768 he was taken to Athol (now called Orange) by his parents and was living there when he enlisted in the Massachusetts State Troops on the 1st of March 1776. He served nine months in Captain Warner’s Company of Infantry where he entered service near Boston and marched into the city immediately after it was evacuated by the British. He was quartered a short time on Noodles Island. When the British were driven from the channel, his unit blew up the lighthouse, as they sailed out.  Lieutenant Ebenezer Sanders and Ensign Sawyers were in Command in Captain Warner’s Company.

 

In the spring of 1777 he again enlisted in the army and served in Captain Blanchard’s Company with his older brother, Jacob. They marched from Athol to Pittsfield, Massachusetts and then over to Albany, New York. From Albany the company went up the Mohawk River to Fort Herkimer, where they assisted in the defeat of Colonels Butler and Brant who were descending the Mohawk valley with a group of Indians. From Fort Herkimer they marched to Fort Stanwix and arrived there soon after the attack on the Fort. Moses was in the force which pursued the Indians and Tories down Wood Creek and attacked their baggage train. When he returned to the Fort his unit was ordered to return down the Mohawk and then went to Stillwater. He was in the Battle of Stillwater and saw the surrender of General Burgoyne. His term expired on December 10, 1777.

 

The next spring, 1778, he again enlisted in the army and served in Captain John Oliver’s Company at Peekskill, New York during the summer. In the fall he was transferred to the “Team Service” under Captain Simeon Gage and continued in this service until the spring of 1779 when he left the army. After leaving the army he returned to Athol and on the 9th of September 1779 he married Susannah Thayer of Richmond, New Hampshire. In 1790 he was living near his brother, Jacob, in Queensbury, Washington County, New York. In 1812 he appeared in Burton Township, Geauga County, Ohio and in 1814 he crossed over the Cuyahoga River to Middlefield Township, Geauga County where he married Sarah Smith about 1807. He moved to Burton Township, Geauga County, Ohio and died on June 22, 1834 where he is buried. This writer is a descendent of his youngest son Caleb.