American Revolutionary officer, born in Groton, MA, on the 20th of February 1726. He served against the Acadians in 1756; was commander of a company of minute-men, but did not reach Lexington in time to take part in the fighting. He was assigned the duty of fortifying Bunker Hill in 1775, and was virtually in command of the Americans in the battle which followed. He was with Gates at Saratoga, and was a member of the Massachusetts legislature. A statue was erected to his memory on Bunker Hill in 1881. He died in Pepperell, MA, on the 13th of October 1795.—Oliver, brother of William, also a soldier; born in Groton, MA, on the 27th of April 1731. He was a physician by profession, but always took an active part in colonial military affairs. He was major-general of the Massachusetts militia in 1781, and was prominent in the suppression of Shay’s rebellion. He died in Groton on the 17th of November 1804.—William, lawyer, son of William, preceding; born in Pepperell, MA, on the 19th of August 1762. After graduation at Harvard in 1783, he studied law and was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts in 1787. He was a state senator in 1806 and in 1813, and held important municipal offices in Boston. He died in Boston on the 8th of December 1844.
