Benjamin Simonds

Benjamin Simonds (12 February 1725/6-11 April 1807) was a Colonel of the all-Berkshire regiment of about five hundred men known as the “Berkshire Boys” during the American Revolutionary War. His regiment notably fought in the Battle of Bennington in the summer of 1777. Simonds died in 1807 and was buried in what is now known as West Cemetery.

Benjamin Simonds was born on 12 February 1725/6 in Killingly, New London County (later Windham County), Connecticut, the son of Joseph and Rachel Simonds and was baptized at the First Congregational Church of Killingly, now the First Congregational Church of Putnam, CT on 6 March 1725/6. His father Joseph Simonds, born in what is now Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, 8 June 1689, was a cordwainer (i.e. shoemaker) who married his first wife Rachel (maiden name unknown) by 6 July 1714 when a daughter was born to them in Chelmsford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. He was one of the first settlers of Londonderry, New Hampshire in 1719 but by 1723 had moved to Killingly, New London County (later Windham County), Connecticut where Benjamin Simonds was born. Benjamin's mother Rachel died between October 1728 when her youngest son James Simonds was born and 7 September 1729 when Joseph Simonds was admitted with his second wife Mary (maiden name unknown) to the Congregational Church of Killingly, Connecticut. Joseph Simonds married 3rdly at Killingly, 17 November 1738, Hannah Abbe, daughter of Obadiah and Elizabeth (Wilkinson) Abbe. Joseph Simonds remained in Killingly until about 1741 when he moved with his family to Ware, Hampshire County, Massachusetts.

Benjamin Simonds’s military career began during the war called King George's War which started in 1744. At the start of the war, Governor William Shirley of Massachusetts ordered that a line of forts be built from Colrain to the Dutch settlements, the strongest and westernmost of which was called Fort Massachusetts. Begun in the summer of 1745 in East Hoosac or what is now Williamstown, Massachusetts, Fort Massachusetts was garrisoned by December of that year and Benjamin Simonds was at that time or the following year a part of that garrison. On August 19, 1746, Fort Massachusetts was attacked by an army of French soldiers and their Indian allies and surrendered the following day because only eight of the garrison of twenty two men were in reasonable health, the remainder being sick. The French and Indians then took the members of the garrison captive to Fort Saint-Frédéric on Lake Champlain (modern day Crown Point, New York) then to Montreal on September 10 before reaching Quebec on September 15, 1746. On the first night after their capture, the party camped near the river at the spot where Simonds would eventually buy and build a house. The site is now known as the “River Bend Farm”. The journey to Quebec was later described by the fort’s chaplain, Rev. John Norris, and he mentions Benjamin Simonds, or “Brother Simon” as he called him, at several points in his narrative. Norton reported for August 22 that “the Indians also carry’d in their Canoes Br Simon & John Aldrich, and Perry’s Wife, down the River about ten Miles.” For August 23 he reported that “the French still carrying Smeed’s and Scot’s Wives and Children, the Indians finding Horses for Brothers Simon and John Aldrich.” According to Nehemiah How who wrote another captivity narrative, Benjamin Simonds was one of the captives from Fort Massachusetts who arrived at the prison in Quebec on September 15, 1746. Only nine of the soldiers captured at Fort Massachusetts returned home and Benjamin Simonds and John Aldrich, both sick in the hospital at Quebec, were the last to return in October 1747. According to his petition dated 12 December 1749, Benjamin Simonds, after his return from captivity, was “unable to Get Home till 14 days after, and was weak & low and unable for a whole month to provide for himself.” He was awarded £20, 9s. for his service. During the Seven Years' War, Benjamin Simonds was again stationed at Fort Massachusetts where he was listed serving as a private in a company commanded by Capt. Ephraim Williams from 14 October 1754 to 28 March 1755 and then again in a company commanded by Isaac Wyman from 29 March 1755 to 26 November 1755.

...
Wikipedia