Spirit of '76 stirred to action by fife & drum the soldiers of '56 fought the great fight for American independence & the equality of human rights.

It has required much earnest effort & careful research to obtain & arrange I the brief account of the services, personal & military, of the valiant Soldiers of the American Revolution, who, at one time resided in, or whose graves are located in Chautauqua County, NY

The Historical Committees of the several Chapters of the Daughters of American Revolution, located in Chautauqua County, have been most painstaking as well as zealous in their work, & what is written in this little booklet is believed to be quite as authentic & correct as it has been possible to obtain from the records that have been found. The records, both military & personal, have been mainly supplied from official pension papers as well as from family records, local history, & the files of early local newspapers.

It has been a work of real pleasure to the members of the local Committees to assist in paying a most deserved & merited tribute to the memory of those self- sacrificing, patriotic, great soldiers who achieved so much & gave us the heritage of the Country's independence & freedom.

The Soldiers of the American Revolution remain in a distinct class of the world's history. with only the poorest & most meager equipment, they eagerly responded to the first call of Lexington & Bunker Hill, facing every danger with unsurpassed courage, willingly sacrificing every personal comfort, suffering & enduring beyond description, but with sturdy hearts & conscience unyielding to the end that freedom & liberty might be their country's right for all time.

Just a look back to Valley Forge in the winter of 1778, described by the historian, Headley, is a revelation of what the Soldiers of the American -Revolution suffered, braved, & the wonderful record of their heroic character:

"Eleven thousand American Soldiers, two thousand of whom were barefoot & half naked, stacked their arms in the latter part of December, in the frozen field, & began to look for huts to shelter them from the cold of winter. Hundreds with nothing but rags upon on their bodies, their muskets resting upon their naked shoulders, their bare feet cut by the frozen ground till you could track them by their blood, had marched hither for repose & clothing, and, alas, nothing but the frost-covered fields received them. Starving, wretched & wan, they looked like the wreck of a routed & famine struck army. Without a mouthful of meat to satisfy their hunger they thus passed days & weeks, & yet not a movement of dissension."

An even measure of praise may be accorded the bravery, fortitude & unyielding spirit of the women soldiers of the American Revolution, the wives & mothers, fully as heroic as those who directly faced the enemy, with a buoyant hope & unfaltering courage unsurpassed in history.

No pen can do full justice to the great character of those pioneer settlers of Chautauqua County, who, with their comrades, gave the world such a wonderful demonstration of success in their great fight for the inherent rights of mankind in the pursuit of peace, happiness, progress & their country's road to greatness.

Lucy Norton Shankland,

Chairman Research Committee.

•  Preface • Chapter List of Soldiers • Benjamin Bosworth Chapter, Silver Creek • Ellicott Chapter, Falconer • Jamestown Chapter, Jamestown • Patterson Chapter, Westfield • Benjamin Prescott Chapter, Fredonia •

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