Franklin Men Served When the US Army Was Born

Above, an illustration of the uniform of the Second Massachusetts Continental Regiment of Infantry. (from www.srcalifornia.com)

On June 14, 1775, 250 years ago today, according to a US Army history website, the Continental Congress voted to create the Continental Army as a united colonial response against the British enemy. This new Continental Army initially included 10 companies of riflemen. The first men to enlist came from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The next day, Congress voted to appoint General George Washington as the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.

But in Massachusetts, in the not yet United States, a full scale war was already in progress between an army of New England militia, that included men from Franklin, and the British Army, largely surrounded in Boston.

On June 16, in an attempt to break this siege, the British attacked the Americans on the hilltops of Charlestown and eventually defeated them, though only after great loss of life. Again, men from our community were there. The determined defense of the hills by the militia, usually called the Battle of Bunker Hill, dissuaded the British from further major efforts to break the siege.

And when, on July 3, 1775, George Washington assumed command of the Continental Army in Cambridge, Massachusetts, locals began to participate in the war not just as militia men but as soldiers in the Continental Army, the reflection of the loose assemblage of colonies drifting toward a more formal confederation and, eventually, a federal union.

Among those local leaders who served as officers from Franklin and its parent town, Wrentham, included Oliver Pond, Jabez Fisher, Elijah Pond, Samuel Kollock, and Asa Fairbanks.

And for the duration of the War of Independence, Frankin men continued to serve, making them among the first to be able to claim service in the US Army.