Author: Vincent E Knapp, Jr
Captain Lemuel Holmes
Captain Jeremiah Stiles Company, Colonel John Stark's 1st New Hampshire Regiment
Captain Jeremiah Stiles Company, Paul Dudley Sargent’s 16th Continental Regiment
Commander Knowlton’s Rangers

My 5th Great Grandfather Captain Lemuel Holmes is a SAR supplemental ancestor, my Society of Cincinnati propositus and daughter Kelly’s DAR patriot ancestor.
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Captain Lemuel Holmes was the Great Grandson of David Hume/Holmes a Scottish prisoner of war captured at the Battle of Worchester on 3 September 1651 and subsequently transported to New England as an indentured servant. Oliver Wendell Holmes junior and senior are also descendants of David Hume.

Lemuel Holmes was born 16 January 1737/8, at Woodstock, Windham County, Connecticut. On 12 November 1761, he married at Ashford, Windham County, Connecticut, Abigail Bicknell. Their marriage was blessed with 9 children.

Captain Holmes a veteran of the French and Indian War first enlisted from Walpole, New Hampshire as a Lieutenant on 21 April 1775 in Captain Jeremiah Stiles Company, Colonel John Stark's Regiment.

It must be noted that while Stark’s and Sargent’s regiments were comprised of New Hampshire men, they served under Massachusetts as there were no New Hampshire staff organizations and they were neither supported nor equipped by New Hampshire. In fact, the Committee of Safety for Massachusetts, on the 26th of April 1775, issued commissions as Colonels to Stark and Sargent under the condition that “they should continue until New Hampshire should act.”

Lieutenant Holmes was at the Battle of Bunker Hill on 17 June 1775 serving on the far left flank of the colonial forces along the ‘rail fence’ on Breed’s Hill under the command of then Captain Thomas Knowlton.

On 3 July 1775, Stile’s Company was transferred from Colonel Stark’s to Colonel Paul Dudley Sargent’s Regiment. Lemuel appears on the “Roll of Capt. Jeremiah Stile’s company in Col. Paul Dudley Sargent’s regiment, August 1st, 1775” as a Lieutenant with an effective enlistment date of 21 April 1775. This enlistment lasted until the end of December 1775. On 1 January 1776, Lemuel was a 1st Lieutenant in Colonel Paul Dudley Sargent’s 16th Continental Infantry Regiment.

After the American defeat on Long Island on 27 August 1776, a small body of select troops was organized by General Washington for special services along the lines and placed under the command of now Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton and thereafter were known as ‘Knowlton’s Rangers” or “Congress’s Own”. Knowlton took his orders directly from Washington and he sent his men out on reconnaissance missions to scout where the British were stationing troops.

The Rangers were the army’s first elite unit, similar to the Army Rangers and Special Forces. This ranger body was composed of one hundred and thirty men, with twenty officers. The group was divided into four companies with only the best officers and men selected. A captain was in charge of each company.

Lemuel Holmes was detached from Sargent’s Regiment and served as one of four captains in the Rangers. Per the New Hampshire Provincial & State Papers, Vol. 13, p. 512) Holmes was “appointed Captain by Gen. Washington” on 1 September 1776. He fought in the Battle of Harlem Heights against the Black Watch on 16 September 1776. This battle took place just north of the present West 130th Street near the Hudson River. LTC Knowlton was mortally wounded in this engagement and command passed to Major Andrew Colburn. Captain Holmes succeeded to command of the Rangers after the wounding of Major Colburn on 15 October 1776. Captain Nathan Hale, by virtue of his seniority would have taken command but he had been executed as a spy on 22 September.

At the request of Colonel Robert McGraw, commander of Fort Washington (located at the present intersection of Fort Washington Avenue and West 183rd Street) the Rangers were maintained at the fort to bolster the security of the fort while the main body of the army escaped to New Jersey. Captain Holmes and his Rangers were the only security force deployed outside the fort on 16 November 1776. As the British tightened the cordon around the fort, Holmes and his men were required to withdraw back to the fort arriving at 4:00PM the time of the surrender. Five officers including Holmes, and 109 enlisted Rangers were among those taken prisoner. Captain Holmes was the last officer to command the Rangers.

Captain Holmes was held as a prisoner-of-war at New York City and Brooklyn until exchanged on 8 November 1778. Of the 230 American officers and the 2,607 American soldiers who surrendered at Fort Washington, only 800 were still alive eighteen months later. 10 Rangers died as a result of their poor treatment. After Holmes release he was detained an additional five weeks in New York City in order to settle debts incurred during his captivity. He was subsequently discharged from the Army as a result of the deprivations suffered during his captivity.

On 10 February 1780, Holmes petitioned Congress for relief on account of his sufferings and obtained from that body a grant of ₤80. He settled in Surry, N.H. where he was deacon of the Congregational church and town clerk. Lemuel was town representative for Gilsum and Surry for several years between 1764 and 1786, and again from 1790-1792. Councilor, 1790-94; and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Cheshire County until 1808, when he became ineligible by reaching the age of 70 years.

About 1814, Captain Holmes removed to Newbury, Orange County, Vermont to live with his son, Asa, where he closed his long, eventful and useful life, on 2 November 1822, at the age of 85. He is buried in Oxbow Cemetery, Newbury, Vermont with his wife Abigail. Abigail, predeceased him on 15 May 1817, at age 75.

Lemuel had been awarded pension #S39731 in the amount of $20.00 per month (about $43.48 in today’s dollars) to commence 16 July 1818 under the Act of 18 March 1818.