The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
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Death - 10 Oct 1830 (aged 86–87) District of Columbia, USA
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Author: Robert Alan Back
Peter Mills was born ca. 1743 in Minisink, Orange, NY and died Oct. 10, 1830 in Washington, D.C. He married Sally Foster and had the following children: Amos, Peter, Jr., Susannah, James, Polly, John, David, Isaac, Daniel, Caleb and Moses. (1)
Peter Mills was one of the Signers of Association in the Goshen Precinct, Orange, NY, on May 24, 1775. (2)
Peter Mills, Sr. of Minisink, Orange Co. and Providence of New York, served throughout the Revolutionary War, 1776-1783. (3) In early 1776 Peter Mills was commissioned a Captain in an Orange County Minute Men (Militia) under the command of Colonel Isaac Nicoll/Nichols/Nicholson Regiment of Foot in General George Clinton’s Brigade. Capt. Peter Mills took part in the Battles of Long Island (aka: Brooklyn Heights) on August 27-29, 1776, Harlem Heights on September 16, 1776 and White Plains, Oct. 28, 1776. Sometime later in 1776 and before the fall 1777, Peter Mills was commissioned a Captain in the NY Militia under the command of Colonel Oliver Spencer’s Regiment in General Conway’s Brigade. There is a lack of present day New York State and Federal Military records listing a Capt. Peter Mills in his first two enlistments, neither in any muster, pay, nor in any account/settlement rolls. They could have been lost due to 1800 and 1814 Federal fires or the 1911 Albany, NY, fire.
For the next two enlistments periods where on Aug. 16, 1777 to Fall 1779 and Nov. 12, 1779 to Feb. 15, 1781, Peter Mills was again commissioned with the rank of Captain, both of which was under the command of (Lt.) Colonel Jeduthan Baldwin’s Regiment of Artificers in the Northern Department of the Continental Army. First, Peter was part of an Independent Company of Carpenters, an additional Corps of Artificers in the Continental Line (Troops). A Muster Roll of Capt. Peter Mills’ Company was taken on Nov. 5, 1777. (4) Peter fought in the Battles of Saratoga on Sep. 19 thru Oct. 7, 1777 with the surrender of Burgoyne and Monmouth on June 28, 1778, which he was seriously wounded to the leg, hip and breast. From Peter’s service pension file, his payment was adjusted from half-pay to reflect his disability. There were other skirmishes to which Peter Mills’ Company took part in, but is not listed in detail. Peter Mills spent the most of the time stationed at Newburgh, Orange, NY, engaged in building barracks, bridges and boats, repairing wagons and sleds. (5 & 6) More people who served with Capt. Peter Mills can be found in a different listing of Artificers in Capt. Mills’ Company. (7)
Capt. Peter Mills was one of the officers of 11 companies at Camp West Point, NY, who signed the letter of subscribers to Major and Quarter Master General Nathaniel Green. In the letter the officers told him they are giving their resignation by Sep. 1, 1779 unless Congress reconsiders and grant them the privileges in full allowed to Officers serving in the Continental Line. (8) Their action was successful by resolution of Congress, it placed the Corp. of Artificers on equal footing with the Line of the Army.
Peter Mills resigned his commission on February 15, 1781, but remained active and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Little York, VA (siege of Yorktown on Oct. 9, 1781). Peter was finally dismissed on furlough at the Temple in New Windsor, Orange, NY on June 1783.
Sources:
(1) Wantage Recorder newspaper, Nov. 14, 1924, Sussex Co., NJ, “A Brief Sketch of an Orange County Family; The Mills Family”, page 2.
(2) Calendar of Historical Manuscripts; War of the Revolution, Secretary of State, Albany, NY, Vol. 1, Weed Parsons & Co., 1868.
(3) Fold 3; Capt. Peter Mills, Pension S-36153, pgs. 1-72.
(7) NY in the Revolution as Colony and State, by James A. Roberts, Comptroller, 2nd Edition, Albany, NY, Press of Brandow, 1898.
(8) Continental Congress Papers, Nathaniel Green, Vol. 1, pgs. 167-168.
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