The Captain David Perry Web Site
KING GEORGE'S WAR
1. Childhood
1741-57
FRENCH & INDIAN WAR
PRE-REVOLUTIONARY YEARS
1st WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE
(Revolutionary War)
WAR'S END, CONFEDERATION & CONSTITUTION
PARTISANISM
and
2nd WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE
(War of 1812)
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LIFE OF DAVID PERRY.
PART ONE. THE MASSACHUSETTS YEARS.
(Chapters One through Five Inclusive.)
Chapter I
Childhood 1741-1757.
Parentage, King George's War,
and the Beginning of the French & Indian War.
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was born August 8th, (O.S.) 1741 in the town of Rehoboth, Mass.
I was the oldest child of Eliakim and Sarah Perry. The first thing
of consequence that occurs to my mind, was the transactions
relating to the war between the English and French. An army was raised•
in the New-England• States, to go against Cape Breton,• under
Gen.•
Pepperell,• at which time I was in my fifth year. My father and one of his
brothers, and also one of my mother's brothers, enlisted into this army.
And what strengthens my memory with regard to these events, one of my
uncles above mentioned, whose name was Abner Perry, was killed at the
taking of the Island• Battery.•
Nothing of consequence took place until the fall after I was seven years old, when my mother died, leaving four small children, viz: one brother and two sisters. There was something very singular took place respecting her sickness. She went with my father, to visit his relations at Eastown. They rode on horse-back. While they were there, on Lord's day, I was at play with my brother and two little sisters, and it appeared to me that I saw my mother ride by on the same horse she rode away on, and dressed in the same clothes. I mentioned the circumstance to my brother and sisters at the time; but she rode out of my sight immediately. At this time she was taken sick at Easton, in which condition they brought her home; and she died a few days afterwards. In consequence of this event, my father broke up house-keeping, [and put out his children]. Myself and sisters went to live with our uncle David Joy, the brother of my mother who, as I before said, went with my father to Cape Breton. I lived with my uncle (who treated me very kindly),* until my fifteenth year; when I was placed with Mr. David Walker, in• Dighton, Mass. [, to learn the trade of tanner• and shoe-maker.•]
About this time war again broke out•
between the English and French,•
and it raged sorely in our part of the country, especially near the lakes.
Our people made a stand at the south end of Lake George,• where they
built a fort, and another about 14 miles below, on the Hudson River, called
Fort Edward.• In 1755, a
bloody battle was fought at the half-way-house,
between Fort Edward and Lake George. Gen. Johnson• commanded the
English forces; and under him Maj. Rodgers• commanded the Rangers.•
They had a number of sore battles with the French and Indians, and lost
a great many of our best men. In the year 1757, Gen. Mont Calm came
against Fort George,• with a large army of French and Indians, and obliged
the garrison to surrender; after which, contrary to his express agreement,•
he let loose his Indians• upon our men, and massacred• a great many of
them.
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