Revolutionary War Veterans

In 1928, the Daughters of the American Revolution designated two Revolutionary War veterans buried in Lake County–Henry Collins and Reuben Hill.

"Battle of Lexington" April 19, 1775.
Postcard circa 1910, Curt Teich Postcard Archives G1274.

The American Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783) was the culmination of a political revolution in which the thirteen united former British colonies rejected the right of Great Britain’s Parliament to govern them and formed a Continental Army to fight for independence.

Henry Collins (1763 – 1847) was born in Southborough, Worcester County, Massachusetts. He enlisted from Southborough on March 3, 1781, at the age of 16 years and 10 months, when a levy was placed on the town to supply a number of men for the army.

These men were mustered in at Sutton, Massachusetts. Henry served in a company commanded by Captain Sewall in the regiment commanded by Colonel Ebenezer Sprout (1752–1805). From Sutton the regiment was marched to Springfield, Massachusetts, and from there to West Point.

Portrait of Ebenezer Sproat (aka Sprout), from "History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts," by Thomas Weston, 1906.

Henry Collins served his two year enlistment in the same regiment, and was discharged at West Point in December 1783 at the end of the war. Collins' discharge was signed by General Henry Knox.

After the war, Collins lived in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Canada. In 1832, he returned from Canada to Vermont where he applied for a war pension. He was placed on the pension rolls of Vermont at the rate of $80 per year.

In 1844, Collins moved to Lake County, Illinois with his son Joseph H. Collins. They settled on land in Newport Township along Edwards Road east of Hunt Club Road.

On April 10, 1847, Henry Collins died and became the first burial at Mount Rest Cemetery. The cemetery is located just south of the State Line on the Skokie Road. His son Joseph left Lake County in 1855 and re-settled in Iowa.

In 1964, the American Legion Post of Gurnee added a new marker to his grave which mistakenly stated that Collins was the “only American Revolutionary Service Man buried in Lake County.”

Reuben Hill (1765 - 1858) was born in Goshen, Connecticut. While living in New York State, he enlisted in the fall of 1780, at the age of fifteen, with Captain Shaw’s Company. He enlisted twice more with different companies and was discharged as a private on January 1, 1783. In 1834, he successfully applied for a military pension.

About 1840, Reuben's son, Seth Hill, purchased property in Wauconda Township, Lake County. It is probable that the entire family, including Reuben and his wife Patience, came west at that time. In the 1850 census, Reuben and Patience, both aged 85, are living with their son's family. The family farm was in Section 25, along Route 176, south of Bangs Lake.

The Hills are buried at the Wauconda Cemetery.

I came across one more mention of a Revolutionary War veteran. The Biddlecome School History (Newport Township), written in 1918 by students, lists Oded Eddy as a veteran having "served seven years" in the war. However, Oded never lived in Lake County.

Elijah Eddy, grandson of Revolutionary War veteran, Oded Eddy.

Oded Eddy (senior) was the grandfather of Newport Township settler, road commissioner, and Biddlecome School director, Elijah Eddy (1821-1902). I believe the children mentioned Oded on their list of veterans, simply because of the connection to their school's former director.

Oded served as a lieutenant in the Continental Army from 1776 to 1778 (and not for seven years as the children stated). He died in Oneida, NY in 1825.

The Great Anniversary Festival

John Adams, the second president of the United States, declared, “I believe that [the Fourth] will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival.”

This postcard (circa 1930) is a view of the Battle of Concord, April 19, 1775 diorama once featured at the Milwaukee Public Museum.

The American Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783) was the culmination of a political revolution in which the thirteen united former British colonies rejected the right of Great Britain’s Parliament to govern them and formed a Continental Army to fight for independence.

Though the war began in 1775, our nation's independence is dated to July 4, 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress.

In 1776, small celebrations, including toasts to the new nation were made, but the first official celebration was held July 4, 1777 in Philadelphia. The custom spread to other towns quickly and included parades, games, military displays, and fireworks.

The first Fourth of July celebration in Lake County, Illinois, was held in 1844 at the confluence of Second and Third Lakes, in today’s Village of Third Lake. Nearly 100 people gathered from neighboring communities, including Nathaniel Vose, who acted as the celebration’s “marshal,” Amos Bennett and his family who were the first African American settlers in the county, and Reverend Dodge of the Millburn Congregational Church.

David Gilmore, a settler from Massachusetts, made chowder, and other families brought pumpkin pie (made from pumpkins harvested and dried the previous fall), sorrel pies, and seed cakes.

After the meal was eaten, Reverend Dodge gave a prayer for the freedom of the slaves in the South, and Nat Doust read a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

Since there were no fire crackers or fireworks, but people wanted a bit of noise to celebrate, B.F. Shepherd said, several boys “got hold of a little powder, wet it and filled some wild goose quills… when they were touched with a live coal they would go around in all directions.”

Two Revolutionary War veterans are buried in Lake County. Henry Collins (1763-1847) served in Massachusetts from 1781 to 1783, and is buried in the Mount Rest Cemetery in Newport Township. Reuben Hill (1765-1858) served in New York State from 1780 to 1783, and is buried in the Wauconda Cemetery.

(Postcards in this post, unless otherwise noted, are circa 1905 - 1915)