Daniel Canfield, Artificer in the Revolutionary War

I learned a few days ago that one in 40 Americans has an ancestor who served in the Revolutionary War. Logic dictates that if you have one ancestor who served, you likely have several, and that is the case with both my mom's line and my dad's line. Between them, I have identified 16 Revolutionary War veterans to date.

For this holiday, I decided to try to learn more about one them  - Daniel Canfield, my 5th great grandfather. 

Daniel was born in Danbury, Connecticut in 1761. I imagine as he grew up, he regularly heard adults discussing the tyranny of Great Britain and the frustration and anger of the colonists. Given Danbury's location halfway between Philadelphia and Boston the town must have been well informed about the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence. Can you imagine what it might have been like for Daniel to come of age during the Revolutionary War?

Daniel was 15 when the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The colonies had been at war with Great Britain for about a year. Three years later, when he was nearly 18, Daniel enlisted. In his own words:

"I Daniel Canfield of Litchfield County and state of Connecticut depose and declare that on or about the 11th day of March 1779, I inlisted myself in the revolutionary war against the common enemy as an artificer in the continental line during the war in Capt. Osborn company, Col. Jeduthan Baldwins regiment of artificers."

Statement from Daniel Canfield's Pension File

Never heard of an artificer? Here's a definition:

artificer

1. a skilled craftsman

2. a clever or inventive designer

3. (Military) a serviceman trained in mechanics

We know that later in life, Daniel was a blacksmith. Did he enter the service with knowledge of the craft, and perhaps hone his skills while serving in the war?


The following video tells about the importance of blacksmiths in the war.

I tried to learn a little more about Col. Jeduthan Baldwin's Regiment of Artificers. Here's what I found.


"[A]uthorized by Congress in '77 was a corps of 'Artificers' to be commanded by Jeduthan Baldwin . . . The 'men were largely artisans, carpenters, builders, tent makers, tailors, &c.' The regiment was at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and other fields. A large proportion of the officers and men . . . joined from Connecticut." 

Again from Daniel: 

" . . . I served faithfully until April 1781 when I received a wound in one of my hands and was discharged on that account which lameness has ever been upon me . . . "


Anecdotal history passed down in the Frederick A. Canfield papers (a genealogical collection) states that Daniel was injured by a sword cut in the hand. Perhaps Daniel was a blacksmith during the war, and this injury happened as he worked. 

A Revolutionary War-era sword

After being discharged at Fishkill, NY, Daniel married Rebecca Hotchkiss about 1783. Sadly, Rebecca died in 1784, about a month after giving birth to their son Roderick. She was buried at Huxley Cemetery in New Marlborough, Mass., where Daniel's father and grandfather are buried. 

Daniel married Ruth Stevens on May 26, 1785. From the pension papers, it seems Daniel wasn't prosperous financially, but he and Ruth had eight children -- Ruel, Ruanna, Rama, Rufus, Rastus, Rial, Rebecca, and Ruth. When Daniel applied for a pension on March 28, 1818, he was living in Norwalk, CT. He was granted $8 a month, or $96 a year. In the early 1830s, he moved to Lenox, where he asked that his pension be transferred. Another statement from the file:

"The following are his reasons for removing from Connecticut to Massachusetts, viz. He being a blacksmith by trade and residing with his son, who is also of the same trade, removed with him in hopes of bettering their business."

Daniel died in Lenox on March 8, 1841. Ruth died about a year later on April 2, 1842.  Daniel and Ruth aren't included in online lists of the gravestones in the local Congregationalist church, now known as the Church on the Hill. However, according to the sexton's statement, Daniel was buried in the local churchyard.

Church on the Hill Cemetery

Sources:
1. Record of service of Connecticut men in the I. War of the Revolution, II. War of 1812, III. Mexican War compiled by authority of the General Assembly, under direction of the Adjutants-General ... Published 1889 by Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co. in Hartford.

2. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, published by The National Archives, Record for Daniel Canfield, Service: Continental (Conn.), Pension Number: S. 29696