Maj. General Joseph Spencer
3 Oct 1714 - 15 Jan 1789In early 1630’s, the Great Migration was in at its height. Thousands of religious non-conformists, economic speculators and adventure-seekers were streaming across the Atlantic from England to make a new life for themselves in the New World wilderness. A decade after the founding of the Plymouth colony, two other large English colonies the Saybrook colony and the Massachusetts Bay colony founded by John Winthrop were well established. Winthrop, wanting to establish a “City upon a Hill” in the new world, was a wealthy English lawyer, who lead led nearly 700 Christian puritans and separatists to the shores of what is now the Commonwealth of Connecticut. Landing at Cambridge in 1630 with Winthrop were four brothers, William, Thomas, Michael and Gerrad Spencer.
Gerrard (or sometimes Jered) Spencer was in his early 20’s during the Pequot War. A military man, Gerrard is often identified by the rank ensign. There is little information to directly connect Gerrad with the battles of the Pequot War, but it is sure that he was part of the military/social establishment. In 1661, he and twenty-seven other men, including his brother, William, bought the land that became Haddam, Connecticuit. where the Spencer name can still be found.
Gerrad married Alice Whitehead and had eight children. The family stayed in the Hartford-New Haven-Norwich, Connecticut area throughout the generations. Gerrad’s grandson, Isaac was still living in Haddam in 1714, where, married to Hannah Whilley, they had a child names Joseph.
Joseph Spencer was born on 3 Oct 1714, East Haddam, Middlesex County, Connecticut. He was baptized in January 1715.
Young Joseph Spencer was not given a formal education until he was admitted to the Yale law school in 1746, but rather was a voracious reader and apt socialite, well able to learn what he needed and make favorable contacts wherever he went. In 1750, he was elected a Deputy from East Haddam to the General Assembly, serving for fourteen years. He studied law and was admitted to the bar finally becoming a probate judge in 1753. On 2 August 1738, he married Martha Brainerd and had five children, their fourth child, Joseph, became a surgeon and served in that capacity during the Revolution. He married his second wife, Hannah (Brown) Southmayd, between wars in 1756, by whom he had eight children. In May 1766, he was appointed a member of the Governor’s Council.
Early Military Service
Joseph Spencer lived during a period of time of intense rivalry between France and England. As the two superpowers of the day, the two nations found any excuse to go to war with each other. This nearly 800 year old feud (more or less from the Battle of Hastings in 1066 to the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815) saw the advent of the first truly world-wide wars during Spencer’s lifetime. With battles raging from the Philippines, China and India to the deserts of Egypt and the jungles of the Congo, from the Caribbean Basin to the upper Rhine River, from the swamps of Louisiana to the boreal forests of north-eastern Canada, French and English troops drug the people of their colonies into frequent conflict.
Joseph Spencer joined the militia during the King George’s War (1744-48, the North American front of the War of Austrian Succession, the third of four so-called French and Indian Wars). When European tensions spilled over into the North American wilderness, Spencer joined the Millington trainband (a local semi-professional militia company) and was appointed the rank of lieutenant. It is unclear if Spencer saw any combat, but Connecticut soldiers participated in the only major battle of the war at the French fortress of Louisbourg on the northern tip of Nova Scotia. The fortress was taken after nearly three months of inventive and persistent combat on the part of the New Englanders. But, after three more years of inconclusive yet disruptive warfare, the effort was in vain. The peace treaty stipulated that all lands gained would be returned, leaving both sides with nothing to show for the loss of life. Many colonists were sorely disappointed that their efforts were not rewarded and felt particularly misused by the British government. It is not unlikely that Spencer, returning to his appointment as the Deputy in the Connecticut legislature, began to have some doubts about his colonial masters across the Atlantic. King George’s War failed to settle any issues between the French and British in North America. Indeed, the French still maintained several forts inside British territory in New York and the Ohio Valley.
By 1752, the Ohio Valley was subject to competing claims by Pennsylvania, Virginia, France and the Iroquois, as well as native tribes that actually lived there. In 1753, the French seized territory in Ohio and, handling the situation poorly, a young George Washington created a virtual state of war. The French and Indian War (1754-63, the Fourth Intercolonial War or the Seven Years War as it was known in Europe) was another seesaw affair. In 1755, Spencer had been awarded the rank of captain, and participated in the failed campaigns against the French fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Spencer also was present when thousands of French-Canadians, the Acadians, were driven from their homes and marched to Louisiana (to become the Cajuns). The French though kept on the offense throughout 1756 and 1757, where Spencer’s men were driven back in the Lake Champlain area. On 13 October 1757, Spencer was given command of the Twelfth Connecticut Regiment and promoted to major in March 1758. The next year, he was promoted again to Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Connecticut Regiment and severed during the siege of Quebec in September 1759. By the end of the war in 1763, he was promoted to full colonel. During this time, he gained a great deal of experience and was generally thought to be a genial, intelligent, brave and mature officer working with regular British units.
Revolutionary War Service
Spencer, once again, returned to serve in the Connecticut legislature but he faced an increasingly invasive British government. The French and Indian War effectively ended Britain’s hands-off approach to governing her colonies, leading to ever-increasing interference with the colonials.
The Second Connecticut Regiment was formed under the command of Joseph Spencer in the spring of 1775, just a few months after the rebelion began. The main body of troops consisted of men from Middlesex County. In September 1775, General Spencer, under the command of fellow Connecticuters Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen in an attack on British holdings in Quebec but was recalled to help Washington expel the Redcoats from Boston.
On 22 June 1775, Congress awarded Spencer the rank of brigadier general in the Continental Army and he quickly joined the siege of Boston, participating in the attack on Roxbury, just south of Boston proper. Facing 10 twenty-four pound guns and other troops, Spencer commanded four regiments of General Ward’s division. On 17 June, Spencer commanded detachments at Bunker Hill.
Spencer’s junior officer though, Israel Putnam (sometimes credited for the utterance of “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes” at Bunker Hill), was promoted above Spencer to the rank of major general at the same time. (You may find that Putnam is often given credit for the accomplishments of Spencer in several accounts. I am not sure exactly why that is.) In an age of strict hierarchies of power and seniority, Spencer took this extremely hard, simply picking up and leaving without a word to his commander, General George Washington. Silas Deane, notable merchant and delegate from Connecticut to the Continental Congress, was shocked, called for Spencer’s prompt dismissal from service. The men in the field though were more sympathetic; forty-nine officers wrote the Connecticut Assembly to take the matter to Congress and a committee was sent to consult with Spencer. Though nothing came of the proceedings, the attention to the matter seemed to satisfy Spencer and he returned to service. Spencer returned in time to help Washington expel the British from Boston. Spencer’s was the last brigade to leave the Boston area after the city had been liberated. On 4 April 1776, he and his troops left Boston to defend New York.
A month after the Declaration of Independence was signed, Spencer was promoted for the last time to the rank of Major-General of the Continental Army and was given command of a division composed of Parson’s and Wadsworth’s Connecticut Brigades. On 27 August, 1776, the Patriot army, along with Spencer’s troops defending Brooklyn, was brushed aside by the British on Long Island. After the defeat, General George Washington called a meeting of nine of his top generals, including Spencer, at the Dutch Stone Church in Brooklyn to decide whether New York City was worth defending. The majority voted to hold the city. During the defense of New York City, Spencer occupied a redoubt on what is now Pike Street, between Munroe and Cherry Streets called the Spencer Redoubt. He also held the left flank in Harlem, at the line of defense extending across the city from the Hudson River to Harlem at McGowan’s Pass (at the northern edge of present day Central Park). But the battle was lost in September and New York fell into the hands of the British. As the Continental Army was leaving New York City northward, Spencer's troops played an important part in the disastrous Battle of White Plains on 25 October 1776. Spencer was given the task of holding the center but was badly beaten by Hessian troops and British cavalry in a prolonged delaying action. His command dissolved and his troops scattered.
After the defeat, General Washington reassigned Spencer to duties in Rhode Island. For nearly three years, he helped defend New England from his headquarters in Providence. At the time, the Rhode Island coast line and the Newport Harbor were controlled by the Royal Navy. The city of Newport was occupied by British regulars and an entire British squadron was stationed on the island in the harbor. After the defeats in New York, Washington was determined to drive the English out of Rhode Island. On 11 July 1777, the English commander in New England, Major General Prescott, was captured by Spencer’s men (later exchanged for American prisoners). Unfortunately, the British had a strangle-hold on Rhode Island and Spencer was forced the fight a running (and too often losing) battle. In September 1777, Spencer began to organize an amphibious attack on Rhode Island from Tiverton (on the Massachusetts side of the Providence Bay). Due to a bit of quick thinking, Spencer realized that his plan was in jeopardy due to inclement weather, miscommunication and the possibility that the enemy had foreknowledge of the attack. Just as the men were about to depart, Spencer called off the operation. Spencer was sharply criticized for the failure and he asked for a court of inquiry to investigate. Even though he was completely exonerated, this second indignation was too much for him and promptly announced his resignation on June 14, 1778 and headed home. General Sullivan was sent to replace him and, on 30 August 1778, Spencer assisted Sullivan’s retreat to Providence then returned home.
Back in Connecticut, he was appointed to the Council of Safety (outgrowths of the Sons of Liberty movement designed to keep royal power in check in pre-Revolutionary days), and, in 1779, he was appointed a delegate to the Continual Congress, where he served just a year.
After the War
Free of military obligations, at the age of 66, Spencer rejoined the Connecticut Council (state senate) in 1780 and was annually reelected until his death. In 1779, the Connecticut Assembly saw it fit to send Spencer to participate in the Continental Congress while the Articles of Confederation where being voted on by the states.
Joseph Spencer then went back to Connecticut in December of 1779 and continued to serve in the State legislature until his death ten years later. He died in East Haddam, Conn., on January 13, 1789 at the age of 74. He was buried in Millington Cemetery west of the Millington Green section of East Haddam near where he lived. He and his wife were re-interred at the Nathan Hale Park of East Haddam in 1904 and a monument was erected in his honor.
He was survived by ten children: Martha, Hobart, (Doctor) Joseph and Israel, from his first wife, and Millicent, Isaac, Jared, Mary, Hannah and Elizabeth from his second wife. Two of his children passed away before Joseph: Nehemia (who died in 1769) and Anna (who died in 1747). The Spencers married into the Ballard line through Joseph’s son, Isaac (who quite inconvientely had a son named Isaac, who had a son named Isaac). Joseph’s great-grand daughter married Elias Ballard and their grand-son was Lloyd Ballard.
Bibliography
Boyer, Paul S., et. al., The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People, Second Edition, D.C. Heath and Company, Lexington, MA., 1993
Callahan, North, Connecticut’s Revolutionary War Leaders, Pequot Press, Chester, Connecticut, 1972
Connecticut Historical Society. Rolls of Connecticut Men in the French and Indian War, 1755-1762. Vol. I-II. Hartford, CT, USA: Connecticut Historical Society, 1903-1905
Edmund West Company, Family Data Collection - Individual Records [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000
Godfrey Memorial Library, American Genealogical-Biographical Index, Middletown, CT, USA
Silman, Benjamin, “Major-General Joseph Spencer”, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 3, No. 4, 1879, pp. 435-437
Sons of the Revolution, Connecticut Society. Decennial Register of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in the State of Connecticut, 1893-1913, Hartford, Conn., 1913
Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970. Louisville, Kentucky:
National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Microfilm, 508 rolls; Volume: 60; SAR Membership Number: 11883
Spencer, Albert H., Genealogy of the Spencer family, A.H. Spencer, River Edge, N.J., Printed by, 1956
Ward, Harry M., The American Revolution: Nationhood Achieved, 1763-1788, St. Martin’s Press, Inc., Virginia, 1995
White, Lorraine Cook, ed., The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records, Vol. 1-55. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002
Whittlesly, Charles Barney, Historical Sketch of Joseph Spencer, Major General of the Centennial Troops, 1869