The death of the late Joseph Smith of Chester suggested to Colonel George C. Gilmore of this city the idea of looking up the Smiths who served in the Continental armies from New-Hampshire. As a result he has handed The Union [newspaper] a partial list.
To begin with, there were no fewer than seventeen Smiths from New-Hampshire engaged at Bunker Hill. These were John Smith of Londonderry, Joseph Smith of Plymouth, who was also with Arnold on his expedition against Quebec; Oliver Smith of Meredith, Alexander Smith of Brentwood, Nathaniel Smith of Epping, Samuel Smith of Goffstown, Jonathan Smith of Dunbarton, also with Arnold; Samuel Smith of Bedford, Joseph Smith of Chester, Biley Smith of Raymond, Ephraim Smith of Hollis, Benjamin Smith of Temple, Joseph Smith of Chesterfield, John Smith, second, of Londonderry, William Smith of Salem, and Wadleigh Smith and Jethro Smith, residence unknown.
[Also See a list of ALL men who participated in the Battle of Bunker Hill, from New Hampshire; and a second list compiled by the National Park Service (pdf). ]
This was a tolerable showing of Smiths from one State in a single battle but they were but a small portion of the number of that name in the army from New-Hampshire in the same year–1775. These others were William and Joseph of Durham, Samuel of Madbury, Samuel of Effingham, Solomon of Stratham, Cheney of Dover, Pearson and Jonathan of Meredith, Joseph of Sanbornton, Israel of Brentwood, Samuel of Portsmouth–all in Poor’s regiment; Trueworthy, Samuel and Elisha of Exeter, Joseph and James of Plaistow, Samuel of Hopkinton, Edward of Weare, David, Samuel and Joseph of Stratham, Joseph and Eliphalet of Newmarket, and Isaac of Amherst; while among those whose residences are marked unknown were Benjamin, Richard, William, Samuel, Elisha, Joseph, Isaac, James, two Daniels, and two Johns–thirty-four Smiths in the army other than at Bunker Hill, fifty-one Smiths in all from New-Hampshire engaged in the War of Independence in the single year of 1775.
SOURCE: “MANY SMITHS IN THE REVOLUTION;” The Granite State Furnished a Large Number of them; From the Manchester (N.H.) Union; reprinted June 19, 1896 in the New York Times.
