- Timothy Bedel
Timothy Bedel (1737 –
February 24 ,1787 ) was a soldier and local leader prominent in the early history ofNew Hampshire .Bedel was born in
Salem, New Hampshire . During theFrench and Indian War he served as a lieutenant in theNew Hampshire Provincial Regiment atFort at Number 4 ,Crown Point ,Fortress Louisbourg , the capture of Quebec and later at the capture of Havana, Cuba. Bedel served in the New Hampshire colonial assembly after the war.Bedel and his wife Elizabeth had a son named Moody Bedel, born on
May 12 ,1764 , who became a brigadier general during theWar of 1812 . Moody Bedel's son John Bedel was a brigadier general of volunteers during theAmerican Civil War .American Revolution
On
May 26 ,1775 , Timothy Bedel was appointed to command a company ofrangers inCoos County, New Hampshire as acolonel in theNew Hampshire militia .William Stark also wanted this command and when he was turned down he joined theBritish Army . This company was quickly expanded to aregiment with eight companies and joined theContinental Army during the Invasion of Canada. Bedel saw action at theBattle of Fort St. Jean but missed theBattle of Cedars while he was ill at the hospital atLachine, Quebec . At the Cedars, most ofBedel's Regiment was captured by the British and their Native American allies. Eight days later his men were exchanged for British soldiers captured at the Battle of St. Jean.Both Bedel and his second in command, Major Isaac Butterfield, were court-martialed for the disaster at Cedars. Bedel was found not guilty and Butterfield was found guilty of cowardice. Bedel's regiment was disbanded on
January 1 ,1777 , when enlistments expired.Bedel commanded a militia regiment in the
Battle of Bennington under GeneralJohn Stark . OnDecember 11 ,1779 , GeneralGeorge Washington ordered Bedel to Coos to help in an investigation of misconduct and fraud against the Continental ArmyQuartermaster at Coos, New Hampshire.Later years
After the war, Bedel served worked unsuccessfully to have lands in northern New Hampshire and
Vermont granted toAbenaki s who had sided with theUnited States during the war.Some early histories state that Bedel became a general in the New Hampshire militia, but historian Albert Batchellor could find no evidence of this and believed it to be an error because Bedel was always addressed by his contemporaries as "Colonel". Bedel died in
Haverhill, New Hampshire .References
*Batchellor, Albert S. "The Ranger Service in the Upper Valley of the Connecticut...." Concord, New Hampshire: The Rumford Press, 1903. Available [http://www.archive.org/details/rangerservice00batcrich online] from the
Internet Archive .*Calloway, Colin G. "The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and Diversity in Native American Communities". Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-521-47149-4 (hardback).
*Derby, Samuel Carroll. "A List of The Revolutionary Soldiers of Dublin, N.H." Columbus, Ohio: Spahr & Glenn, 1901. Available [http://books.google.com/books?id=f7o_OOCHGIAC online] via
Google Book Search .*Heitman, Francis B. "Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution." New, enlarged, and revised edition. Washington, D.C.: Rare Book Shop Publishing Company, 1914. Available on Google Book Search, [http://books.google.com/books?id=tZALAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA95#PPA95,M1 page 90] has a summary of Bedel's service record.
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=XSDnxlK1sMUC&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r State Builders: An Illustrated Historical and Biographical Record of the State of New Hampshire. State Builers Publishing Manchester, NH 1903]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.