Abel White
was born in 1758 in
New Hampshire. At the age
of 17 in 1775, White joined The Captain Carlyle Company of the Bedell
Regiment. White was one of the few men to join the state Militia. Only
one tenth of the male population of
New Hampshire would join
the State militia or Continental army, the least of any of the other 13
colonies.
From August
21, 1775 until November3, 1775, White participated in the battle of Fort
St. Jeans under the command of American General Richard Montgomery.
Fort
Jeans was located on the
Canadian border near the city of
ST. Jean. The fort guarded
the entrance to
Canada
with over 300 British troops stationed there.
The battle
of
Fort
Jeans was the first attempt of
a Canadian Invasion in hopes of making
Canada the 14th
Colony. For over 3 months, the Continentals tried to take the fort.
Finally on November3, 1775 the British surrendered.
On December
31, 1775, White participated in the battle of
Quebec.
Quebec was the final stronghold to be
taken in
Canada. If it
could be taken
Canada
would become the 14th colony. The battle took place under the
command of Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery. Arnold, the most
brilliant military Commander of the Continental Army led his 900 man
army up against a British army twice his size in a freezing blizzard.
Snow drifts were so high in some places that over 20 Continental
soldiers were found buried in the snow frozen to death during the spring
thaw.
Arnold
attacked the City of
Quebec from one side while
Montgomery attacked the
other side of the city.
Montgomery was soon killed and
Arnold was soon badly
wounded in his leg. Daniel Morgan became the commander of the
expedition. When most of the 900 men became surrounded by the British,
his men begged Daniel Morgan to surrender, Morgan refused. The
Battle only ended when
Morgan surrendered his sword to a French priest. Morgan would write a
letter to
Washington saying it would
be a cold day in Hell before he would surrender to the British army. The
defeat at
Quebec was a cold day of
hell for the Continental army.
From March
1776 until May 1776,
Arnold attempted to capture the city of
Quebec again, but was forced
to retreat when a major smallpox epidemic broke out. Over 900 men would
contract Smallpox and die before reaching
New York after the retreat.
This was the last Canadian Invasion
In May 1776,
White would participate at the battle of the Cedars.
Fort
Cedars was an American garrison
located in
Montreal
Canada under the
command of Col. Timothy Bedell, commander of Bedell’s regiment of which
White was apart of.
Most of the
Bedell’s regiment was captured and sent to prison ships off the coast of
Long Island NY. Over 40% of the
Continental troops sent to these prison ships, nearly 11000 men, would
die before the end of the Revolutionary war. White was one of he lucky
ones to escape and make his way back to
New Hampshire. This would
be White’s last major battle.
From 1776
until the end of the war in 1783, White would spend most of his time
chasing Tories and Indians along the border of
Vermont. The Tories in
New Hampshire were pretty
much harmless doing little damage compared to the Tories in the other
colonies. No Tory was ever hanged in
New Hampshire. Only one
Tory was ever sentenced to hang in
New Hampshire, a Captain George Baxter
commander of the
New Hampshire loyalists. In
1777 on the day of his execution when he was supposed to be hanged, the
rope broke when the scaffold dropped to hang Baxter. Baxter ran into the
woods with the rope still tied around his neck and escaped never to be
seen again.
By 1780,
Both the
New Hampshire patriots and
Tories were tired of the war. They were mostly interested in farming and
plowing. In October 1783, the New Hampshire Gazette reported that the
Treaty of Paris had been signed in September 1783 ended the war. The
Governor of New Hampshire called for an ending of hostilities and the
militia was dissolved.
After the
war White married Sarah Comfort. From this union they would have 10
children. In 1807, White would travel through the Cumberland Gap to
Greenup
county
KY located in
Eastern
KY on the
West VA border. In 1823, at the age of
65 White died and was buried on his farm.
During the
Civil war, Greenup
county
KY became a Union
stronghold during the War. On October 3, 1862, Union Commander
Brigadier General George Morgan led 9000 Union troops during a retreat
from Cumberland Gap to
Greenup
County
KY. The Confederate
forces in
Barbourville
KY had cut off Union
supplies from KY making the retreat necessary.
Cumberland Gap would change hands four
times during the Civil war.
Today most
of White’s descendents are scattered all over
Eastern KY.