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Wednesday, June 10, 2009

BENJAMIN ROCKWOOD AT BLACK POINT, MAINE.

As I've mentioned before, Benjamin Rockwood was wounded in King Philip's War in Maine.
This took place on 29 June, 1677 at Black Point near Scarborough, Maine in a fight known
as The Battle at Moore's Brook. There's a great account of it by Sumner Hunnewell
posted here at a site from the Lane Memorial Library at Hampton, NH. and I highly
recommend it to anyone interested in colonial history. It has information on many of
the colonial soldiers and their fates, including an image of the actual casualty list
of the battle.

I also found the following on Google Books:

"Many others whose names are not here, appear in the old documents referred to; like
that of Benjamin Rockwood (Rocket), who, in a later Ledger, has credit for Military Service,
in 1677. In Mass. Archives, vol. 72, pp. 622- 624, several original documents arc found
showing that he was a soldier in Philip's war, was in service at the Westward, and then was
sent, under Capt. Swett, to the Eastward; and at Bllackpoynt, was twice severely wounded,
and was confined' in Salem Hospital for " a quarter of a year." A memorial of his townsmen testifies to the facts, and other evidence shows that he had " two bullets in his thigh." Much
more is found about this last case, which, being typical of the times and men, doubtless had
many parallels, if we knew all."

George Madison Bodge Soldiers in King Philip's War 2nd ed. Self published (?) 1896
page 453

Benjamin Rockwood died in 1747 at age 97. Hunnewell mentions the son in law who
petitioned the colony for a pension to help support Benjamin when he was 93 and who
then was accused of keeping the money for himself. That appears to have been my
ancestor William Man(Mann). The pension was then sent to and administered by the
town of Wrentham.

1 comment:

Sumner Hunnewell said...

Happy that you enjoyed my article about the battle in Scarborough, Maine. It took three years and I tried to scour as many historical societies and libraries (both public and private) to make it as complete as possible. I was inspired by Martin Middlebrook's First Day on the Battle of the Somme. I wanted to give every man his due. - Sumner Hunnewell