Ebenezer Learned Ebenezer Learned ( April 18 , 1728 – April 1 , 1801 ) was a brigadier general in the American Continental Army during the Revolutionary War . Early life and career . He was the son of Ebeneezer and Deborah Haynes Learned , and was born at Oxford , Massachusetts , and lived his entire life in the area . On October 5 , 1749 , he married Jerusha Baker ( 1732 – 1789 ) and they had nine children . When his grandfather died in 1750 , he inherited 200 acres ( 0 . 8 km² ) known as " Prospect Hill " , and built his home there . Learned was an active member of the local militia , and raised and drilled a company at Oxford during the French and Indian War . In the summer of 1756 he led his company to Fort Edward at Lake George . There is little record of his service , except that he served sporadically from then until 1763 . He fell ill with smallpox in 1757 and was hospitalized for a month . After that war , he remained at home for several years , farming and operating a tavern at Oxford . He was prominent in both church and community , and served as a town selectman for 25 of the years between 1758 and 1794 . American Revolution . He remained active in the militia , and led his own and a neighboring company of minutemen to Boston , where he received the news of the Battle of Lexington on April 19 , 1775 . On April 24 , the Massachusetts committee of safety named him a colonel and authorized him to organize a regiment that was known as Learned ' s Regiment . His regiment was adopted into the Continental Army in June . In 1776 those who re - enlisted were augmented by men from Danielson ' s Regiment to form the 3rd Continental Regiment . By the end of the Siege of Boston , General Washington had given Learned command of the important Dorchester Heights position . When the British evacuated Boston on March 17 , 1776 , Colonel Learned was the first to enter the city . He led a battalion of 500 specially selected men , to clean out the traps , abatis , caltrops , and garbage left by the British . He and the men were selected because they had all had survived smallpox or had been inoculated . Learned resigned in May 1776 due to ill health , but returned to duty on April 2 , 1777 . He was named a brigadier general and assigned to the Northern Department . In the first phase of the Battle of Saratoga , the Battle of Freeman ' s Farm , his brigade was not very effective . Working forward in the center of the line , they mainly got lost in the woods , and exchanged light fire near the end of the battle . At the Battle of Bemis Heights his brigade was in the center of the left division , fighting alongside Daniel Morgan and Enoch Poor . They were commanded by General Benjamin Lincoln . Learned ' s own brigade ( the 2nd , 8th , and 9th Massachusetts line ) , was expanded by James Livingston ( American Revolution ) ' s 1st New York Regiment and 2 regiments of New Hampshire Militia the 2nd and 4th . The attack on the American far left was turned by Daniel Morgan ' s men , but the enemy ' s center was held by Hessian troops . Benedict Arnold came onto the field and encouraged the men . Arnold and Learned led a joint charge on the Hessian positions , and , even though Arnold fell wounded , Learned and his men carried through and broke the enemy lines . Burgoyne ' s forces had to retreat to their starting fortifications around Freeman ' s Farm . When their charge carried the first bunker , Burgoyne ' s forces withdrew to the positions they had held before the Freeman ' s Farm battle . After Saratoga , his was the first unit to guard and escort the surrendered Convention Army on its trek to the south . In 1777 – 78 , he commanded a brigade of Massachusetts troops in Major General deKalb ' s division at Valley Forge . On March 24 , 1778 , his continuing health problems led to his final resignation . Later life and activities . Ebenezer returned home to Oxford , and represented the town at the Massachusetts Convention of 1779 that adopted a new constitution for the state . He served as a Judge of Common Pleas for Worcester County , Massachusetts . In 1783 he was elected to the Massachusetts General Court ( the state ' s House of Representatives ) . He died at home in Oxford in 1801 .