Simeon Thayer Simeon Thayer ( April 30 , 1737 – October 14 , 1800 ) fought in Rogers ' Rangers during the French and Indian War and made a harrowing escape from French - allied Indians . At the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War , the Rhode Island assembly appointed him an officer . He quickly raised a company of soldiers and marched with them to the Siege of Boston . He and his men went on Benedict Arnold ' s expedition to Quebec during which time he kept a journal of his experiences . He fought at Quebec and was captured . After being paroled , he again served as an officer in the Continental Army . Thayer distinguished himself at the Siege of Fort Mifflin in the autumn of 1777 . For the period of four days he commanded the garrison until he was compelled to evacuate the fort by the tremendous bombardment . He fought at Barren Hill and Monmouth , where he was seriously wounded . He led his men in a clash at Springfield and retired from the army in 1781 . Later , he served as a brigadier general of Rhode Island militia for three years . He was married three times and died after being thrown from a horse at age 63 . Early life . Simeon Thayer was born in Mendon , Massachusetts on April 30 , 1737 of parents David and Jane Keith Thayer . His eight brothers and sisters were named Jean , David , Susanna , George , Faithful , Jemima , Mary , and Elizabeth . As a young man , he served as an apprentice to a wig - maker . In 1756 he volunteered for military service with a Rhode Island regiment . Soon after , he joined Colonel Fry ' s Massachusetts regiment and served in Rogers ' Rangers during three separate clashes with French - allied Indians . He became a prisoner after the Siege of Fort William Henry on August 9 , 1757 . He survived the massacre of many British prisoners by pro - French Indians that followed the surrender . The captured troops were stripped of their weapons and much of their clothing and made to march from the fort . A tomahawk - armed Native Americans seized Thayer by his under - waistcoat and began dragging him toward a swamp . The garment tore off , allowing Thayer to flee his captor . He soon joined another prisoner and the two were pursued by an Indian who tomahawked his companion to death . Thayer began sprinting and reached Fort Edward in safety . The effort of running a great distance on a hot day impaired his health and rendered him unfit for service for the rest of the French and Indian War . In 1761 , Thayer , now employed as a wig - maker in Providence , Rhode Island , bought a piece of property and was married . When trouble with Great Britain started in 1772 , he joined a grenadier company in the local militia . American Revolution . Quebec . When war broke out , the Rhode Island general assembly commissioned him a captain in May 1775 . He personally enlisted his company to full strength and marched for Boston on May 19 , arriving there two days later . These were the first Rhode Island troops to arrive in Boston . His company became part of Colonel Daniel Hitchcock ' s regiment in the Army of Observation . A muster roll from September 10 , 1775 showed that Thayer ' s company consisted of two lieutenants , four sergeants , four corporals , a fifer , and 79 privates . That month his company was selected to join Benedict Arnold ' s expedition to Quebec . On the morning of December 31 , 1775 the Americans opened the Battle of Quebec by attacking the city . The main column under Colonel Benedict Arnold and Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Greene was led by Captain Daniel Morgan ' s company . Morgan ' s advance guard was followed by the companies of Captains John Lamb , Henry Dearborn , John Topham , and Thayer . Seven more companies formed the center and rear of the attack column . In the approach march , the column suffered some casualties from enemy fire . Since a snow storm was raging , the head of the column became disoriented and lost its direction before Thayer , who knew the way , led the soldiers on . Presently , they arrived before a barrier armed with two cannons which fired , causing further losses . As the guns were withdrawn to reload , Thayer and Morgan climbed through the gunports , followed by their men , and captured 60 of the defenders . Continuing up the street , the Americans surprised a group of Quebec militia and made them prisoners , making a total of 130 . Since their own firearms were wet from the snow , the Americans appropriated the dry weapons of the Canadians . A second barrier farther along repelled all their attempts to seize it , partly because so many muskets misfired in the blizzard . After four hours of fighting , the Americans found themselves trapped and they surrendered when the British promised to grant them quarter . Total American casualties in the disaster were 35 killed , 33 wounded , and 372 captured . Thayer ' s company suffered two killed , three wounded , and 25 captured . Of the latter group , seven men later agreed to enlist in the British army . For nine months he was held captive by the British . In September 1776 he was allowed to return to Providence on parole to await prisoner exchange . While he was still on parole in February 1777 , the assembly promoted Thayer to the rank of major . Fort Mifflin and other actions . After being exchanged on July 1 , 1777 , he served in Colonel Israel Angell ' s 2nd Rhode Island Regiment . An undated return of the regiment ' s 2nd Battalion under Thayer shows 141 soldiers present for duty . Of these , 33 hailed from Providence 31 from Newport , 15 from Smithfield , and the rest from smaller towns . At that time , the 2nd Regiment was brigaded with the 1st Rhode Island Regiment under the command of Brigadier General James Mitchell Varnum in Major General Israel Putnam ' s division on the Hudson River . Ordered to join the main army , the Rhode Island Brigade left Peekskill , New York on September 29 , 1777 . The 1st Regiment under Colonel Christopher Greene reached Fort Mercer on October 11 and the 2nd Regiment a week later . Soon after , the 2nd Regiment was sent to defend Fort Mifflin on Mud Island in the Delaware River . When Fort Mercer was attacked by the Hessians on October 22 , the 2nd Regiment was rowed across the river to help and participated in the Battle of Red Bank . During the battle , Thayer commanded a section of Fort Mercer ' s defenses . After the successful action , Greene sent him with a small party to bring in the wounded . While on this duty , two Hessian grenadiers pointed out to Thayer where their commander was lying wounded . He located the Colonel Carl von Donop and ordered six Americans to carry him into the fort . The Hessian officer later died of his wound . Thayer fought under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Smith during the latter part of the Siege of Fort Mifflin which lasted from September 26 to November 16 , 1777 . The defenders of the fort held out heroically against a bombardment by warships in the Delaware and by British batteries on the north bank . On October 23 , the defenders scored a significant victory when the " HMS Augusta ( 64 ) " and the " HMS Merlin ( 18 ) " went aground near the fort . The stern of the " Augusta " soon caught fire and the flames quickly spread . British accounts suggest the blaze was either set deliberately by the crew or caused accidentally by flaming wadding from her guns . The Americans claimed that hot shot from Fort Mifflin or fire ships set the third - rate afire . The result is not in dispute . At mid - day , the " Augusta " blew up in an enormous explosion that shattered windows in Philadelphia . The blast was heard away at Trappe , Pennsylvania . Sixty crew members including a lieutenant were killed as they struggled in the water to escape . After this disaster , the crew of the " Merlin " set their ship on fire and rowed away . The smaller vessel later blew up as well . On November 11 , during an intense bombardment , Smith was badly bruised when a cannonball crashed into the barracks , struck him in the left hip , and showered him with bricks . Before being removed from the fort , Smith tried to get someone to volunteer to take command but no one stepped forward . Finally , Smith appointed Thayer to lead the defense , noting he was , " the bravest man he had ever known . " Thayer accepted . He would command the fort from the 12th to the 15th . When he took charge , the situation was rapidly becoming critical . On November 15 , the British managed to work " Vigilant " , an East Indiaman razeed into a 20 - gun floating battery , into a position 200 paces from the fort . " HMS Somerset ( 64 ) " , " HMS Isis ( 50 ) " , " HMS Roebuck ( 44 ) " , and " HMS Pearl ( 32 ) " blasted Mud Island from the river while numerous batteries flayed the fort from the land side . Thayer gamely directed his men to move a 32 - pound cannon to the threatened area . The gun crew put 14 shots into the " Vigilant " but soon had to abandon the piece as the position was deluged by fire . With the situation hopeless , Thayer ordered the fort to be evacuated that evening and the survivors were rowed across to Red Bank , New Jersey . There were about 300 survivors . Thayer stayed behind with about 40 men to burn down what remained of the barracks and left at midnight . On the morning of November 16 , the British took possession of the wrecked fort . On May 20 , 1778 at the Battle of Barren Hill , Gilbert du Motier , marquis de La Fayette discovered that major British forces were converging on his detachment . La Fayette sent Thayer and 300 men to fight a delaying action while he slipped away across the Schuylkill River with the bulk of his force . Thayer held off the British advance guard and brought off his small command intact . At the Battle of Monmouth on June 28 , 1778 , Thayer fought with Colonel Joseph Cilley ' s detachment in Brigadier General Charles Scott ' s command . When the British counterattacked , Scott ' s men had to retreat across a swamp . During the withdrawal , a near - miss by a cannonball caused blood to flow from both eyes . With difficulty he remained in command during the day , but he had to leave the army the next day to recover . Thayer permanently lost vision in his right eye from the wound . After a five - week recovery at Morristown , New Jersey , he hastened to rejoin his regiment but missed the Battle of Rhode Island on August 29 . During 1779 he served as an enlistment officer . Returning to his regiment in New Jersey , he led his troops at the Battle of Springfield on June 23 , 1780 . In this contest , he led the center of the regiment in the defense of the bridge and later covered the retreat . When the enemy force fell back , Brigadier General John Stark asked him to determine which way they were marching . Though he was frequently fired upon , Thayer followed alone on horseback and made reports . Retirement . On October 3 , 1780 , Congress voted to combine the two Rhode Island regiments , effective on January 1 , 1781 . On the latter date , Thayer retired from the Continental Army . He was an original member of the Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati . For three years afterward he held the title of Brigadier General of the Providence militia . Of medium stature and agreeable nature , he was married three times . His first wife was Huldah Jackson ( 1738 – 1771 ) , his second wife Mary Tourtelott ( b . December 24 , 1742 ) , and his third wife was Huldah ' s sister ( 1763 – 1803 ) , the former Mrs . Angell . He had nine children , several of whom did not survive infancy . They were Nancy ( 1762 – 1783 ) , William Tourtelott ( b . 1767 ) , Susan ( d . 1768 ) , Stephen Tourtelott ( ? – 1769 ) , Hannah Tourtelott ( January – March 1769 ) , Simeon ( 1770 – 1791 ) , Polly ( 1772 – 1814 ) , Richard Montgomery ( b . 1775 ) , and Henry ( b . 1785 ) . He bought a house on Stamper ' s Hill in 1781 and opened the Montgomery Hotel in 1784 . After operating the hotel for a few years , he sold it and bought a farm in Cumberland , Rhode Island . Thayer died on October 14 , 1800 after being thrown from his horse into a stream where he drowned . He was buried at the North Burial Ground in Providence , Rhode Island . His " Journal of the Invasion of Canada in 1775 " was edited by Edwin Martin Stone and published in 1867 .