Seth Pomeroy Seth Pomeroy ( May 20 , 1706 – February 9 , 1777 ) was an American gunsmith and soldier from Northampton , Massachusetts . His military service included the French and Indian War and the early stages of the American Revolutionary War . He fought as a private soldier in the Battle of Bunker Hill , but was later appointed a major general in the Massachusetts militia . Private life . Seth was born in Northampton , Massachusetts , to Ebeneezer and Sarah ( King ) Pomeroy . His father was a prominent local citizen , and had been a Major in the militia . Seth became a mechanic and gunsmith , as well as joining the local militia in Hampshire County . He earned a reputation as one of the best gunsmiths in the colony . Pomeroy married Mary Hunt ( 1705 – 1777 ) on December 14 , 1732 . They had nine children : Seth ( b . 1733 ) , Quartus ( b . 1735 ) , Medad ( b . 1736 ) , Lemuel ( b . 1738 ) , Martha ( b . 1740 ) , Mary ( b . 1742 ) , Sarah ( b . 1744 ) , A child born in 1747 , and Asahel ( b . 1749 ) . King George ' s War . When Massachusetts undertook an expedition against the French in Nova Scotia , Major Pomeroy answered Governor William Shirley ' s call for volunteers . He was part of the expedition led by William Pepperrell that captured Fortress Louisbourg in Nova Scotia in 1745 . He used his professional skills in support of Richard Gridley , the expedition ' s chief engineering officer . He reconditioned the guns captured from an outlying position after the French had spiked them and supported 46 days of heavy bombardment . French and Indian War . In 1755 Lt . Colonel Pomeroy was second in command of the regiment led by Colonel Ephraim Williams . They marched to New York to support a move to capture Crown Pont . While on the march , they were ambushed by a force of 800 French and Canadian troops , supported by 600 Iroquois warriors , and led by Baron Dieskau at the Battle of Lake George . Of all the commanding officers , Pomeroy was the only one to survive the battle , and in lieu of Williams ' death assumed the rank of Colonel . Although suffering significant losses , they withdrew to the English camp at the south end of Lake George . There they built a hasty wall of wood and carts and made their stand , supported by cannon and additional forces under General William Johnson . The Indians and Canadians would not attack in the open . When Baron Dieskau was wounded , the entire French force withdrew for Fort Carillon ( later called Fort Ticonderoga ) . Dieskau was captured , and Johnson would build a more permanent Fort William Henry to protect the site . Revolutionary War . Although a senior officer in the Massachusetts militia at the start of the war , Pomeroy had a limited role . He was , after all , nearly seventy years old . But when the Siege of Boston began in 1775 , he was among the volunteers that went in support of it . On June 17 a British naval bombardment marked the start of the Battle of Bunker Hill . He borrowed a horse from General Artemas Ward and set out for Charlestown . When he reached the neck of the peninsula , he found troops piled up because the narrow strip was under fire from British warships . Giving the horse to a soldier to return , he shouldered his musket and marched through the barrage . He declined any command , but took a post at the rail fence , fighting with John Stark ' s 1st New Hampshire Regiment . The next week , the Continental Congress named him a brigadier general in the Continental Army . Since his health was not the best , when difficulties arose about seniority , he declined this commission and served instead as a major general in the Massachusetts militia . When General George Washington asked for support in New Jersey the following year , Pomeroy marched with his militia unit . He didn ' t complete the trip , but fell ill and died in Peekskill , New York . He is buried in St . Peter ' s Churchyard , in an unmarked grave . The churchyard is now part of Hillside Cemetery . Honoring Seth Pomeroy in Hillside Cemetery is an estimated 26 - foot high monument , being a large square base , a column , and a ball on top . Inscribed in a wreath on one side is " General Seth Pomeroy . Born at Northhampton , Mass . , May 20th 1706 . Died near this spot Feb . 19th 1777 . Inscribed on another side is a quote from him dated February 11 , 1777 , at Peekskill , perhaps referring to his facing his last days : " I go cheerfully , for I a sure the cause we are engaged in is just , and the call I have to it is clear , and the call of God . "