Patriots Day

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Every year in mid-April, people gather on the day that marks the beginning of the Revolutionary War.  Many make a pilgrimage to historic Lexington and Concord to celebrate Patriots Day.  They visit graves of the brave soldiers who fought for our country’s independence. 

Patriots Day serves to commemorate April 19, 1775, the date the first shots were fired at Lexington.  The day is officially observed this year on Monday, April 21 (2014).  Numerous celebrations are planned including the Boston Marathon which is run each year on Patriot Monday. 

In 2001, an Act 16 budget bill made Patriots Day an observance day in Wisconsin.  Honoring the day helps teach the traditions that preserve our society and cultural heritage.  Patriots Day is intended to help students and adults become aware of or be reminded about how U.S. history has an effect on our basic political and social institutions in Wisconsin and the United States. 

Understandably, it can be difficult for people to grasp the significance of Patriots Day if they cannot personally relate to the importance of the events of the Revolutionary War.  Perhaps some do not fully grasp the magnitude of sacrifices made by the common soldiers who earned our country’s independence. 

This writer is fortunate to know the history of her ancestor who served in the Revolutionary War.  My great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Jesse Benjamin, was a Revolutionary War veteran.  Jesse was 18 years old when he enlisted on April 25, 1777.  He entered as a musician and soon became a private in the regiment commanded by Colonel Zebulon Butler of the Connecticut line. 

Jesse served for six years in the Revolutionary War.  His regiment was engaged in battles at Princeton, Trenton, Monmouth, Germantown, Red Bank, and others, as well as the defense of Fort Mifflin on the Delaware River.  He wintered at Valley Forge with General George Washington and at Morristown.  At his discharge, he was honored by General Washington with the Badge of Merit.  His discharge papers bear the signature of the commander in chief, our first president.  Jesse Benjamin served until the close of the war and was discharged on the 8^th day of April, 1783 at West Point, New York.


This is the discharge paper of Jesse Benjamin who served for six years in the Revolutionary War and earned the Badge of Merit from General George Washington.  Below is a clear sample of Washington's signature.  Can you see his signature under "Given at Head-Quarters" on Jesse's discharge paper?



Jesse and other patriot colonists wanted independence from oppressive British rule. Most hoped that differences with England would be settled peacefully but that wasn’t to be.  Jesse Benjamin and his fellow soldiers served in a bloody war.  He and other poor, scattered colonists fought against the richest, most powerful nation on earth.  It was a war of deprivation, starvation, and suffering for the patriots.  Soldiers went barefoot, lived on parched corn, suffered through bleak winters and the unbearable heat of summer, often without proper clothing or enough food, and with the knowledge that their families at home were in similar destitute circumstances. 

What did the patriots and their sacrifices accomplish?  They ensured that we would live in a free country where life and liberty were acknowledged rights.  Essentially, the whole world was revolutionized by our country’s revolution through the influence of our free institutions, the declaration of rights, and the struggle for independence.

Patriots deserve to be honored on Patriots Day and their final resting places should be visited and maintained.  Fortunately, Jesse Benjamin’s descendants assured that his grave would serve as a remembrance in his honor.  His grandchildren marked his grave with a new stone and family monument many years after his death.  Patriot Jesse Benjamin lies in eternal rest in Clayton, New York.  The town of Clayton also has a monument to honor the memory of the Freedom Fighters of 1776--the Revolutionary War soldiers who were buried there. 

Forty Revolutionary War soldiers are buried in 25 cemeteries in Wisconsin.  Biographies about them and directions (including GPS locations) to their graves were collected by the Wisconsin Society Sons of the American Revolution and are available online at  http://www.wisconsinrevolutionarywarpatriots.org/booklet.pdf .  Read the amazing stories of these patriots and learn where you can visit their graves.  Remember their sacrifices and honor those who lie in unmarked graves, too.