Colonel Henry Sherburne (1748-1824) was an officer in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. He commanded

Sherburne's Additional Continental Regiment Sherburne's Additional Continental Regiment (a.k.a. Sherburne's Battalion) was a unit of the Continental Army which served from January 1, 1777, until it was disbanded on January 1, 1781. It was commanded by Colonel Henry Sherburne. History Sh ...

from 1777 to 1781, and served as the General Treasurer of Rhode Island from 1792 to 1807.

Early life

Henry Sherburne was born in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

, on August 3, 1748. He was the son of Benjamin Sherburne, a colonel in the

Rhode Island Militia The Rhode Island Army National Guard (RIARNG) is the land force militia for the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It operates under Title 10 of the United States Code, Title 10 and Title 32 of the United States Code, Title 32 of the United States Code ...

Revolutionary War

Sherburne was commissioned as the major of Church's Regiment (a.k.a. 3rd Rhode Island Regiment) in May 1775. He served with this unit during the

Siege of Boston The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. In the siege, Patriot (American Revolution), American patriot militia led by newly-installed Continental Army commander George Wash ...

until it was discharged on December 31, 1775. On January 1, 1776, he became the major of the

15th Continental Regiment The 1st Massachusetts Regiment was an infantry unit of the Continental Army that fought during the American Revolutionary War. It was first authorized on 23 April 1775 in the Massachusetts State Troops as Paterson's Regiment under Colonel Joh ...

. He was captured at the

Battle of The Cedars The Battle of the Cedars () was a series of military confrontations in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War that occurred during the Continental Army's invasion of Quebec, which began in September 1775. These skirmishes, which in ...

near

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in May 1776, as the result of a plan formulated by Jean-Baptiste-Jérémie Testard Louvigny de Montigny (1741 - 1799), a son of

Jacques Testard de Montigny Jacques Testard de Montigny (1663–1737) was a French military officer in the French Marines in Canada. Biography Jacques Testard de Montigny was born in Montreal, New France, in 1663, into a merchant family. He first saw military action as a ...

. and was later exchanged. He was noted for his heroism at the

Battle of Trenton The Battle of Trenton was a small but pivotal American Revolutionary War battle on the morning of December 26, 1776, in Trenton, New Jersey. After General George Washington's George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, crossing of the ...

in December 1776, where he led a successful bayonet charge. On January 1, 1777, he became the major of the

1st Rhode Island Regiment The 1st Rhode Island Regiment (also known as Varnum's Regiment, the 9th Continental Regiment, the Black Regiment, the Rhode Island Regiment, and Olney's Battalion) was a regiment in the Continental Army raised in Rhode Island during the Amer ...

, commanded by Colonel

James Varnum James Mitchell Varnum (December 17, 1748 – January 9, 1789) was an American legislator, lawyer, generalHeitman, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 559. in the Continental Army, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country.Wilkins, ''Memoirs of the Rho ...

. He held this position for only a few days before he was given command of his own regiment.

Sherburne's Additional Continental Regiment

On January 12, 1777, Sherburne was commissioned as colonel of his own regiment, named

, one of sixteen regiments authorized by the Continental Congress to expand the Continental Army. The regiment consisted of soldiers mostly recruited in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The regiment was at

Valley Forge Valley Forge was the winter encampment of the Continental Army, under the command of George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. The Valley Forge encampment lasted six months, from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778. It was the t ...

, Pennsylvania, during the winter of 1777 to 1778 and was engaged at the

Battle of Rhode Island The Battle of Rhode Island (also known as the Battle of Quaker Hill) took place on August 29, 1778. Continental Army and Militia forces under the command of Major General John Sullivan had been besieging the British forces in Newport, Rhode Is ...

in August 1778. In 1779 the regiment was stationed at

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York (state), New York, General George Washington stationed his headquarters in West Point in the summer and fall of 1779 durin ...

where its soldiers built Sherburne's Redoubt, a small fortification covering the land approaches to Fort Clinton. The regiment was also located in the area around

White Plains, New York White Plains is a city in and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, and a commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to about one milli ...

. It was also engaged at the

Battle of Staten Island The Battle of Staten Island was a failed raid by Continental Army troops under Major General John Sullivan against British forces on Staten Island on August 22, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War. After British Lieutenant General Wi ...

on January 15, 1780. It was disbanded in January 1781 when it was consolidated with the 1st and 2nd Rhode Island regiments to form the Rhode Island Regiment. Colonel Sherburne served in command of the regiment until it was disbanded on January 1, 1781. He was retired from the Continental Army at the same time since there was a surplus of higher-ranking officers.''The Biographical Cyclopedia of Representative Men of Rhode Island.'' National Biographical Publishing Co. Providence, 1881, pp. 150-151.

Post war

Sherburne lived in

, after the war. In 1782, he served as a deputy from Newport in the

Rhode Island General Assembly The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A bicameral body, it is composed of the lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 representatives, and the upper Rhode Island Se ...

. In 1783, he became an original member of the Rhode Island

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a lineage society, fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of milita ...

. He also served as the Society's secretary from 1784 to 1786 and as its vice president from 1786 to 1788. On May 29, 1785 he was married to Katherine Honeyman Tweedy (1740-1815) of Newport, who was the granddaughter of Reverend James Honeyman, a longtime rector of Trinity Church in Newport. Sherburne was a member of Trinity Church for most of his life. In January 1790, shortly before Rhode Island ratified the U.S. Constitution, he wrote to President Washington asking to be appointed collector of the port of Newport. In the letter he mentioned that during the British occupation of Newport (1776-1779) his home in Newport was burned by the British which left his mother and two "maiden sisters" homeless. Sherburne did not receive the appointment. That same year, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Newport. In 1792 Sherburne was elected as a vestryman of Trinity Church and in April 1794 he was appointed to the standing committee of the church. He stepped down from the church vestry in 1814 after 22 years of service and was voted "grateful thanks" by the congregation of the church for his long service. He was the owner of pew number 27.Mason. pg. 331.

Public service

Colonel Sherburne was elected in October 1792 as General Treasurer of Rhode Island by the General Assembly to fill a vacancy in the office. He was re-elected annually and served until May 1807. On January 6, 1800, he was one of six pall bearers at a mock funeral held in Newport to honor the passing of President Washington. In 1817 he served on a mission to negotiate with the

Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...

and

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

Indians for which he received the thanks of Congress.

Death and burial

Colonel Sherburne died insolvent at the age of 75 on May 21, 1824. He was buried in the churchyard of Trinity Church in Newport.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherburne, Henry (colonel) 1748 births 1824 deaths Military personnel from Newport, Rhode Island Continental Army officers from Rhode Island American justices of the peace State treasurers of Rhode Island

External links

Society of the Cincinnati

American Revolution Institute