Lemuel Cook (September 10, 1759 – May 20, 1866) was one of the last verifiable surviving

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

s of 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 ...

Early life and education

Cook was born on September 10, 1759, in

Litchfield County, Connecticut Litchfield County is a County (United States), county in northwestern Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 185,186. The county was named after Lichfield, in England. Litchfield Count ...

, to Henry Cook and his wife Hannah Benham.

Military service

Cook enlisted 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 ...

in 1775 at the age of 16. He was assigned to the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons, and by his death he was the last surviving member. He fought at Brandywine and in the Virginian campaign, and was wounded several times. He was present at

Charles Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805) was a British Army officer, Whig politician and colonial administrator. In the United States and United Kingdom, he is best known as one of the leading Britis ...

' surrender in October 1781. He received an honorable discharge signed by

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

on June 12, 1784.

Later life and death

Following the war, Cook became a farmer and married Hannah Curtis. They had seven sons and three daughters. He was an active Mason and Democrat since the party’s establishment in 1828. His church was

Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

. He lived in

Plymouth, Connecticut Plymouth is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States, located within the Naugatuck Valley Planning Region. It is named after Plymouth, Devon, England. The population was 11,671 at the 2020 census, down from 12,243 at the 2010 cen ...

(then Northbury) until 1790, when he moved to

Clinton, New York Clinton, New York may refer to: *Clinton County, New York *Clinton, Clinton County, New York *Clinton, Dutchess County, New York *Clinton, Oneida County, New York * Clinton, Manhattan, or Hell's Kitchen, a neighborhood in New York City *East Greenb ...

. In 1795 he returned to Plymouth, then moved to

Pompey, New York Pompey is a town in the southeast part of Onondaga County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 7,080. The town was named after the Roman general and political leader Pompey by a late 18th-century clerk interested in ...

in 1805. He moved to North Bergen, New York in 1821 and finally to

Clarendon, New York Clarendon is a town in Orleans County, New York, United States. The population was 3,648 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from Clarendon, Vermont. The Town of Clarendon is in the southeast part of the county. New York State Route 31A a ...

in 1832. Lemuel was one of the oldest and among the last living pensioners of the American Revolution. He died May 20, 1866, at the age of 106, having lived to see the start and the end of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. He was buried with full military and

Masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

honors. At the time of his death, only three other revolutionary veterans (Samuel Downing, Daniel F. Bakeman and John Gray) were still alive.

Photography

He was one of seven American Revolutionary War veterans who, having survived into the age of photography, were featured in the 1864 book '' The Last Men of the Revolution'', which gives many details of his life.

References

External links

Lemuel Cook: Last Survivor of the Revolutionary War from a Burr/Cook genealogy pageBurial site of Lemuel Cook at Find a Grave
1759 births 1866 deaths American men centenarians Continental Army soldiers United States Army soldiers People from Litchfield County, Connecticut People from Clarendon, New York {{US-army-bio-stub