Background
Joseph Cilley was born in 1734 in Nottingham, New Hampshire, United States. His father, Captan Joseph Cilley, who came from the Isles of Shoals, was one of the early settlers of Nottingham; his mother was Alice Rollins (or Rawlins).
(Memoirs and services of three generations General Joseph ...)
Memoirs and services of three generations General Joseph Cilley, first New Hampshire line, War of the Revolution Jonathan Longfellow, father of Sarah, wife of General Joseph Cilley Colonel Josph Cilley. This book, "Memoirs and services of three generations", by Joseph Cilley, is a replication of a book originally published before 1909. It has been restored by human beings, page by page, so that you may enjoy it in a form as close to the original as possible.
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judge military politician Soldier
Joseph Cilley was born in 1734 in Nottingham, New Hampshire, United States. His father, Captan Joseph Cilley, who came from the Isles of Shoals, was one of the early settlers of Nottingham; his mother was Alice Rollins (or Rawlins).
Joseph Cilley combined the occupations of farmer, lawyer, and business man. In 1758 he joined Rogers' Rangers and served in northern New York and Canada. In December 1774 he came into notice in an act which has been styled Cilley by an enthusiastic historian "the beginning of the Revolution. ” He was a member of Sullivan’s party which entered Fort William and Mary (later Fort Constitution) near Portsmouth, took out fifteen cannon, and by hard labor, breaking the ice in the river, transported them to Durham. Langdon, another patriotic leader, had carried away about 100 pounds of powder, and these, too, were taken up-stream. The action was just in time, as British vessels directly afterward entered the harbor of Portsmouth. The ammunition was stored at Nottingham and other villages, some of it in a meeting-house. Cilley was a member of the provincial congress of New Hampshire, and was employed on coast guard duty. His regiment was ordered to Cambridge, and he took part in the siege of Boston.
In August 1775 he was assigned to the task of transporting the Portsmouth powder to Winter Hill (Medford). After the evacuation of Boston he accompanied Sullivan’s brigade to New York, and thence to the St. Lawrence for the relief of General Thomas. He shared the retreat of the unfortunate expedition from Canada, and reached New York in time to take part in the battle of Long Island. In that disaster Sullivan himself and many others were captured, but Cilley succeeded in fighting his way through the lines. He participated in the retreat from New York, and in the battles of Trenton and Princeton.
Meanwhile he had been commissioned major of the 2nd New Hampshire, May 20, 1775, and of the 8th Continental Infantry, January 1, 1776, lieutenant-colonel of the 1st New Hampshire, November 8, 1776, and colonel, February 22, 1777. In the summer of 1777 Cilley was at Ticonderoga. He was engaged in the skirmishing and retreat from that fortress. More fortunately, he fought under Arnold at Bernis Heights, and was distinguished at the battle of Stillwater in the capture of cannon. He was at Valley Forge and in the operations which preceded the battle of Monmouth. He was present at that battle, and accompanied his old commander Sullivan in the expedition against the Indians in 1779. In the latter year he received from his state legislature the gift of a pair of pistols, and he was promoted brigadier-general of militia.
He retired from the army on January 1, 1781, with a reputation as a good disciplinarian, and he became one of the original members of the Cincinnati. After the Revolution he was made justice of the peace and of the quorum for Rockingham County, and held the position for life. In the first year of his term (1786 - 1792) as major-general of militia, a movement developed in New Hampshire similar to Shays’s Rebellion. Cilley, collecting troops, repelled the attempt of insurgents to intimidate the legislature at Exeter, and personally arrested the ringleader.
In politics, Cilley was a member of the state Senate, 1790-1791, and of the House, 1792, and was a councillor 1797-1798. He was a fluent speaker, a good man of business, and attractive in manner. He died at Nottingham.
(Memoirs and services of three generations General Joseph ...)
In politics, Cilley belonged to Jeffersonian Republican Party.
Cilley was a President of the Society of the Cincinnati in New Hampshire.
Joseph Cilley was married on November 4, 1736, to Sarah Longfellow, by whom he had ten children.