William Douglas, Colonel of
the 6th Regiment, Connecticut
William
Douglas (January 27, 1742 – May 28, 1777) was an American military
officer who led regiments from Connecticut during the
American
Revolutionary War.
The son of John Douglas and Olive
Spaulding, he was born in Plainfield, Connecticut. At sixteen years
of age Douglas began his military career as a soldier in the French
and Indian War, rising to the rank of sergeant. Following the war,
he became a shipmaster and worked in the maritime trades until the
beginning of the American Revolutionary War, when he raised the 6th
Company of the 1st Connecticut Regiment and became its captain.
Before the Revolution he had made a fortune.
Douglas took
part in military campaigns along Lake George and Lake Champlain
commanding ships in upstate New York and was stationed in Montreal.
In 1776, he was promoted twice, first to major and then on June 20
as colonel of the Connecticut State Regiment, also known as the
"Connecticut 5th battalion".
Early in 1776 he was Major in
Colonel Ward's regiment, ordered to New York, and June 20th (2) he was
commissioned Colonel of the 5th battalion, Wadsworth's Brigade. This
battalion served on the right of the line of works during the battle
of Long Island, August 27th, and was in the retreat to New York,
August 29-30.
Douglas privately acknowledged in letters to
his wife that his troops were often ill-equipped for battle, writing
at one point that they “give me much fatigue and trouble.” During
the landing of British troops at Kips Bay in New York City on
September 15, 1776, Douglas’ troops retreated wildly in the face of
the British attack. General George Washington, encountering the
retreating troops, reacted angrily by flogging some of Douglas’
troops with his riding cane and declaring: “Are these the men with
whom I am to defend America?”
Douglas and his regiment also
participated in the Battle of White Plains on October 28, 1776. On
January 1, 1777, he was commissioned as a colonel of the Connecticut
6th Regiment. However, his health deteriorated during the course of
the war and he was forced to return to his home at Northfield,
Connecticut, where he died on May 28, 1777.
By the time of his death, most of the fortune he acquired as a
merchant was gone.
Col
Douglas married, 5th July 1767, Hannah, daughter of Stephen
Mansfield, of New Haven, where she was born 17th Nov 1747, dying in
Northford, 22 May 1825.
They had 4 children:
Olive, b
25 Mar 1768. Married Solomon Fowler, and had daughter Charlotte
Fowler (1), who married missionary Dwight Baldwin
(1798–1886), and had several other notable descendants.
William,
b 23 Feb 1770. Married Sarah Kirtland
Hannah, b 12 Apr 1772.
Married Amos Dutton
John, b 24 Mar 1775. d 20 Feb 1784
Douglas' grandson Benjamin Douglas
was a manufacturer, Mayor
of Middletown, Connecticut, and lieutenant governor of Connecticut
in 1861-62.
His brother, John Douglas, was commissioned lieutenant
colonel early in the war, rose to the rank of colonel, and finally
to that of general, and served with distinction throughout the war.
William Douglas died in 1858.
 |
Coat of Arms of William Douglas
As
found in Crozier's General Armory. 1904 |
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
Note:
1. Charlotte Fowler Baldwin (November 7, 1805 –
October 2, 1873) was an American missionary. She was a member of the
Fourth Company of missionaries sent to the Hawaiian Islands by the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Charlotte Fowler married Dwight Baldwin in 1830. They had eight
children together, all born in Hawaii. Six survived her, among them
malacologist David Dwight Baldwin and businessman Henry Perrine
Baldwin. Her sons-in-law included Samuel Mills Damon and William
DeWitt Alexander. Charlotte Fowler Baldwin died at Punahou in 1873,
aged 68 years, after a long illness. Her grave is in Kawaiahaʻo
Church cemetery.
2. On June 20th, Douglas received his
commission as colonel of the 5th battalion in Wadsworth’s brigade.
Money to provide for equipment, supplies, and uniforms was scarce to
non-existent. Each commander of individual units did what they could
to prepare their men to fight in the coming battles. Douglas, a
passionate and able soldier, had the financial means and spent
freely, digging into his own pockets and advancing the funds to
equip his men for the hardships he knew lay ahead. What quickly
became known as the Douglas State Militia, raised from the New Haven
Connecticut region, numbered 506 men by the time they arrived in New
York City to reinforce Washington’s army busy preparing for an
expected British invasion of the city and Long Island.''......''
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