Military Rolls of the Outward Commons

The town of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, is located on a tract of land referred to as the Outward Commons. This parcel of land was used as a foraging area for the residents of Springfield until 1685, when it was decided by town meeting to divide the land into lots to be assigned to a group of 125 proprietors. Wilbraham was established in 1763. Like all New England colonial towns, Wilbraham (and its neighbor Hampden) was often called upon to provide soldiers when the safety of the colony was threatened. Despite its small population Wilbraham provided a steady supply of militia and bounty men through Queen Anne's War, King George's War, the French and Indian War, the Revolution, Shay's Rebellion and the War of 1812.

The military records of all Wilbraham and Hampden men known to have served in these conflicts are presented here with additional biographical and genealogical information gleaned from Massachusetts Revolutionary Soldiers and Sailors, 1775-1782, early town and family histories, muster rolls, burial records and tombstone inscriptions. Rolls of soldiers (found in the extensive appendices) are preceded by a historical sketch listing all alarms issued in the state of Massachusetts between 1774 and 1783 and Wilbraham men who participated in the Crown Point Expedition of 1755, the Lake George Campaign (1755), the Baron Dieskau Battle (1755) and the Crown Point Expedition of 1759. Wilbraham men are noted for service at Lexington, Roxbury, Quebec, Ft. Ticonderoga, Bennington, Saratoga and elsewhere.

Nine appendices are included comprising the following: Samuel Warner's journal of the Crown Point Expedition of 1759; a list of Wilbraham Colonial soldiers, stating date of birth, date of death, rank, age at time of death and cemetery where buried, with additional biographical information wherever known; a list of Wilbraham Revolutionary soldiers, stating the same; a list of Wilbraham soldiers for the years following the Revolution up to 1840, stating the same; the journals of Dr. Samuel F. Merrick for 1776 and 1777, and a letter to the doctor from Col. Joseph Trumbull; a section of early deaths; and a section of Wilbraham trivia. Both the main text and the appendices are indexed for full names.