Revolutionary War's 250 years anniversary milestones: Service of Joseph Barney IV

 

Joseph Barney IV (1755-1836): Revolutionary War Service

This short paper focuses on the Revolutionary War service of Joseph Barney IV, my 4^th great grandfather.  In 2025, we are beginning to celebrate the 250^th anniversary of Revolutionary War events and these milestones were the inspiration for me to focus on my ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War. The intent of these papers is to preserve the military history of these ancestors in detail that is greater than the general genealogical documents I retain. 

Before we get to Joseph’s Revolutionary War service, below is a short background to provide some familial and historical context.

Joseph Barney IV was born on November 28, 1755 in Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts to Joseph Barney III and Lois Martin.   The Barney family had roots in Rehoboth, in southernmost Massachusetts near Providence, Rhode Island, since Lt. Joseph Barney (his great grandfather) moved from Salem to Rehoboth in the 1690’s.  

Joseph married Experience Simmons on October 8, 1774 in Rehoboth, just prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, but when all signs pointed to escalating conflict following the Boston Tea Party in 1773, the Quartering Act of June 1774, and the meeting of the First Continental Congress in September 1774.   After living in New Hampshire for some time during and after the war, the family migrated to Vermont and are found there in the 1790’s, shortly after Vermont became a state in 1791.  Joseph died in Rutland, Vermont in 1836. 

The Barney Family is one of the many families with deep roots in Massachusetts, who moved westward through New England during and after the war. 

The following are the highlights of Joseph Barney IV’s military service in the Revolutionary War.  According to his pension declaration, Joseph enlisted in the Continental Army at Rehoboth on July 1, 1776, perhaps knowing that the Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia to consider a Declaration of Independence.  He served the five months, between July and December, as a sergeant in Captain Nathaniel Carpenter’s Company, Colonel Simson Cary’s Massachusetts Regiment.  Joseph’s soldier number, so helpful for research with the National Archives and other resources, was S12114.

The moniker “minute man” is very prominent in the hand-written recitals of military service in his pension declaration so perhaps he liked that term.   Minutemen were basically New England militia companies, organized and trained, and ready to go at a minute’s notice. 

The highlight of his first enlistment was fighting in the famous “Battle of Harlem Heights” in Manhattan on September 16, 1776.  This was General Washington’s first successful battle of the war and historically noted for raising the morale of the struggling Continental Army.  The battle was part of the New York and New Jersey campaign and fought in the northwest corner of Manhattan along the Hudson River.  General William Howe commanded the British. 

Joseph and Experience’s first child, Jeremiah, was born in October of 1776 in Richmond, Cheshire County, New Hampshire.   It’s unclear from the record why Experience might have moved to New Hampshire; however, it is worth noting that Richmond is just over the border from Massachusetts.  Five more children followed, all born in Richmond, and Joseph and Experience appear in the 1790 census as living in Richmond seven years after the conclusion of the war.  

Joseph’s namesake, Joseph Barney V, and my third great grandfather, was one of those five children, and born in Richmond in 1780. 

Joseph’s next enlistment appears to cover the years 1777-1779 with Colonel Archibald Crary’s Regiment of Rhode Island.  This includes service in the August 1778 “Rhode Island Expedition” with General Sullivan in an attempt to dislodge the British from Newport. 

This enlistment was the last of Joseph’s service in the war.   The next chronological entry in his pension file is the application for a pension, executed in July 1832 in Rutland, Vermont, and approved by the U.S. Government on January 9, 1834.   Joseph had less than three years to enjoy his hard-won pension, as he died on November 23, 1836 in Rutland.  

Joseph Barney IV is buried in West Street Cemetery in Rutland Vermont, in Row 6, on the west side of the cemetery.  The grave has a new marker stone, installed in 2021, from the U.S. Veterans Administration through the committed and dedicated work of the Vermont Old Cemetery Association (VOCA) to ensure veterans have an appropriate headstone.  His name is also listed on a large granite marker near the cemetery entrance which lists veterans buried in the cemetery from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the Civil War. 

-        Written by Patricia A. Clark, May 2025