Note 2 — MEMOIR OF MAJOR SAMUEL S. FORMAN.
Reading edition
Major John Burrows was first a captain in Colonel David Forman’s regiment. Forman had the nick-name of “Black David,” to distinguish him from a relative of the same name, and he was always a terror to the Tories; and Captain Burrows, from his efficiency against these marauders, was called by those enemies of the country, “Black David’s Devil.” January 1, 1777, Captain Burrows was made a captain in Spencer’s regiment on Continental establishment; and, January 22, 1779, he was promoted to the rank of major, serving in Sullivan’s campaign against the hostile Six Nations, and remaining in the army till the close of the war. Several years after, he went on a journey to the interior of Georgia, in an unhealthy season, when he probably sickened and died, for he was never heard of afterward.
Major Burrows left an interesting journal of Sullivan’s campaign, which appears in the splendid volume on that campaign issued by the State of New York, in 1887. The original MS. journal is preserved by his grand-daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Breese Stevens, of Sconondoa, Oneida county, New York. Back