Note 31 — A CATALOGUE of REVOLUTIONARY ARTICLES in THE POUGHKEEPSIE MUSEUM.

Footnote 31: Colonel David Wooster, of Connecticut, the eminent general of the Revolution, who was killed at Ridgefield, while engaged in the pursuit of Tryon, after the burning of Danbury, in the spring of 1777. He was born in Stratford, Connecticut, in March, 1710, graduated at Yale college in 1738, and soon afterward received the appointment of captain of a vessel of the coast-guard. He was in the expedition against Louisburg in 1745. He afterward went to England, where he was a favorite at the court of George II., and received the appointment of captain in the regular service, under Sir William Pepperell. He was promoted to a colonelcy in 1755, and rose to the rank of brigadier before the close of the French and Indian war. He was one of the most active men in getting up the expedition against Ticonderoga, in 1775, which resulted in the capture of that fortress, and also Crown Point, by Colonel Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold. Wooster was appointed one of the first brigadiers of the continental army, in 1775, and third in rank. He was also appointed the first major-general of the militia of his state, when organized for the War for Independence; and in that capacity he was employed, with Arnold, Silliman, and others, in repelling British invasion in 1777. He lost his life in that service. His remains were buried at Danbury; and in 1854 a monument was erected over his grave by his grateful countrymen, at the expense of his native state.(Back)