Ebenezer Battelle (1754–1815) was an
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
veteran, a bookseller in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, and a settler of
Marietta, Ohio
Marietta is a city in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Ohio, United States. It is located in southeastern Ohio at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, northeast of Parkersburg, West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, Ma ...
, in the late 18th century.
Life in Dedham
Battelle was born in 1754 in
Dedham, Massachusetts, to
Ebenezer Battle (d.1776) and Prudence Draper.
He attended
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
(class of 1775); schoolmates included
Fisher Ames
Fisher Ames (; April 9, 1758 – July 4, 1808) was a Representative in the United States Congress from the 1st Congressional District of Massachusetts. He was an important leader of the Federalist Party in the House, and was noted for his ...
and
Benjamin Bourne.
He was a member of the
Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...
and the Free Brothers in Dedham.
He was also
town clerk
A clerk is a senior official of many municipal governments in the English-speaking world. In some communities, including most in the United States, the position is elected, but in many others, the clerk is appointed to their post. In the UK, a Tow ...
for a total of two years, having first been elected in 1778, and selectman for two terms, with his first election the same year.
He was one of three, along with
Nathaniel Ames
Nathaniel Ames (July 22, 1708 – July 11, 1764), a colonial American physician, published a popular series of annual almanacs. He was the son of Nathaniel Ames first (1677–1736) and the father of Nathaniel and Fisher Ames. The family was ...
and
Abijah Draper who erected the
Pillar of Liberty
The Pillar of Liberty is a monument in Dedham, Massachusetts commemorating the repeal of the Stamp Act. Erected by the Sons of Liberty, it originally had a pillar with a bust of William Pitt on top.
Background
When Parliament imposed the Stam ...
in Dedham in 1766 to commemorate the repeal of the Stamp Act.
Military
He "was a volunteer at the
battle of Lexington
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, ...
. ...
n 1776, heserved nineteen days at
Castle Island, Dec. 11 to Dec. 30, 1776; went on the expedition to Providence, R.I., May 8 to July 8, 1777; re-enlisted, and served from March 23 to April 5, 1778, and was commissioned captain of the Eighth Company in the Suffolk Regiment, July 2, 1778. He was promoted to be major, April 1, 1780, and became colonel of the Boston regiment in 1784." He joined the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts is the oldest chartered military organization in North America and the third oldest chartered military organization in the world. Its charter was granted in March 1638 by the Great and Gen ...
in 1786.
Bookseller
After the war Battelle sold and published books
from his shop in Boston on
State Street (ca.1783-1785)
and Marlboro Street (1785-ca.1787).
In addition to books imported from London, he stocked American publications such as
Isaiah Thomas' ''Almanack''
and Noah Webster's ''Grammatical Institutes.''
Personal life
Battelle married Anna Durant; children included Ebenezer Battelle (b.1778) and Thomas Battelle (b.1781).
Battelle and his family settled in Marietta, Ohio, around 1789.
On July 26, 1783, Henry Belcher of Boston wrote to Battelle asking to be paid $8 for a beaver skin hat that Belcher sold to Battelle but for which he had not yet received payment.
See also
*
List of booksellers in Boston
This is a partial list of bookselling, booksellers in Boston, Massachusetts.
Booksellers in Boston
17th century
* John Allen
* William Avery
* Joseph Brunning (a.k.a. Joseph Browning), Court St.
* Nicholas Buttolph
* Duncan Campbell
* James C ...
References
Works cited
*
*
*
Further reading
* Battelle family. In: History of Ohio: the rise and progress of an American state
Volume 6 Century History Co., 1912.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battelle, Ebenezer
1754 births
1815 deaths
Businesspeople from Boston
18th century in Boston
Continental Army soldiers
Businesspeople from Dedham, Massachusetts
American booksellers
People from Marietta, Ohio
Harvard College alumni
People of colonial Massachusetts
Dedham, Massachusetts selectmen
Dedham Town Clerks
People from colonial Dedham, Massachusetts