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.

References

Works cited

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