Capt. Joseph Estabrook, Bedel’s New Hampshire Rangers
Joseph Estabrook was born May 2, 1741 in Mansfield Center, Connecticut. He was the son of Nehemiah and Bethiah (Paddock) Estabrook. He married Theoda Porter in Mansfield Center, Connecticut on May 20, 1762. By 1775, Joseph and Theoda has moved to Hollis, New Hampshire.
In January of 1776, Timothy Bedel was commissioned as a Colonel by both the state of New Hampshire and the Continental Congress to raise a regiment of Rangers. Colonel Bedel’s regiment was tasked with protecting the northern frontier of New Hampshire in an area of disputed land Grants between Fort at Number 4 (Charlestown) and Crown Point. Joseph Estabrook was commissioned a Captain in Bedel’s regiment with duties as a Company Commander on January 22, 1776.
Colonel Bedel’s Regiment joined the Continental Army during the Invasion of Canada. The Regiment saw action at the Siege of Fort St. Jean/John.
In May 1776, while Colonel Bedel was away, his Regiment was unnecessarily surrendered to a party of British regulars, Canadians and Indians by his second-in-command, Major Isaac Butterfield at the Battle of the Cedars.
Captain Joseph Estabrook was taken prisoner as part of this surrender on May 19, 1776. He died of smallpox on June 15, 1776.
Sources: Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army, (Baltimore, 1914), 210; Rolls of the Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, Volume XIV, (Concord, N.H., 1885), 262-263, 288, 291-292; The State of New Hampshire, State Papers, Volume XXX, (Manchester, N.H., 1910), 448, 451; William Estabrook, Genealogy of the Estabrook family, including the Esterbrook and Easterbrooks in the United States, (Boston, 1891), 29, 46; Selected Wartime Service Records of Captain Joseph Estabrook.
