1st Lt. Moses Belding, 3rd Regiment, New Hampshire Continental Line
Moses Belding was born February 28, 1726 in Northfield, Massachusetts. He was the son of Stephen and Mindwell (Wright) Belding. He also has a twin brother, Aaron.
Late in King George’s War (1744-1748), British troops had left Northfield. The only troops that remained were the local Militia in which Moses and his brother, Aaron, were members. As a result, a raiding party of Indians attacked the settlement. Aaron was scalped in the raid, but survived to relay the details to his brother, Moses. These details included the fact that the Indian who scalped Aaron was an old acquaintance making the matter worse. Shortly after, Aaron died. Belding’s Rock in Northfield marks the spot where he died reading, “A.B. Aaron Belden was killed here July the 23, 1748.”
Years later, in a time of peace, a group of Indians came down the river and visited the tavern owned by Moses Belding. The Indians became intoxicated, and one recounted the event and boasted he had been the one to do the heinous act. Moses instructed his wife to give to give them what they desired and he left. After the Indians left, a shotgun blast was heard in the night. Later the canoe the Indians had arrived in was found lodged in the riverbank, bereft of its owners. Sometime after this, Moses Belding removed with his family to Swanzey, New Hampshire.
On May, 10, 1775, Moses Belding enlisted in Captain Hind’s Company of Colonel James Reed’s 3rd New Hampshire Regiment. He fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill and is listed as a Corporal from Swanzey.
In July of 1776, Moses Belding was commissioned as an Ensign in Captain William Humphrey’s company of Colonel Joshua Wingate’s New Hampshire Regiment. Colonel Wingate’s militia regiment had been raised to reinforce the Continental Army in Canada.
On November 8, 1776, Ensign Belding was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the Third Regiment, New Hampshire Continental Line.
During the Continental Army’s encampment at Valley Forge, First Lieutenant Belding is listed in Captain William Ellis’ company of the Third Regiment, New Hampshire Continental Line. He is further marked as “Present” for December 1777 and “Furlough” for January 1778-June 1778. This furlough was two-fold in that First Lieutenant Belding was sent on recruiting duty back in New Hampshire, and also due to his contraction of small pox. The infection was severe and necessitated his retirement. He was granted a onetime allowance from the town of Swanzey of £28, 3s, 7p. He applied for and received his warrant for 200 acres of bounty land on October 18, 1803.
Sources: Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army, (Baltimore, 1914), 97; The State of New Hampshire, Provincial and State Papers, Volume XIII, (Concord, 1884), 524; Benjamin Read, The History of Swanzey, New Hampshire, from 1734 to 1890, (Salem, 1892), 64, 118; Josiah H. Temple and George Sheldon, A History of the Town of Northfield, Massachusetts, (Albany, 1875), 270-272; Pension of First Lieutenant Moses Belding, B.L.Wt. 68-200; Selected Wartime Service Records of First Lieutenant Moses Belding; History of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, 1870-1879 (Deerfield, Mass., 1890), 1:108.
