1st Lt. Samuel Bradford, 2nd Regiment, N.H. Continental Line
Samuel Bradford was born June 21, 1752 in Middleton, Massachusetts. He was the son of Samuel and Mary (Taylor) Bradford. Samuel Bradford married Mary Flint in September of 1773.
Samuel Bradford enlisted from Hillsborough, New Hampshire on April 23, 1775 in Colonel John Stark’s 1st New Hampshire Regiment. He was assigned as Orderly Sergeant in Captain Isaac Baldwin’s Company of the 1st New Hampshire. Sergeant Bradford is listed in this capacity during the Battle of Bunker Hill.
On September 27, 1775, Sergeant Bradford was commissioned as an Ensign in the 1st New Hampshire. Ensign Bradford was promoted to Second Lieutenant in the 5th Continental Infantry (the temporary designation of the 1st Regiment, New Hampshire Continental Line) on January 1, 1776.
Second Lieutenant Bradford was promoted to First Lieutenant and transferred to Captain Elijah Clayes’ Company of the 2nd Regiment, New Hampshire Continental Line on November 8, 1776.
During the Continental Army’s encampment at Valley Forge, First Lieutenant Bradford appears in Captain Elijah Clayes’ Company of the 2nd New Hampshire. He is further marked as “Present” for December 1777, “On Command at Albany” from January to April 1778, and finally as “Sick/Absent” for May and June of 1778.
First Lieutenant Bradford continued in service until December of 1779 when he was “Deranged” (a contemporary term meaning that an officer was rendered supernumerary and could retire honorably).
First Lieutenant Samuel Bradford died July 3, 1833 at Acworth, New Hampshire.
Sources: Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army, (Baltimore, 1914), 116; Pension Application of First Lieutenant Samuel Bradford W16516; Selected Wartime Service Records of First Lieutenant Samuel Bradford.
