1st Lt. William Hutchins, 1st Regiment N.H. Continental Line
William Hutchins was born March 16, 1738-9 in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He was the fifth child of James & Ruth (Greeley) Hutchins of Haverhill, Massachusetts. He married Abigail Flood at Haverhill, Massachusetts on March 27, 1760.
By the start of the American Revolution, William Hutchins had moved his family to Weare, New Hampshire. He served as a private and later sergeant in Captain Hind’s Company of Colonel Reed’s 3rd New Hampshire Regiment in 1775 including at the Battle of Bunker Hill. On January 1, 1776, William Hutchins was commissioned as an Ensign in the 4th Continental Infantry Regiment (later known at the 6th Massachusetts Regiment, Continental Line). On November 8, 1776, he was transferred to the 1st New Hampshire Regiment, Continental Line and promoted to Second Lieutenant.
During the Continental Army’s encampment at Valley Forge, Second Lieutenant Hutchins is listed as an officer in Captain Nathaniel Hutchins’ company of the 1st New Hampshire now under the command of Colonel Joseph Cilley. William and Nathaniel were first cousins and the company was made up primarily of men from Weare, New Hampshire. During the encampment Second Lieutenant Hutchins was promoted to First Lieutenant on March 5, 1778. First Lieutenant Hutchins continued in service until he resigned his commission on June 23, 1779.
First Lieutenant Hutchins died June 3, 1826.
Sources: Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army, (Baltimore, 1914), 236; George Hiram Greeley, Genealogy of the Greely-Greeley Family (Boston, 1905), 45, 86-87; Selected Wartime Service Records for First Lieutenant William Hutchins.
