Military History
(Provided by the Society of the Cincinnati)
Douglas, Richard (Conn). Private in the Lexington Alarm, April, 1775; Ensign and Regimental Quartermaster in Selden's Connecticut State Regiment, 20 June to 25 December 1776; 2nd Lieutenant 1st Connecticut, 1 at January, 1777; 1st Lieutenant, 1 January 1778; Captain Lieutenant, 11 August, 1780; Captain, 22 August 1780; transferred to 5th Connecticut, 1 January 1781, transferred to 3d Connecticut, 1 January 1783; transferred to Swift's Consolidated Connecticut Regiment, June, 1783, and served to 3d November, 1783. (Died 1828.) At the close of the War with New London nearly burned to the ground and its economy in shambles, it appears Richard Douglass's business began to slowly rebound. Just a few years after the war's conclusion he purchased the land from Timothy Green at the corners of the new Golden Street and Cross Street (now Green's Alley) to build a house. At nearly 40 years of age he removed from Bradley Street, which was known as "Widows Row" from the British attack on New London to this new street even closer to the wharves on Bank Street. His cooper business took place at 102 Golden Street for some time and eventually purchased the plot at 77-79 Green Street (immediately next door) for 117 dollars on June 30, 1801 from Timothy Green then living in Fredricksburg, VA to manage his family business interests there. The house was built a short time after and is one of the few homes of its type remaining in New London.
1801 Richard Douglass House
-
Richard Douglass House
At the close of the American Revolution in 1783 Richard became one of the founding officers of the Society of the Cincinnati and it is noted in Bryce Metcalf's "Original Members and Other Officers Eligible to the Society of the Cincinnati" (1938) that he served until November 3, 1783. Richard Douglass was a member of the Connecticut Society.
Richard married Ann Jennings, a widow from New Shoreham, Block Island, Rhode Island in 1777 and had 8 children. All lived to their adult years. Ann Jennings from the Champlin stock a well known Eastern Connecticut line of families, well respected and quite obviously a catch.
Richard Douglass' children Alexander b. 1778, Robert, Lucy, and Richard Jr. Alexander eventually became a whaling captain working in the firm of Benjamin Brown of New London as well as for the Williams firm. He purchased property in upstate New York or received it from a war grant from his father's service in the war and eventually retired there after his last whaling voyages in about 1838.
Richard Jr. became a lawyer and moved to Ohio Territory at Chillicote then being populated by many of Eastern Connecticut's citizens and later relocated to Marietta, Ohio and had two sons, Luke Richard and Albert. Richard Sr. died in 1852 in Chillicote, Ohio.
The Benjamin Brown house (ca. 1817) still stands today on Bank Street as a "granite" icon to the Whaling Era. Alexander was the captain to many of the most successful early whaling voyages out of New London. A yet unconfirmed story about him is his ship eventually rescued stranded survivors of the Pequod.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Douglass, Richard |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 1746 |
| Place of birth | |
| Date of death | 1828 |
| Place of death | |
Read more about this topic: Richard Douglass
Famous quotes containing the words military and/or history:
“In early times every sort of advantage tends to become a military advantage; such is the best way, then, to keep it alive. But the Jewish advantage never did so; beginning in religion, contrary to a thousand analogies, it remained religious. For that we care for them; from that have issued endless consequences.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“Three million of such stones would be needed before the work was done. Three million stones of an average weight of 5,000 pounds, every stone cut precisely to fit into its destined place in the great pyramid. From the quarries they pulled the stones across the desert to the banks of the Nile. Never in the history of the world had so great a task been performed. Their faith gave them strength, and their joy gave them song.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)