James Emery

Quick Facts

Date of Birth:

1756

Place of Death:

Schuylerville, NY

Date of Death:

October 8, 1777

James Emery (born 1756) of Acton, Massachusetts, was part of a large, patriotic family. His father was a militia officer and his two older brothers, Sam and John, Jr., served in the war since April 1775. In April 1777, both brothers joined Colonel Nixon’s (6^th) Massachusetts Regiment for 3-year terms. James wasn’t about to be left behind this time and joined the army too. With three of their surviving seven children now off to war, the Emerys must have been especially anxious.

James enlisted as a private soldier for a 3-year stint in Captain Ballard’s company, Colonel Ichabod Alden’s (7^th) Massachusetts Regiment, and joined his regiment in early July. Both Alden’s and Nixon’s Regiments were then located in Peekskill, New York, which was within the jurisdiction of the Continental Army’s Highlands Department. With the Northern Department in crisis following the evacuation of Forts Ticonderoga and Independence that July, Washington ordered Brigadier General John Nixon’s Brigade, which included both regiments, to be sent to bolster the distressed Northern Army.

By mid-September, the Northern Army took up positions at Bemus Heights in order to block the British advance on Albany. The subsequent Battles of Saratoga (September 19 and October 7) resulted in victory for the revolutionary Americans. James and his brothers survived the fighting.

On October 8, as the British were preparing for their withdrawal north, American forces made reconnoitering movements near the British camp. Both sides took scattering musket and cannon shots at each other, and even the Northern Army’s second-in-command – Major General Benjamin Lincoln – was severely wounded in the leg because he got too close to the enemy.

Twenty-one-year-old James was also killed that day. It is unknown what happened to his body.