John Boggs
was born on January 11, 1759 in
New Castle
Delaware. In 1777, Boggs
joined the 2nd Delaware Battalion of the Delaware Continental line.
During the Revolutionary war, the Delaware Regiment was the best
equipped and best trained of the colonial Regiments. They also carried
mascot with them into battle, a Blue hen. The Delaware Regiment troops
were nicknamed the Blue hens. The first battle Boggs would
participate in was the battle of
Brandywine. At Brandywine, the 2nd
Delaware was placed under the command
of
Col.
Moses Hazen located 6 miles above Chadds Ford.
Col. Moses
Hazen was the first to spot Cornwallis, one of the British commanders
and his troops in a flanking maneuver about 11am. Hazen reported the
British movements to
Washington. Hazen’s
regiment was sent to the rear to reinforce Gen. William Alexander, also
known as lord
Sterling to his men. At 2pm,
the British attacked the rear of
Washington’s corps. Hazen’s
regiment was shattered by the Hessian Grenadiers and forced to retreat.
At the battle of
Brandywine over 1000 Continental troops
were killed and over 400 taken prisoner.
Boggs would
participate next in the battle o f
Germantown fought On October
4, 1777. At the battle of
Germantown, the Delaware Continentals
were the first to run out of ammunition firing at the
Clivedine
Mansion where the
British had barricaded themselves in. Most of the paper cartridges used
during the battle of
Germantown was made in local paper mills
around
Philadelphia.
On December
19, 1777, Boggs entered into the
Valley Forge camp with 12000 other
troops. At
Valley Forge, the Continental tro0ps
suffered many hardships. Within one week, over 4000 men were in
infirmary complaining of all sorts of Illnesses due to cold weather,
dysentery and smallpox. Out of the 4000 men who would enter the
infirmary over 2500 would die. Over 500 men would die from smallpox.
Camp life became so difficult at Valley Forge due to lack of winter
clothing, shoes and the lack of food that over 2000 Continental troops
deserted and joined the British army in
Philadelphia.
After
surviving
Valley Forge, Boggs fought at the
battle of Monmouth. Monmouth would become the greatest artillery duel of
the Revolutionary war...
In 1781,
Boggs was sent to
Fort
Pitt to fight
Indians. In 1785 He witnessed the Treaty of Pennsylvania Commissioners
at
Fort
McIntosh between the
Wyandotte, Chippewa’s,
Delaware’ and Ottawa
Indians and the U.S. Government. It was the first Indian treaty signed
between the U.S. Government and Local Indians of a state.
In 1786,
Boggs moved to lee
county
VA for a while before moving on
to
Boonsboro
KY. In 1796, Boggs married
Elizabeth McPherson. From this union they had 5 children. In 1832, Boggs
applied for his Revolutionary war pension. On April 5, 1847, Boggs died
and was buried on his farm in
Richmond
Kentucky.
In 1862,
the battle of
Richmond took place on
Boggs’s farm. The battle of
Richmond was a Confederate
offensive in KY under the command of Major General Kirby Smith. After a
fierce Artillery duel, the confederates attacked the right flank of the
Union Army. Over 4000 Union troops were taken prisoner. Today most Of
Boggs descendents live in the
Madison
County
KY region.