Turner, Ishmael

Ishmael Turner

Winchester, NH

Ishmael Turner was from Black man residing in Northfield, MA, prior to moving to Cheshire County. According to the Northfield town history, he was enslaved to Seth Field Esq. in the 1770s prior to serving in the American Revolution.

Glenn A. Knoblock’s 2003 publication Strong and Brave Fellows: New Hampshire's black soldiers and sailors of the American, documents Turner’s enslistment on 16 Dec 1776 from Northfield, MA.  

“Turner was a ‘negro’ ….from Northfield, Massachusetts, when he first enlisted for military service on December 16, 1776.  He joined the company of Capt.Reuben Petty in Col. Samuel William’s regiment of Massachusetts Militia, raised to support the Continental Army at Fort Ticonderoga, New York, during the winter of 1776-77.  Turner served for  three months and fifteen days before receiving his discharge on March 19, 1777. It is unknown whether Turner returned home after his discharge, since he re-enlisted two weeks later, on April 2, 1777, in Col. Rufus Putnam’s 5th Massachusetts regiment for Continental service, which was on station in the Northern Department at Fort Ticonderoga and the surrounding area.  “Reported as ‘negro’ …, Turner served under Capt. Samuel Sheldon, and then Capt. Joshua Benson.  During this time in the 5th Massachusetts , Turner took part in the fighting during the Saratoga campaign, and spent the remainder of his time with the regiment on garrison duty, first in the Northern Department, where he appears on a list of men at Albany, New York dated February 1, 1778, and later in the Hudson Highlands area of New York , near West Point.  Ishmael Turner was discharged on April 1, 1780 after serving out his three-year term of enlistment. “

No historical documentation has been discovered, to date, that indicates how long Turner resided in New Hampshire.

SOURCE MATERIALS

Knoblock, Glenn A. Strong and Brave Fellows: New Hampshire's black soldiers and sailors of the American Revolution, 1775-1784 (2003.pages 303-304.

Temple, J. H.  History of the town of Northfield, Massachusetts: for 150 years, with an account of the prior occupation of the territory by the Squakheags : and with family genealogies. (1875). p.557.- Archives.org

U.S. Federal Census, 1790- Ancestry.com