| The Company of Grenadiers in the Eleventh Regiment of Connecticut Militia Raised 1774 |
Soldiers known as Grenadiers were formed in the 17th century and were assigned to throw grenades. In the European
system of warfare, a Regiment was composed of Companies of Foot (infantry), which were flanked on each side by a
Grenadier Company and a Light Infantry Company. The Grenadiers were the equivalent of modern day “shock troops”,
they were the tallest and strongest men of the Regiment. There size was further increased by wearing the tall wool mitre
caps, or per the British warrants of 1768, the Bear-fur caps. By the time of the American Revolution, the grenades were
replaced with muskets, though the Grenadiers continued as the elite company of the Regiment. Within the New England
Militia Regiments, many “Independent Companies” were formed, including Grenadier Companies. Units such as the
Salem Rangers, the Pawtuxet Rangers, The Governor’s Foot Guard, the Boston Grenadiers, Providence Grenadiers, and
the Newport Light Infantry Company just to name a few. Military Historian Charles Lefferts elaborates further on this,
“Throughout the Revolutionary War, there were no companies of grenadiers in the regular or Continental service,
but in the New England Colonies and New York, independent grenadier and light infantry companies for service in
the colony only, were very popular and perhaps more so than the other branches of the service. These companies
had caps of cloth, bearskin, or leather, with fancy decorations, very few of them wearing the well-known cocked
felt hat of the Continental soldier.”(5)
These Independent Companies were formed throughout New York and New England to promote military skills and
discipline, above and beyond the annual training days of the militia.
In the Connecticut General Assembly on October 25, 1774 a proposal was made to form a Grenadier Company for each
of the Connecticut Militia Regiments (Connecticut, in the year 1739 formed all the local town militia companies into 13
organized militia regiments. The number of Regiments would increase to 28 during the American Revolution. The companies
from the towns of Pomfret, Woodstock, and Killingly would compose the 11th Regiment of Connecticut Militia) which
would be funded by a State Tax of 1 cent per year. Previously, In May of 1774, the towns of Woodstock, Pomfret, and
Killingly, Connecticut requested that the Connecticut General Assembly institute a Company of Grenadiers: “Upon the
memorial of Timothy Sabin and others, inhabitants of the towns of Pomfret, Woodstock and Killingly, in the county
of Windham, shewing that with great pains, trouble and expence, some of the inhabitants of said towns have
endeavoured to improve themselves in military skill and exercises, and praying that a company of Grenadiers be
constituted and erected &c., as per memorial on file, [358] Resolved by this Assembly, That there be and there is
hereby constituted, erected and made a distinct military company of grenadiers, to be formed out of the inhabitants
of said three towns and to consist of sixty effective men, rank and file, exclusive of officers, and shall be
distinguished by the name of the Company of Grenadiers in the eleventh regiment of militia in this Colony, and
shall have and enjoy all the powers, privileges and immunities that other military companies within this Colony are
invested with, and likewise shall do and perform the duties and services by law enjoined on other companies of
militia. That they shall be subject to the command of the colonel or other chief officer of said eleventh regiment.
That said company have liberty to be formed by voluntary inlistments out of the several companies of militia in said
three towns, to compleat their number to sixty effective men, rank and file, exclusive of officers. That said company
of grenadiers have liberty by their major vote to nominate their officers and appoint their days and times and
places of meeting for military exercises over and above those already by law ordered, and be subject to the same
penalties for non-attendance on military exercises or any breach of duty as other soldiers and companies of militia
in the Colony are by law liable unto. That there shall be a captain, lieutenant and ensign in said company, chosen
from time to time as there may be occasion by the vote of the officers and soldiers of said company present, all the
officers and soldiers of said company having first had three days notice to meet for that purpose, who being
allowed and established by this Assembly shall be commissioned as the officers of other military companies are
commissioned; and the colonel or other chief officer of said is hereby impowered and directed, by himself or such
officer as he shall appoint, to lead said company to the choice of their officers on their being first formed and
inlisted.” (1)
Little of the records of this company still exist, except for about 30 pages of election depositions regarding the election of
officers for the Grenadier Company in 1774, and various muster rolls naming the officers. It was During the election of
Officers in 1774, that a plan was revealed to rig the election. The Men of Woodstock and Abington made a deal that if
Abington supported Daniel Lyon of Woodstock for Captain, Woodstock would support an Abington man for the rank of
Ensign. The situation worsened when Ebenezer Williams, Colonel of the 11th Regiment ordered the election, even though
many were absent. Daniel Lyon of Woodstock was elected as Captain, Peter Chandler of Pomfret, who was elected
Lieutenant, declined the commission, stating that the election was illegal. The members present then elected Stephen Brown
of Pomfret as Lieutenant, and Nathaniel Brown, Jr. of Killingly as Ensign.
During the Battle of Rhode Island in 1778, the Connecticut Council of Safety directed Governor Jonathan Trumbull to ask
the Grenadiers of Woodstock, Pomfret, and Killingly to, “exert and distinguish themselves”. It is known that the 11th
Regiment was present at Tiverton Heights during the battle, and it is probably safe to assume that the Grenadiers were also.
A list of the members of the Grenadier Company who served in Continental Army in 1777 is as follows, from Killingly;
Barnew Tortolott, Comfort Woodart, Jose Joslen, Salvenus Perrey, Simeon Leonard, Jabez Leach, Jonathan
Jenkes, David Runnels, Joseph Jinkes, Jacob Leavens, Abijah Fleng, and Jack Negrow, an Afro-American man.
Also serving was Obediah Brown, Ebenezer Cheney of Ashford, Abnar Chapman of Colchester, and Abnar French
of Canterbury.
The Grenadier Company of the 11th Regiment of Connecticut Militia continued to serve throughout the American
Revolution and the War of 1812. Historically the Company and the Regiment held annual training days up until 1840 when
the old militia Regiments were dissolved. The Grenadiers and Militia trained on Woodstock Common, and the Troop of
Horse trained in Pomfret.
Pictured above are photographs of the re-created Company of Grenadiers. The Grenadier is wearing a wool mitre cap
based on an original in the Collections of the New York Historical Society. A photo of the cap also appears in the book,
“Weapons of the American Revolution, and accoutrements” by Warren Moore. The cap is of unquestionable Connecticut
origin due to the three grape vines. The grape vines being the symbol of Connecticut for over 350 years. It is my belief
surmised by research in the Connecticut State Archives, and through a process of elimination, until further evidence surfaces
to prove otherwise, that the cap is more likely than not, the Eleventh’s. In 1774 there was an attempt to form a Grenadier
Company for each of the Connecticut Militia Regiments which would be funded by a State Tax of 1 cent per year. Only
three Colonial Connecticut Grenadier Companies have surfaced, that have any form of documentation. The 1st and 2nd
Companies, Governor’s Foot Guards with their black fur Grenadier caps, The Mansfield Grenadiers with scarlet caps
trimmed and tasselled white, and the Eleventh’s Grenadier Company of which nothing has surfaced on either their caps or
uniforms. In the years following the Revolution, other Grenadier companies were formed, such as the company in the 21st
Regiment, but, wool mitre caps would most likely have been out of fashion. As stated earlier, The British warrants of 1768
replaced the wool mitre caps with bear fur, although examples of both Colonial and British wool mitre caps exist that were
worn during the American Revolution. The Grenadier Coat is based on an article written by Charles M. Lefferts, who
stated that the coat for this cap would be blue with red facings, and a contemporary painting of Captain John Lasher’s New
York City Grenadier Company circa 1775-1776. The reproduced coat is of dark blue wool with red facings, white buttons
(pewter) with the button holes lined in yellow. The coat also bears the “winged epaulets” and the bursting grenades on the
turnbacks which differentiated a Grenadier Company from regular Companies of Foot, although some Light Infantry
Companies also wore the winged epaulets. Charles Lefferts’ description of the cap is as follows,
“The cap is beautifully embroidered in white and yellow worsted, and as the photograph plainly shows, the designs
were very carefully worked. It is made of coarse homespun cloth, the front bright red, with turn up red, and the
back, blue with turn up red, the whole being bound with bright yellow silk. At the top is a small round pompon of
mixed red and yellow worsted. The lining is of undyed linen.” (5)
Other Colonial wool or cloth mitre caps that were worn during the American Revolution are in existence. For example, in
1776, the 26th Continental Regiment of Foot from Massachusetts had a Grenadier Company. The companies wool mitre
cap bears the grenade symbol and regimental number in Roman numerals. The cap also has a large embroidered “GW” for
George Washington. Many of the caps, helmets, gorgets, sword plates, etc. that bore the Royal cypher of “GR”, were
replaced with “GW” by the Colonials.
The mitre cap of the Providence Grenadiers also exists. The cap is painted, and bears Rhode Island’s symbol, the anchor,
with a lion holding a grenade. It also has the State motto, “Hope”, and a scroll with the words, “God and Our Rights”. It
also has two large letters, “PG” , for the Providence Grenadiers.
Anyone having more information on either the Connecticut Grenadier Cap, the Company of Grenadiers, or the Eleventh
Regiment of Connecticut Militia, please contact us. We are always searching for more information to better portray and
understand Connecticut’s vital and unique role in the American Revolution.
eleventh.ct.regt.sar@snet.net
References:
1) The public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, Hoadly, Hartford, 1887.
2) The Connecticut State Archives, Militia Series 1 & 2, Hartford.
3) The History of Woodstock, Connecticut, Bowen, 1926.
4) Rhode Island History, Rhode Island Historical Society, April 1953, Vol. 12, No. 2, “Eighteenth Century Grenadier
Caps”, Brown.
5) The New York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin, April 1920, Vol. 9, No. 1, “The Connecticut Grenadier Cap”,
Lefferts.
6) Weapons of the American Revolution and Accoutrements, Moore, 1967
7) General Washington’s Army 1: 1775-1778; Men-at-Arms Series #273, Zlatich & Copeland, 1994
8) New England Soldiers of the American Revolution; Glorious uniforms to color, Zlatich, Bellerophon Books, 1988.
9) Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, Vol. 12, 1909
BACK TO THE ELEVENTH'S PAGE
system of warfare, a Regiment was composed of Companies of Foot (infantry), which were flanked on each side by a
Grenadier Company and a Light Infantry Company. The Grenadiers were the equivalent of modern day “shock troops”,
they were the tallest and strongest men of the Regiment. There size was further increased by wearing the tall wool mitre
caps, or per the British warrants of 1768, the Bear-fur caps. By the time of the American Revolution, the grenades were
replaced with muskets, though the Grenadiers continued as the elite company of the Regiment. Within the New England
Militia Regiments, many “Independent Companies” were formed, including Grenadier Companies. Units such as the
Salem Rangers, the Pawtuxet Rangers, The Governor’s Foot Guard, the Boston Grenadiers, Providence Grenadiers, and
the Newport Light Infantry Company just to name a few. Military Historian Charles Lefferts elaborates further on this,
“Throughout the Revolutionary War, there were no companies of grenadiers in the regular or Continental service,
but in the New England Colonies and New York, independent grenadier and light infantry companies for service in
the colony only, were very popular and perhaps more so than the other branches of the service. These companies
had caps of cloth, bearskin, or leather, with fancy decorations, very few of them wearing the well-known cocked
felt hat of the Continental soldier.”(5)
These Independent Companies were formed throughout New York and New England to promote military skills and
discipline, above and beyond the annual training days of the militia.
In the Connecticut General Assembly on October 25, 1774 a proposal was made to form a Grenadier Company for each
of the Connecticut Militia Regiments (Connecticut, in the year 1739 formed all the local town militia companies into 13
organized militia regiments. The number of Regiments would increase to 28 during the American Revolution. The companies
from the towns of Pomfret, Woodstock, and Killingly would compose the 11th Regiment of Connecticut Militia) which
would be funded by a State Tax of 1 cent per year. Previously, In May of 1774, the towns of Woodstock, Pomfret, and
Killingly, Connecticut requested that the Connecticut General Assembly institute a Company of Grenadiers: “Upon the
memorial of Timothy Sabin and others, inhabitants of the towns of Pomfret, Woodstock and Killingly, in the county
of Windham, shewing that with great pains, trouble and expence, some of the inhabitants of said towns have
endeavoured to improve themselves in military skill and exercises, and praying that a company of Grenadiers be
constituted and erected &c., as per memorial on file, [358] Resolved by this Assembly, That there be and there is
hereby constituted, erected and made a distinct military company of grenadiers, to be formed out of the inhabitants
of said three towns and to consist of sixty effective men, rank and file, exclusive of officers, and shall be
distinguished by the name of the Company of Grenadiers in the eleventh regiment of militia in this Colony, and
shall have and enjoy all the powers, privileges and immunities that other military companies within this Colony are
invested with, and likewise shall do and perform the duties and services by law enjoined on other companies of
militia. That they shall be subject to the command of the colonel or other chief officer of said eleventh regiment.
That said company have liberty to be formed by voluntary inlistments out of the several companies of militia in said
three towns, to compleat their number to sixty effective men, rank and file, exclusive of officers. That said company
of grenadiers have liberty by their major vote to nominate their officers and appoint their days and times and
places of meeting for military exercises over and above those already by law ordered, and be subject to the same
penalties for non-attendance on military exercises or any breach of duty as other soldiers and companies of militia
in the Colony are by law liable unto. That there shall be a captain, lieutenant and ensign in said company, chosen
from time to time as there may be occasion by the vote of the officers and soldiers of said company present, all the
officers and soldiers of said company having first had three days notice to meet for that purpose, who being
allowed and established by this Assembly shall be commissioned as the officers of other military companies are
commissioned; and the colonel or other chief officer of said is hereby impowered and directed, by himself or such
officer as he shall appoint, to lead said company to the choice of their officers on their being first formed and
inlisted.” (1)
Little of the records of this company still exist, except for about 30 pages of election depositions regarding the election of
officers for the Grenadier Company in 1774, and various muster rolls naming the officers. It was During the election of
Officers in 1774, that a plan was revealed to rig the election. The Men of Woodstock and Abington made a deal that if
Abington supported Daniel Lyon of Woodstock for Captain, Woodstock would support an Abington man for the rank of
Ensign. The situation worsened when Ebenezer Williams, Colonel of the 11th Regiment ordered the election, even though
many were absent. Daniel Lyon of Woodstock was elected as Captain, Peter Chandler of Pomfret, who was elected
Lieutenant, declined the commission, stating that the election was illegal. The members present then elected Stephen Brown
of Pomfret as Lieutenant, and Nathaniel Brown, Jr. of Killingly as Ensign.
During the Battle of Rhode Island in 1778, the Connecticut Council of Safety directed Governor Jonathan Trumbull to ask
the Grenadiers of Woodstock, Pomfret, and Killingly to, “exert and distinguish themselves”. It is known that the 11th
Regiment was present at Tiverton Heights during the battle, and it is probably safe to assume that the Grenadiers were also.
A list of the members of the Grenadier Company who served in Continental Army in 1777 is as follows, from Killingly;
Barnew Tortolott, Comfort Woodart, Jose Joslen, Salvenus Perrey, Simeon Leonard, Jabez Leach, Jonathan
Jenkes, David Runnels, Joseph Jinkes, Jacob Leavens, Abijah Fleng, and Jack Negrow, an Afro-American man.
Also serving was Obediah Brown, Ebenezer Cheney of Ashford, Abnar Chapman of Colchester, and Abnar French
of Canterbury.
The Grenadier Company of the 11th Regiment of Connecticut Militia continued to serve throughout the American
Revolution and the War of 1812. Historically the Company and the Regiment held annual training days up until 1840 when
the old militia Regiments were dissolved. The Grenadiers and Militia trained on Woodstock Common, and the Troop of
Horse trained in Pomfret.
Pictured above are photographs of the re-created Company of Grenadiers. The Grenadier is wearing a wool mitre cap
based on an original in the Collections of the New York Historical Society. A photo of the cap also appears in the book,
“Weapons of the American Revolution, and accoutrements” by Warren Moore. The cap is of unquestionable Connecticut
origin due to the three grape vines. The grape vines being the symbol of Connecticut for over 350 years. It is my belief
surmised by research in the Connecticut State Archives, and through a process of elimination, until further evidence surfaces
to prove otherwise, that the cap is more likely than not, the Eleventh’s. In 1774 there was an attempt to form a Grenadier
Company for each of the Connecticut Militia Regiments which would be funded by a State Tax of 1 cent per year. Only
three Colonial Connecticut Grenadier Companies have surfaced, that have any form of documentation. The 1st and 2nd
Companies, Governor’s Foot Guards with their black fur Grenadier caps, The Mansfield Grenadiers with scarlet caps
trimmed and tasselled white, and the Eleventh’s Grenadier Company of which nothing has surfaced on either their caps or
uniforms. In the years following the Revolution, other Grenadier companies were formed, such as the company in the 21st
Regiment, but, wool mitre caps would most likely have been out of fashion. As stated earlier, The British warrants of 1768
replaced the wool mitre caps with bear fur, although examples of both Colonial and British wool mitre caps exist that were
worn during the American Revolution. The Grenadier Coat is based on an article written by Charles M. Lefferts, who
stated that the coat for this cap would be blue with red facings, and a contemporary painting of Captain John Lasher’s New
York City Grenadier Company circa 1775-1776. The reproduced coat is of dark blue wool with red facings, white buttons
(pewter) with the button holes lined in yellow. The coat also bears the “winged epaulets” and the bursting grenades on the
turnbacks which differentiated a Grenadier Company from regular Companies of Foot, although some Light Infantry
Companies also wore the winged epaulets. Charles Lefferts’ description of the cap is as follows,
“The cap is beautifully embroidered in white and yellow worsted, and as the photograph plainly shows, the designs
were very carefully worked. It is made of coarse homespun cloth, the front bright red, with turn up red, and the
back, blue with turn up red, the whole being bound with bright yellow silk. At the top is a small round pompon of
mixed red and yellow worsted. The lining is of undyed linen.” (5)
Other Colonial wool or cloth mitre caps that were worn during the American Revolution are in existence. For example, in
1776, the 26th Continental Regiment of Foot from Massachusetts had a Grenadier Company. The companies wool mitre
cap bears the grenade symbol and regimental number in Roman numerals. The cap also has a large embroidered “GW” for
George Washington. Many of the caps, helmets, gorgets, sword plates, etc. that bore the Royal cypher of “GR”, were
replaced with “GW” by the Colonials.
The mitre cap of the Providence Grenadiers also exists. The cap is painted, and bears Rhode Island’s symbol, the anchor,
with a lion holding a grenade. It also has the State motto, “Hope”, and a scroll with the words, “God and Our Rights”. It
also has two large letters, “PG” , for the Providence Grenadiers.
Anyone having more information on either the Connecticut Grenadier Cap, the Company of Grenadiers, or the Eleventh
Regiment of Connecticut Militia, please contact us. We are always searching for more information to better portray and
understand Connecticut’s vital and unique role in the American Revolution.
eleventh.ct.regt.sar@snet.net
References:
1) The public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, Hoadly, Hartford, 1887.
2) The Connecticut State Archives, Militia Series 1 & 2, Hartford.
3) The History of Woodstock, Connecticut, Bowen, 1926.
4) Rhode Island History, Rhode Island Historical Society, April 1953, Vol. 12, No. 2, “Eighteenth Century Grenadier
Caps”, Brown.
5) The New York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin, April 1920, Vol. 9, No. 1, “The Connecticut Grenadier Cap”,
Lefferts.
6) Weapons of the American Revolution and Accoutrements, Moore, 1967
7) General Washington’s Army 1: 1775-1778; Men-at-Arms Series #273, Zlatich & Copeland, 1994
8) New England Soldiers of the American Revolution; Glorious uniforms to color, Zlatich, Bellerophon Books, 1988.
9) Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, Vol. 12, 1909
BACK TO THE ELEVENTH'S PAGE
Front view of the re-created Connecticut
Grenadier cap. Notice the three grape vines, the
symbol of Connecticut for over 350 years, and
the motto written in Latin. The same motto that
appears on the flag of the Bedford Minute
Men, the oldest flag in the United States, “Aut
Vinc Aut Mori” or “Victory or Death”.
Grenadier cap. Notice the three grape vines, the
symbol of Connecticut for over 350 years, and
the motto written in Latin. The same motto that
appears on the flag of the Bedford Minute
Men, the oldest flag in the United States, “Aut
Vinc Aut Mori” or “Victory or Death”.
Rear view of the re-created
Connecticut Grenadier cap.
Notice the embroidered Grenade
symbol, which is usually standard
on all Grenadier caps, and the
crossed swords and muskets.
Connecticut Grenadier cap.
Notice the embroidered Grenade
symbol, which is usually standard
on all Grenadier caps, and the
crossed swords and muskets.
Pictured is the
Parade uniform of
the Company of
Grenadiers,
Eleventh Regiment
Connecticut Militia.
(1774 - 1783)
18th Century
Fashion Show -
Historic
Norwichtown Days,
Norwich, CT.
Parade uniform of
the Company of
Grenadiers,
Eleventh Regiment
Connecticut Militia.
(1774 - 1783)
18th Century
Fashion Show -
Historic
Norwichtown Days,
Norwich, CT.
