Neptune's Needle

...in...Newbury, Mass., James learned shipbuilding. At twenty he enlisted for the expedition of 1755 against the French at Crown Point. Besides working on boats for the ascent of the Hudson and Lake George, Hill helped build Fort Edward and Fort William Henry and fought in the battle of Sept. 8, when the French under Dieskau were defeated. ...In 1758, as shipwright on the warship Achilles, he went to Jamaica and to England, whence he returned to America. In 1761, he settled in Newmarket, NH. Here he soon became prominent as a landowner and shipbuilder, and help numerous public offices.

...His military service in the Revolution began with his captaincy of a company stationed in 1775 on Pierce’s Island as part of General Sullivan’s defense of Portsmouth Harbor. In 1777 he was made lieutenant-colonel of militia, but wishing more active service, he volunteered in a company raised by John Langdon...to join against Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he was probably present at Burgoyne’s surrender. At the close of the war, in 1784, he was made colonel, and in 1788 brigadier-general of New Hampshire militia, a position he held until...1793.

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Compiler

Peter Richards