A Revolutionary War Captain
Revolutionary War records on Fold3 were available to access free of charge in early July. I noticed that several Revolutionary War Pension records from Connecticut mentioned a Captain Peter PERRETT of Milford and wondered what more could be found about him.
Further research reveals that there are a number of records pertaining to Captain Peter PERRITT available on Ancestry and FamilySearch.
Ancestry includes an index from a database of ‘Connecticut Soldiers, French and Indian War, 1755-1762 which includes a Peter PERRIT of Connecticut serving as a Second Lieutenant in the Third Company of the Second Regiment in 1759/1760.
The Historical reg. of officers of the Continental Army by Francis Bernard Heitman, referenced in the American Genealogical-Biographical Index on Ancestry, includes a Captain Peter PERRITT born 1740 in Connecticut, however the Record of Conn. Men in mil. And naval service during the Rev. war, 1775-1783 by Henry P. Johnston, in the same Index, lists Peter PERRITT, a private, born in 1750 in Connecticut. Assuming this is the same person who served in the French and Indian War, the 1740 birth date is more plausible.
Captain Peter PERRIT(T) was camped at the Heights of Harlem in autumn 1776 with the 19 Regimental Continental Troops at the time of the Battle of Harlem Heights, in which he almost certainly participated.
Captain PERRIT(T)’s service was curtailed on 16 November 1776 when he was taken prisoner by the British, along with almost 3,000 other prisoners, at Fort Washington.
It appears that Peter PERRIT(T) spent some time thereafter imprisoned on Long Island. The American Biographical Libraryrecords that he was a Captain in the 7thConnecticut from 6 July to 10 December 1775 before transferring to the Continental Infantry. He was exchanged as a prisoner on 18 September 1778 and subsequently served as Captain in the Connecticut State Regiment.
The U.S. War Bounty Land Warrants record set lists a warrant in the name of Captain Peter PARRIT for 300 acres, which was the prescribed amount of land to be granted to a Captain. The land itself would most likely have been located in the U.S. Military District of Ohio.
There is a Peter PERIT listed on the 1790 US Federal Census for Milford, New Haven, Connecticut and a Peter PERRITT on the 1800 US Federal Census for the same place. An extract from death notices in the Columbian Centinelincludes the following entry:
PERRIT, Peter, Capt. officer in French and revolutionary war, d. in Milford (C.C.Oct.5,1803)
Peter PERRITT’s age at death was recorded as 68, giving him a date of birth around 1735. A number of Ancestry and FamilySearch trees have his parents showing as Peter PERRITT and Abigail SHEPARD, however none of these pedigrees –so far as I can see –includes any sources to validate this relationship.
Can any of our members –American or otherwise –tell us more about Peter?