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Samuel Sprague was born in Hingham, Massachusetts on December 22, 1753, and
died at Boston on June 20, 1844. Just before the Revolution, he was a member of the
famous Boston Tea Party that threw overboard a cargo of tea into Boston Harbor.
He was also a soldier of the Revolution, participating in the siege of Boston, and the battles of Trenton and Princeton.
Part of his military service record is as follows:
May 27, 1775, enlisted, Gunner, service, 2 months, 1 week, 3 days;
[Captain] Thomas Pierce's Company, Colonel Richard Gridley's Artillery
Regiment.
August 1, 1775, muster roll; Captain Thomas Pierce's Company, Colonel
Gridley's Regiment.
September 29, 1775, Company return at Roxbury Camp; Captain Pierce's
Company, Colonel Gridley's Regiment.
December 16, 1775, return of men that enlisted for the ensuing year
under the new establishment, at Roxbury Camp; Captain Pierce's Company,
Colonel Gridley's Regiment.
December 27, 1775, an order for bounty coat or its equivalent in
money at Roxbury Camp; Colonel Henry Knox's Artillery Company, Colonel
Gridley's Regiment.
Other records indicate the service of a Samuel Sprague at various times
during
the years 1777, and in 1781 through 1783.
Please note that Richard Gridley designed the Provincial earthworks at
Bunker Hill, and Sprague may have served at that battle.
Samuel Sprague was married on July 9, 1778, to Joanna Thayer, of Boston, a
daughter of Obadiah Thayer, born September 10, 1756 in Braintree. Their fourth son,
Charles Sprague, became a very famous poet
in the nineteenth century, and at times was referred to as the [Alexander] Pope of
America.
The Sprague family tomb is Number 5, and can be viewed from the walkway on
Boston Common.
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Central Burying Ground Page
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