Comments Concerning the Revolutionary War Service of the Bennett Family
As written by Wayne C. Bennett

   No family history would be complete unless something were said concerning the record of the family in time of war.  One Peter Bennett, a son of Richard, was in King Phillips War.  Several Bennetts were in the French and Indian Wars.  In the Revolutionary War, there were from 800 to 1000 men in the War and many of these were brothers and cousins to our forefathers.

   Our lineal ancestors were not the right age to be in the Revolutionary War and probably saw little or no service.  The father of Ferris Bennett was born July 21, 1768, and would have been but eight years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed, and but fifteen when the War was over.  His father, and the father of twelve children, Nathan Bennett, was born March 4, 1725 and was past fifty years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed.  It is possible that they saw some service with the militia, but I have no direct evidence that they did.  I am quite certain that the other six sons of Nathan Bennett and perhaps two of the sons-in-law were in the War.

   Elias Bennett, a brother of Ferris Bennett's father, seems to have been the one who saw the most service.  His first child was born the night the British landed at Compo, and was said ever after to have been afraid of the sound of marital music.  "When the enemy landed in Compo, they passed Bennett's house and plundered it;  his wife in a delicate situation had rode off taking with her a bag of dollars, the enemy overtook her, stripped her of all her clothes but her shirt, took her horse and left her in the street, destitute, when she was taken in travail. . . by assistance she succeeded in getting to a house nearly naked and in distress."

   Elias and Josiah Bennett applied for and received a pension.  The County of Fairfield was burned; there were numerous raids along the coast, and everyone able to bear arms was pressed into service.  A more thorough search of the early records would perhaps reveal much more concerning the Bennetts of the Revolutionary Days.

Return to my Bennett family history page.