Thomas Machin

Thomas Machin was born in Staffordshire, England, March 20th, 1744. He was employed by Brindley in canal construction and in 1772 he came to America and settled in Boston, where he participated in the Boston Tea Party. He joined the ranks of the Freemasons and became a member of the Army Lodge at West Point. He was wounded at Bunker Hill while acting as lieutenant of artillery and that January, 1776, he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in Colonel Knox’s artillery regiment. He also aided in developing the fortifications to render the Hudson River impassible to British vessels. In 1779, Machin accompanied Colonel Van Schaick’s expedition against the Onondagas and later joined Sullivan’s expedition to the Genesee Valley. He was a mapmaker and surveyor for the rest of his life until he died in Charlestown April 3rd, 1816.