Josiah Bradlee

(March 24, 1754 – October 2, 1798)

Josiah Bradlee, a 19-year-old tinplate worker, was the youngest of the Bradlee brothers to participate in the Boston Tea Party.

He joined his brothers, Nathaniel, David, and Josiah, as well as his brother-in-law, John Fulton, in the “destruction of the tea”. 

During the American Revolutionary War, Bradlee held the rank of Private. In 1775, while American soldiers were preparing for the Battle of Bunker Hill, Josiah’s future wife, Hannah Putnam, visited her uncle, Maj. General Israel Putnam, in Connecticut. He then called upon Pvt. Josiah Bradlee to escort Hannah safely back to her home. They would marry on August 7, 1777. 

That same year, Bradlee enlisted in Capt. Davi Pixley’s Company in Col. John Brown’s Regiment and served for 22 days in the Northern Department. He served in Capt. William Francis’s Company in Col. John Ashley’s Regiment. He enlisted again on June 22, 1777, and served for 23 days in Cap. John Spors’s Company in Col. John Brown’s Berkshires Regiment and was discharged on August 13, 1777. He enlisted again on July 18, 1780, for three months and 10 days and was discharged on October 23, 1780. His final company was responsible for raising reinforcements for the United States Continental Army.   

Josiah Bradlee died on October 2, 1798, in Boston, Massachusetts, and was buried in Tomb No. 85 in Central Burying Ground in Boston. 

.