Benjamin Burton

Benjamin Burton was born December 9th, 1749 and participated in the Boston Tea Party; he was also one of the men who led the meeting at the Old South Meeting House before the tea protest actually began. He later enlisted in the Continental Army, and received the rank of Lieutenant in September of 1776 and the rank of Captain in Colonel Thurburn’s regiment in Rhode Island in 1777. Burton was one of the patriots held prisoner along with General Peleg Wadsworth for three months in 1778 and when he escaped he was given the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in a Boston Militia. Benjamin married Hannah Church and together they had seven children. Burton died May 24, 1835 in Warren, Rhode Island. Interestingly, a memoir of Colonel Burton was published in the Main Historical Collections [series 1, volume I, pg. 3-25-335].