Rufus Carver was born December 13, 1755, in Montague, Massachusetts. While a resident of Northfield, Massachusetts, Carver belonged to Captain Ebenezer Jones’ company of minutemen and marched with that unit to Cambridge, Massachusetts, following the battle of Lexington in 1775.

While stationed in Cambridge he enlisted as a private in Captain Eliakim Smith’s Company of Colonel (later General) Artemas Ward’s Massachusetts Regiment. Rufus was at the battle of Bunker Hill and retreated with General Israel Putnam to Prospect Hill. Here Carver assisted in constructing the redoubt. He was discharged on January 1, 1776, completing his 8-month enlistment. Carver later responded to the “Bennington Alarm” and served in Captain Wright’s Company which marched to Bennington[1] but arrived one or two days after the battle.

Carver enlisted again in 1777, and served three months as a private in Captain Lyman’s Company, Colonel Bigelow’s Massachusetts Regiment. While in service the regiment marched to Danbury Connecticut, where it was posted on guard duty. Carver was discharged at Danbury at the end of November, 1777. He received a pension.[2]

Rufus Carver later moved to New York, and some time after 1838, accompanied by his wife, Pricilla Cummings,[3] and family, he moved to East Troy, Wisconsin, where he died March 20, 1840. Rufus Carver is buried in Mound Cemetery , Section 17E, Town of Mt. Pleasant, Racine County , Racine, Wisconsin. The Racine Chapter, DAR, marked Carver’s grave on October 9, 1937 [4]

[1]Carroon notes in his pamphlet that three soldiers buried in Wisconsin fought in the American forces at Bennington. They were Carver, Allen and Barlow.

[2]Dar Index, 1990.

[3]Ibid.

[4]Historical Society document of unidentified origin.

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Resource: Wisconsin Society - Sons of the American Revolution www.wissar.org