Jonathan Harwood: Captured by the British, Forgotten in Poverty

In This Article

His Story

Answering the Call to Arms

When the American Revolution began in 1775, Jonathan Harwood was a young Massachusetts man in his early twenties. He would eventually serve in several Continental Army regiments, experience captivity at the hands of the British, and endure an illness that disrupted his military service.

More than forty years later, his pension declarations would preserve a second, equally revealing chapter of his life: the struggle of an aging veteran to support himself and his family.

Harwood’s first reported period of military service began during the opening months of the Revolutionary War. In his pension application, he described serving for the first eight months of the conflict in Captain Galusha’s company.

Those opening months were a period of extraordinary upheaval in Massachusetts. Fighting at Lexington and Concord in April 1775 had transformed a political confrontation into an armed conflict. Colonial forces gathered around Boston, and the emerging American army faced the enormous task of organizing men, supplies, and military leadership.

Harwood’s testimony places his early service within this first year of the war. The available transcription does not establish that he fought at Lexington, Concord, or Bunker Hill, and those engagements should not be attributed to him without additional evidence.

Service in the Continental Army

Harwood’s involvement in the Revolution continued beyond his initial enlistment.

In 1776, he reported serving under Captain Moses Whiting in Colonel John Greaton’s regiment. He subsequently served under Captain Job Whipple in a regiment commanded by Colonel Rufus Putnam.

These successive periods of service illustrate how some Revolutionary soldiers remained connected to the army through more than one enlistment and under different officers.

The Continental Army changed considerably during the war. Units were reorganized, enlistments expired, and experienced soldiers were needed to fill the ranks. Men such as Harwood became part of an increasingly professional military force that had to sustain itself through years of campaigning.

Although Harwood named several officers in his pension declaration, the surviving information reviewed for this article does not yet establish a complete chronology of his movements or identify every engagement in which he participated.

Captured and Taken to New York

At some point during his military service, Harwood’s experiences took a dramatic turn. He was captured by British forces and carried to New York.

New York City remained under British occupation for most of the Revolutionary War and served as a major center for the detention of American prisoners. Captured soldiers could face overcrowded confinement, shortages of necessities, and serious illness.

Harwood’s pension testimony establishes his capture and removal to New York, but it does not identify the particular battle, skirmish, or circumstances in which he was taken prisoner.

Nor does the information currently available establish precisely where in New York he was confined. His story should therefore not be connected to a particular prison ship or prison building without further documentation.

What is known is that his captivity interrupted his military service and was followed by another serious hardship.

Freedom, but Not Recovery

Harwood was eventually exchanged and released from British captivity. Yet his return from imprisonment did not mean an immediate return to ordinary military duty.

According to his pension declaration, he became ill following his exchange and remained in a hospital until his term of enlistment expired.

His testimony does not provide enough information to identify the precise disease or condition from which he suffered. Nevertheless, the sequence he described is clear: capture, confinement in British-held New York, exchange, and a period of illness serious enough to prevent his return to active service.

For Revolutionary soldiers, surviving the battlefield was only one part of the struggle. Disease and physical exhaustion could prove as disruptive as combat, and a man’s military service might end in a hospital rather than in battle.

Harwood’s own account provides a particularly personal example of that reality.

A Veteran’s Life in Poverty

Decades passed between Harwood’s Revolutionary War service and his application for federal assistance.

Congress passed a pension law in 1818 that provided support for qualifying veterans of the Continental Army who were in reduced circumstances. Harwood was awarded a pension of eight dollars per month, effective April 4, 1818.

But the most revealing description of his later life appears in his 1820 declaration, when he provided the court with information about his property, financial condition, and household.

By then, Harwood was living in Danvers, Massachusetts. He was approximately sixty-seven years old and reported having no real estate or income. His personal property was valued at only twenty dollars.

The inventory was strikingly modest. Among his possessions were five chairs, a table, cooking pots, a kettle, a broken looking glass, and basic eating utensils.

These were not the possessions of a prosperous landowner. They were the ordinary necessities of a household whose resources had been reduced to very little.

The inventory offers a rare glimpse into the domestic circumstances of a Revolutionary War veteran. Rather than simply stating that Harwood was poor, the court record reveals the objects that remained in his home.

The broken looking glass is an especially memorable detail. It is a small object, but one that helps modern readers imagine the material conditions described in the pension record.

A Family Facing Hardship

Harwood’s financial difficulties were not his alone. His 1820 declaration also described the circumstances of his family.

His wife was approximately seventy-one years old. Their son, also named Jonathan, was about thirty-five and was described in the pension record as having a serious mental incapacity. The younger Jonathan was receiving support from the town of Danvers as a pauper.

These details show that the family’s hardship extended across generations. The elderly veteran had few resources of his own, while his adult son depended upon public assistance.

The record does not establish every circumstance that led to the family’s poverty. It would be misleading to claim that Harwood’s wartime captivity alone caused his later financial difficulties.

Nevertheless, the contrast is difficult to overlook. A man who had served in the Continental Army, endured British captivity, and suffered illness after his exchange was now asking the nation he had helped establish for financial support.

Harwood’s story illustrates a side of the American Revolution often overshadowed by accounts of victories and celebrated commanders: the uncertain lives of ordinary veterans long after independence had been won.

His name may not be familiar today, but his pension documents preserve something more intimate than a list of battles. They reveal a soldier’s service and the fragile circumstances of the household he struggled to maintain.

From His Account

Military Service

Conflict	American Revolutionary War
State	Massachusetts
Rank	Private
Initial Service	First eight months of the Revolutionary War, as reported in pension testimony
Initial Company	Captain Galusha’s company
1776 Service	Captain Moses Whiting’s company
1776 Regiment	Colonel John Greaton’s regiment
Later Company	Captain Job Whipple’s company
Later Regiment	Colonel Rufus Putnam’s regiment
Prisoner of War	Captured by British forces and taken to New York
After Exchange	Became ill and remained hospitalized until enlistment expired
Residence in 1820	Danvers, Massachusetts
Pension	$8 per month
Pension Effective	April 4, 1818
Pension File	S.32810
National Archives ID	54815834

Later Life & Burial

By 1820, Jonathan Harwood was living in Danvers, Massachusetts, in difficult financial circumstances.

His pension declaration described a household with few possessions, no real estate or income, and a family facing significant hardship. At approximately sixty-seven years old, Harwood was seeking continued assistance from the federal government.

His wife, approximately seventy-one, was part of the household described in the record. Their adult son Jonathan was receiving support from the town of Danvers.

Harwood’s exact date of death and burial location have not yet been established. No verified gravestone or cemetery record has been identified for this biography.

Although his final resting place remains unknown, his Revolutionary War pension documents preserve an unusually detailed account of his military service, British captivity, illness, and later financial struggles.

His story reminds us that the consequences of the Revolution extended far beyond the war itself. For many veterans, the years following independence brought continued uncertainty rather than lasting prosperity.

Family & Descendants

Marriage and Household

Jonathan Harwood’s 1820 pension declaration provides direct evidence that he was married and had an adult son. The document was prepared when Harwood was living in Danvers, Massachusetts, and was required to describe the members of his household and his financial circumstances.

His wife was approximately seventy-one years old in 1820, suggesting a birth around 1748 or 1749. However, the pension information reviewed for this biography does not establish her given name, maiden name, marriage date, or place of birth.

It is possible that additional Massachusetts marriage records could identify Harwood’s wife. Until a record can be securely connected to the Revolutionary War veteran, no particular marriage or spouse’s name should be assigned to him.

The pension declaration also establishes that the couple’s later years were marked by financial hardship. Harwood reported no real estate or income and personal property worth approximately twenty dollars.

Jonathan Harwood Jr.

The clearest identified child in Harwood’s surviving pension material is his son Jonathan, who was approximately thirty-five years old in 1820.

This suggests that the younger Jonathan was born around 1784 or 1785, although his exact birth date has not been established from a birth or baptismal record.

Harwood described his son as suffering from a serious mental incapacity. The younger Jonathan was receiving support from the town of Danvers as a pauper.

The description is important because it reveals that the family depended upon more than one form of public assistance. The father received a federal pension for military service, while his adult son was supported by local authorities.

Although the younger Jonathan can be identified as the veteran’s son, the pension declaration does not establish whether he married, had children, or remained in Danvers throughout his life.

The name Jonathan Harwood Jr. is used here only to distinguish the son from his father. It should not be assumed that the younger man consistently used the suffix in contemporary records.

Parents and Other Children

The available pension material does not identify Jonathan Harwood’s parents or provide a complete list of his children.

Although the veteran’s son Jonathan is explicitly identified in the 1820 declaration, the document does not establish that he was an only child. Other sons or daughters may have lived elsewhere or may not have been included in the household description.

Research into Danvers and surrounding Essex County communities may eventually identify additional family members through birth and baptismal registers, marriage records, probate documents, and other town records.

However, the presence of other individuals named Jonathan Harwood or Harwood in eighteenth-century Massachusetts records is not sufficient evidence of a family relationship. Such connections require corroborating documentation.

Descendants and Later Generations

At present, no grandchildren or later descendants of the Revolutionary War veteran Jonathan Harwood have been established through a reliable documentary chain.

The most promising starting point is his son Jonathan, born approximately 1784–1785. Records concerning the younger man’s town support, possible guardianship, residence, and eventual death could help determine whether he married or left descendants.

Danvers town poor-relief records, Massachusetts vital records, federal census schedules, and Essex County probate records may also help identify additional children or relatives.

Until these connections can be documented, the family history should remain limited to the relationships established by Harwood’s pension declaration: an unnamed wife and an adult son named Jonathan.

Original Sources & Historical Note