Shokan

I don't know if this is the correct forum, but I figured I would have enough people look at this thread, maybe someone could help me.

I'm doing research on my family history, which I can currently date back to about 1620 in England. However, there is one person who I would like to learn a little bit more about.

His name was Simon Giffin Jr, and he served as "Quatermaster, 3rd. Conn. Regiment Continental Army". He was born in July 5th, 1740 and died Nov 6 1820. He married a Abigail Higgins out of Hardwick, Mass.

Being Canadian, I've never really learned alot about the Civil War. I was hoping someone could give me some info on...

1) "Quatermaster, 3rd. Conn. Regiment Continental Army" <-- what does this mean, exactly? What is a quartermaster? Who were the Continental Army?

2) Any info on his regiment, more specific, what battles, if any, this regiment was in. I'd like to know alot about this actually.

3) Any websites that would give me specific info on this regiment.


I know its a long shot, but I've tried googling it, and need less to say, there is ALOT of civil war webpages.

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G_Whiz

Part of your problem may be that based on his date of death, he couldn't have been in the US Civil War. That was in the 1860's.

Based on the name of his unit, I would say that he was in our Revolutionary War. (It was a civil war to the British, but not to us)

A quartermaster is in charge of supplying the troops for his unit.

I don't have answers to your other questions, but I hope that this info may help with your searches.

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uncle phil

continental army was definitely revolutionary war...

basically, just start googling with whatever key words or phrases come to mind...

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ubertuber

You can also try to check out libraries for documents that include military discharge papers, property deeds, or obituary information. Since he was in the military these things may be more easily available than they would be for the average person 300 years ago. And to echo the others, those dates suggest the American Revolution for sure...

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tritium

Well, technically speaking, the American Revolution was a "Civil War" ... just not the one we traditionally think of.

Quartermasters are responsible for a wide variety of activities that could be generally grouped into a "support" category. They move supplies, purify water, field services (laundry, repair, mortuary affairs), etc. Without Quartermasters, the military would falter.

Founded in 1775, the US Army Quartermaster Corps is the oldest support branch in the military.

The Continental Army was founded, intiially, to provide a structured chain of command for all the hodge podge militias during the American Revolutionary War.

Start reading here: http://www.quartermaster.army.mil/
Write them and see if they have a unit historian (they probably do) that could help you research the brigade from Connecticut, USA.

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Averett

Wow, that is really interesting. Yup, and definatly the Revolutionary War. If you find out more information let us know!

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shakran

http://familyresearchlibrary.com/res...il_records.htm if you feel like paying some money.

Otherwise contact the connecticut historical society (http://www.chs.org/) and ask them where to start.

Seaver

Tritium got it, quartermasters were (and still are) the backbone of armies. Being the quartermaster meant he was personally accountable for food/ammo/uniforms... basically everything an army could need.

In England and Canada the US Revolutionary War was called a civil war, and he fought on the US side as the Continental army.

There was no distinction back then between Canada and New England, the only reason it wasn't included as the 14th state was we lost the battle for Montreal and the devide was henseforth.

MSD

If you find out more about the 3rd Conn. Regiment, check for William Chase. I have some conflicting documents regarding him, and he may have been in that regiment. In other words, our ancestors may have known each other and fought together in the Revolution. I think this calls for a beer.

Shokan

Definately. I'll be sure to let you know. I'm planning on doing a massive online search for info on that regiment in a few minutes. I just came here first to check if anything new was posted.

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Prince

Hmmm... The Civil War...

I was born and raised in Europe, and while we didn't go through the American history as thoroughly at school as we should have - in my opinion - one thing I recall is that they called the war between the northern and southern states as the "Civil War". Is this the Revolutionary War that you speak of?

I remember talking to my wife, a Texan, about the Civil War and if I remember correctly she said she was conflicted as to which war I meant, because she had come to know that war by another name.

Also, if someone has books to recommend that could give me a better understanding as to the different wars etc in America, that'd be helpful - and I mean books that aren't overly detail-oriented and are relatively easy to read.

PS. I hope this isn't jacking his thread, I just didn't want to start a whole new thread on a subject matter so close to this one. Let me know if this is thread jacking and I'll do so.

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Shokan

I made a mistake by saying Civil War. It was actually the American Revolution. While the american revolution was a civil war, it wasn't what is commonly known, and capitalized as, the Civil War.

In other words, two seperate wars at differnet time periods.

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Sparhawk

When I was in Britain the Revolution was called "The American Rebellion"- I sorta doubt they call it that in Canada (even if we did invade during the war). And Southerners are fond of calling the Civil War "The War of Northern Aggression." But the winners are the ones who get to put their versions in the history books

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nash

Just to pipe in, I've heard the American Civil War called the "War Between the States." While reading stuff about it, I came across a quote someone used: "I will say to the north, 'Give up!'" (Isaiah 43:6). It's taken waaaay out of context though, but I found it amusing.

pocon1

The winners get to name the war, and it is the Revolutionary war. The Brits didn't understand it, so they came for another lesson, and that was called the War of 1812. The 1861 war is called the Civil War, and that is where the South tried to secede from the Union over the issue of slavery.

tinfoil

Well, as a Canuck I learned it as the 'Revolutionary War'.

My step-father is an armchair genealogist. He's traced his family back to some royalty in England I believe.. I don't recall as I normally zone out around that point.

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Dragonlich

Well, I was told that there was this war between the yanks and the brits first, and then there was a war between the northern and the southern states. (Hell, I even read U.S. Grant's book about it.)

Who cares how you name the war, as long as you know who fought whom, when and where?

sailor

Another lesson? Recheck your history--they damn near kicked our ass. For goodness sake, they marched into Washington and burned the White House...

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Seaver

Yeah... was a great amphibious attack, very few tactics for that were ever planned back then. We would have had a MUCH tougher time if they werent fighting Napoleon at the same time.

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