Barnstable’s own Lemuel Snow, Patriot and Pioneer

During their 8 years of service in the Revolutionary War, Barnstable’s own Lemuel Snow and his son, also named Lemuel, spent most of their time in the Hudson River Valley with the Massachusetts Line. From Peekskill to Saratoga, Valley Forge, Monmouth, and Providence, they fought and endured the hardships every soldier faced. Lt. Snow witnessed the execution of Major André, was made a Freemason at West Point, and became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. At Verplanck’s Point, New York, his son was with his regiment to greet Rochambeau upon his return from the victory at Yorktown, accompanied Washington for the Evacuation of New York at War’s end, and was with the General for his farewell at Fraunces Tavern.

After the war, young Lemuel returned home to Barnstable, where he worked as a shipbuilder and farmer before taking his and several other Barnstable families west to settle in what would become Indiana. This story is an epic tale of one man’s love for his country and family, and a glimpse into colonial life in Barnstable during and after the war.

Kirk Moldoff is a former medical illustrator and animator with a passion for the histories of the arts and industries of the Hudson River Valley. His articles have been published in the journals of the Daguerrean Society, the Cape Cod and Islands Historical Society, The Westchester Historian, and local news outlets. A trustee of the Putnam History Museum, Kirk resides with his wife, Holly, in Montrose, New York, on the Hudson River.