The First Letter Narcissus Graham

Narcissus Graham is my 4^th great grandfather on my mother’s side. He is the son of Rev. John Graham, Jr. He was a proponent of the fundamentalist religious revivals that swept through northeastern America in the mid-18th Century, later referred to as the Great Awakening, or the First Great Awakening. Narcissus Graham was born 15 Oct 1762 at West Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut and died 16 Feb 1829 at Winnsboro, Fairfield, South Carolina.  My mother’s side has two men that were involved in the War of Independence (Revolutionary War) and served in the Continental Army. One was General George Walton, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, governor of Georgia and a United States Senator. The other is Narcissus Graham who enlisted in the Continental Army on Mar.17, 1777 at age 14 and served first as a fifer. Their lives give us a look at that period from two very different perspectives.

The information that will follow in this blog and the series that will follow about the letters of Narcissus Graham is from documents I found on Ancestory.com. A lot of information is available about George Walton, so I wanted people to hear the voice of Narcissus Graham and get a glimpse of his world through his words.

James Myers, Jr.

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Fife Player on the Right

Narcissus Graham enlisted in the Continental Army on Mar.17, 1777 and was put initially in the Fife & Drum Corps of Capt. John Harmon’s Company in the 4th Connecticut Regiment commanded by John Durkee, Esq.

The War Department’s records show that, upon enlisting, Narcissus was issued “1 coat, 1 vest, 1 shirt, 1 Hunting Shirt, 1 pair shoes, 1 overalls – valued at $25 & 30/90, leaving balance due to him of $22 & 30/90.” This apparently had to last him the next 6 years.

He was on furlough from Dec.1777 to March 1778. He was furloughed again Nov.20, 1779, for 30 days. He was sick in Suffield, May 10, 1780, & reported sick at Danbury in August 1780. The last muster roll his name appears on was on May 27, 1783.

In 1941, Miltimore Brush of Germantown, NY, had 85 letters written by Narcissus during the war. They had been bound between layers of silk gauze but were written on the cheapest kind of paper, many on mere scraps. They tell of his suffering & privations & his desire to get out of the military by hiring a substitute. However, he stayed for the entire war.

This series of blogs will be about the letters the author of Rev. John Graham & his descendants chose to include in that book. Let’s hear the voice of Narcissus again.

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Valley Forge

April 18, 1777

Kind Parent: Sir: 

After my kind Complyments to you, I should inform you of my health since I left home & hope these will reach you. I have no news to write at Present, only it is very sickly time in Camp. The Smallpox, the army has all had & fever does very frequently set in. I want to hire a man in my place very much for it is very hard times for soldiers. I wish I had done something while I was home. I find fifing hurts me, that it wares my Constitution out very much. I feel it every day more. If there is a man to be hired that can fife I hope it can be done soon. Capt. Harmon I suppose will soon leave the regiment & then I hope by that time I can leave it, too. A soldier is a poor, lousey Creature deprived of all the comforts of life.

End of Letter