Edward Northcraft

Edward Northcraft's Biography

Edward Northcraft was born August 18, 1758 in Montgomery County, Maryland. He was the youngest of Edward Northcraft and Elizabeth Fryer’s six children. His father died shortly before Edward’s eight birthday, and his mother remarried two years later.

At 17, Edward began his military career. On May 1, 1776, he enlisted in Captain Benjamin Spyker’s Company of Colonel Charles G. Griffith’s Flying Camp Maryland Battalion. He was discharged in December of that year at the Philadelphia encampment, however, returned to Philadelphia to join Washington’s Army as part of Captain Henry Gaither’s Company under Colonel Stone. The Company was one under General Washington that crossed the Delaware River, surprising the garrison of 1,500 Hessians at Trenton, New Jersey. Edward was with General Washington again the next week at the Battle of Princeton, both battles proving to be pivotal victories for the Continental Army.

Edward was engaged in frequent action in 1777. After the Battle of Princeton, Edward joined a rifle company in Morristown, New Jersey. While in their company, he was wounded in the leg in a skirmish in Springfield, New Jersey; wounded in the elbow near Valley Forge; engaged the British at Chadd’s Ford where he was wounded in the thigh; and, having recovered from his earlier wounds, he ended the year with his continued service with General Washington and was part of the Battle of Germantown.

In 1778, Edward (now 20) was in the Battle of Monmouth where he was shot above the ankle. He was then discharged from service under General George Washington. During this time, Edward married Hannah Anne (17 years of age) on March 11, 1779. With the war continuing around them, Edward volunteered again in 1781 with Captain John Nichol’s Company but left them at Georgetown to join a Company in Virginia, where he served as a 1^st Sergeant with General Lafayette’s army at Yorktown, Virginia. Edward was one of the soldiers in General Lafayette’s troops that opened the trenches for General Cornwallis’s surrender on October 18, 1781.

After the surrender, Edward volunteered to be an adjutant to oversee the prisoners that were located in Fredericktown, Maryland near his home and his wife. He served another six months before returning home in April of 1782, with his first son, Edward Jr., born in September of that year.

As with many patriots, Edward had difficulty securing his pension from his service within the Revolutionary War. There are many documents testifying to the validity of Edward’s service and to the battles that he had fought.

Edward purchased land in Western Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania after the American Revolution, living with his family as a farmer, selling horses, cattle, and grain. Edward lived on his land with his youngest son, Hezekiah, and his young children when he passed away in 1838.