TITLE: Biographical Sketch of Lt. Col. John McDuffee

SOURCE:  History of  the Town of Rochester New Hampshire, From 1722-1890      	      
         by Franklin McDuffee, A.M. edited and revised by Silvanus Hayward.     
         In two Volumes.-- Vol. I., Manchester,  The John B. Clarke Co.,
	 Printers.  ©1892.  Pages 117-120

SUBMITTED: Transcribe by C. Parziale 8/06/00

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             LEADING MEN OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD

                      LT COL. JOHN MCDUFFEE

	The parents of Col. John McDffuee [sic] were among those Scotch 
families that had been settled in the north of Ireland in the reign of James
I, and who emigrated to America to obtain freedom from popish laws, and from 
the rents and tithes with which they were burdened.  This son was born in 
1724, soon after their arrival in this country, and the family were among the 
early settlers of Rochester.
	Col McDuffee entered upon military life in the French and Indian 
wars.  In the Earl of Loudon’s Expedition against Crown Point, he was 
commissioned a lieutenant in March, 1757, by Gov. Benning Wentworth.  In 
January following he received a similar commission in William Stark’s company
of Rangers, and was authorized to fill up the company in any part of the 
Colonies.  The soldiers of New Hampshire were so expert in Indian warfare, 
and so inured to fatigue and danger, that valuable services were expected of 
these rangers.  They were raised by express desire of Lord Loudon, to be 
employed in winter as well as summer, and proved so useful in skirmishing and
procuring intelligence that they were kept in service till the close of the
war.  They sailed  in the expedition to Louisburg and were engaged in the 
siege of that city until its surrender.  Lieut. McDuffee with his rangers was
employed in scouring the island, making prisoners of the French, men, women,
and children, in accordance with an order from Gen. Whitmore detaching him 
for this special service.  In the battle which resulted in the surrender of 
Quebec he commanded a considerable detachment under Gen. Wolfe.  He spent the
following winter in that city, where he became enamored of a young French 
lady of aristocratic family, and was very devoted in his attentions.  His 
addresses were not encouraged by the parents however, and the family secretly 
removed from the city in order to interrupt the acquaintance.  This 
disappointment was the reason of his remaining unmarried through life.  So 
says tradition.  After the conquest of Canada he returned home, and in 1762 
was chosen Representative to the provincial Assembly, being the first person
chosen to this office in Rochester.  He was frequently employed by the 
government in making surveys of public works.  In 1768, in accordance with an
act passed by the Assembly, he was engaged in laying out a highway from 
Durham Falls to Coos.  In 1786, on petition of john stark, the legislature 
appointed a committee, of which Col. McDuffee was one, to run out the lines 
of Mason’s Patent.  Upon the basis of this survey a settlement was made with
the Masonian Proprietors, finally disposing of a question which had been a 
source of trouble, vexation, and expense from the first settlement of New 
Hampshire.  On the approach of the revolution he took an active part in 
behalf of the colonies, and throughout the war was a zealous and enthusiastic
friend of independence.  In 1774 he was appointed one of the town committee
of Correspondence, and was delegate to the first Provincial congress at 
Exeter, May 1775.  War had by this time become unavoidable, and this Congress
was principally occupied in devising measures, raising men, and collecting 
munitions, for the defense of the Colony.  He gave to this object not only 
the influence of his voice, but the force of his example, for on May 
twentieth, only three days from the opening of the congress his name was 
enrolled as Lieutenant colonel of the Second regiment commanded by Col. Enoch
Poor. As he was at that time one of the Selectmen, a town meeting was called
to fill his place.  His regiment was not fully organized at the time of the
battle at Bunker Hill, but hearing the cannonading in the morning of that 
day, he mounted his horse and left his home in Rochester arriving at the 
field of battle the same evening.  He remained at Camp Winter Hill and 
Cambridge during the siege of Boston, then went with the troops to New York, 
and thence up the Hudson to mount Independence, where many New Hampshire 
troops were stationed, and where he filled the office of Brigade Commissary 
or Paymaster.  As his name occurs frequently in the town records during the
close of the year 1779.  He was a representative to the State Legislature in
1782.  He was two years a member of the State Senate under the new 
constitution, occupying the position of "Senior" Senator by which title the 
chairman of that body was then called.  He was also for four years a Senator
under the revised Constitution.  His life was mostly spent in public 
service.  He retained his faculties remarkably until a few months before his
death, which occurred Oct. 15, 1817, at the age of ninety-three.
	Col. McDuffee was a man of noble form and commanding appearance, six 
feet two inches in height, of a large frame, yet not corpulent.  With a high 
sense of honor, he was firm and independent in the maintenance of his 
opinions.  When the first pension act was passed, he was advised to apply for
a pension, but he spurned the suggestion with indignation, saying that it 
was sufficient reward to him to see the object accomplished for which he had 
fought.  Impetuous in his feelings, he had no patience with any kind of 
oppression or injustice.  His passions were especially violent against the 
enemies of his country; and in the last years of his life he might frequently
have been heard muttering imprecations against Tories and redcoats, for, 
from being many years a soldier associating with rough companions, he had 
acquired so fixed a habit of profanity that he seemed to be u6tterly 
unconscious of the vice.  The "New Hampshire Gazetteer" says, "He was a man 
of strong mind and memory, of extensive information and a sincere friend of 
his country."

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