Major General Robert Sedgwick

  Noted events in his life were:

• Immigration, 1635, Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA.

• Family Origin. ⁵⁵⁹ 6 MAY 1613 Woburn, Bedforshire, England. "Robert settled in Boston about 1629. He was made an inhabitant of Charlestown, MA June 3, 1636 and a freeman March 9, 1637. The first record book of the First Church of Charlestown, MA has for Feb 27, 1637: 12 mo. day 27--Robert Sedgwick with Joanna, his wife, were admitted to membership. Robert was awarded a general's commission in Cromwell's army. He was ordered to Jamaica, was attacked with fever and died there May 24, 1656." It was due to his military genius that Jamaica was captured from the Spanish. Death: "A Sedgwick Genealogy, Descendants of Deacon Benjamin Sedgwick," Compiled by Hubert M. Sedgwick, New Haven, 1961. GEN: "Family Record, The Descendants of Gordon Sedgwick," by Hubert M. Sedgwick

Major General Robert Sedgwick b. 1611 or 1613 ch May 6, 1613, Woburn, Bedfordshire, England d. 1656 Jamaica m. Joanna Blake, Jan 6, 1635, Andover, Hampshire, England immigrated 1635 to Charlestown, Massachusetts Robert Sedgwick, apparently the earliest Sedgwick to come to the New World, was a son of William Sedgwick (1585 - 25 JUL 1632), warden of St Mary's Church, of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England. Robert, fourth of 10 children, was baptized at St Mary's on May 6, 1613.

He was trained in the military.

He married Joanna Blake on Jan 6, 1635 at Andover, Hampshire, England. The source for this is the Church records of the Church of England as extracted at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' Family Search International Genealogical Index. Since this record is extracted fom the microfilm of the church record books, rather than user-submitted data, it merits full confidence.

On September 19, 1635 the ship Truelove departed London for New England. The passenger list is available on Thomas Langford's American Plantations and Colonies website. A "Sedgwick, Jo," appears in the passenger list, and has been assumed to be Robert. He is listed as age 24, hence the 1611 birth date has been adopted. I know of no other reference giving a birth date for him. However, I am not totally convinced that this is Robert. If it is, he must have spent only a short time in New England then returned. Remember that the marriage date in January 1635 came after the voyage date in September 1635. It is entirely possible that he made such a round-trip voyage, for any of several reasons. We tend to think that the voyage across the Atlantic only went one way, ignoring that the ships, trade, army and government officials certainly travelled both directions. This would also be consistent with the fact that it was not until February, the end of 1637, until he and Joanna were admitted to the church at Charlestown.

Robert settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and was active in the construction of the early defenses of Boston, where he later lived. He was one of the founders, Captain and later General of The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company" of Massachusetts. He was commissioned by Cromwell to organize a force against the Dutch in New York, but before they could leave word came that the a settlement had been made with the Dutch. Since he had an expeditionary force organized, General Robert turned them against the French in the Penobscot area of what is now Maine. The French Commander chose not to fight. Sedgwick, Maine, in that area, was named for Robert about 150 years later through the efforts of his great-grandson Theodore Sedgwick, Speaker of the House of Representatives. The move against the French was considered very controversial at the time, as there was no war with the French, and no justification for the action. However, Cromwell loved it.

He called Robert to England and sent him to Jamaica as one of the Generals in an occupational force. Jamaica had recently been taken from the Spanish. Later Major General Sedgwick was appointed Governor of Jamaica, but almost immediately afterward he died of "the fever." His body was returned to London for burial. (Does anybody know where?)

You can read more about Major General Robert Sedgwick in these references: Article: MAJOR GENERAL ROBERT SEDGWICK
in the Sedgwick Collection at the New Haven Colony Historical Society. Pamphlet: Robert Sedgwick, A Sketch
by Henry Dwight Sedgwick, 1896 (21 pages) Article: Robert Sedgwick
from the History of the ... Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company Robert and Joanna had five children. At his death, she was in England with the children. At least one of them returned to Massachusetts, William, whose son Samuel is the common ancestor of a very large group of Sedgwick descendants.

Robert's sister Sarah Sedgwick married Leverett, later the governor of Massachusetts. Many, including Goodwin in his Genealogical Notes, have erroneously claimed she was daughter of Robert, but Governor Leverett's entry in his family Bible states "9th September 1647 marryed Sarah, daughter to Elizabeth Sedgwick the widow of William Sedgwicke, married at Louisham in Kent at the home of her brother Mr Robert Houghton." A reproduction in heliotype of the original entries in Governor Leverett's handwriting appeared in the privately published (1897) "Ancestry of Descendants of Richard Saltonstall", opposite page 150. Noted in NHCHS MSS-B46 Box 6 Folder B sheet 17; Freda Lightfoot of the UK has sent the pages from the book.

MAJOR GENERAL ROBERT SEDGWICK

ROBERT SEDGWICK of London, afterwards Major General of Massachusetts Colony, was, we believe, the first of our name to come to America. He is the ancestor of a very large family that is now scattered to every State in the Union.

He was born at Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, and baptised there May 6, 1613, according to the Register of St. Mary's Church at Woburn. He was the son of William Sedgwicke and Elizabeth Lowe (or Howe), whose marriage on April 10, 1604, is recorded in the same Register. It is said that Woburn, Mass., was so named as a compliment to Robert, who assisted in laying out the town.

All knowledge of his early life comes from Johnson's "Wonder Work of Providence", to the effect that he was "stout and active in all feats of war, nurst up in London's Artillery Garden. - "exact theory besides the help of a very good top piece."

There is no positive record of when he came to this country, but he is supposed to have been, "Jo Sedgwick, aged 24," licensed to be transported to New England, imbarqued in the Truelove 19 Sept. l635.

The first mention of him in New England is found in the First Record Book, of the First Church in Charlestown, which states that in 1636, 12 mo: day 27 (that is Feb. 27, 1637, our calen- dar) Robert Sedgwick, with Joanna Sedgwick, his wife were admitted to the church. He was made a freeman on March 9, following, when he was appointed Captain for the town "by our Court."

He became prominent in the affairs of Charlestown, Boston and the Colony. On March 13, 1638 "Robert Sedgwiok and others at their request, were ordered to form a Company, which shall be called the Military Company of Massachusetts." This was later called the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, and was the first organization of its kind in New England. He was Captain of the Company in 1840, Commander of Castle in 1641, and Head of Regiment of Middlesex in 1643.

He was appointed Major General of the Colony May 26, 1852, and was soon thereafter called to Military service by Oliver Cromwell, then Lord Protector of England. His first commission was an expedition against the Dutch in New York, but upon his arrival he found that peace had been made. He then sailed with his squadron to Boston and was commissioned for an expedition against the French Forts in Arcadia, with John Leveret (afterwards governor of the colony) as second in company. This was a very successful campaign, three forts being captured and English garrisons left in charge.

The above results so pleased Lord Protector Cromwell that in July 1854 Major General Sedgwick was sent from Boston in command of a fleet of about 23 vessels to relieve the British forces at Jamaica, which had recently been captured by Generals Venable and Penn, both of whom had returned to England by the time of Sedgwick's arrival. He found the army in a very de- moralized condition, and that no proper quarters had been constructed nor storehouses for supplies, which were scattered

ROBERT SEDGWICK

Taken from the HISTORY OF THE MILITARY COMPANY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS NOW CALLED THE ANCIENT AND HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY OF MASSACHUSETTS. Volume I, 1637-1738.


courtesy of Doyle Brewer BREWERHUNT@aol.com


Robert Sedgwick (1637), the second signer of the original roll of the Company, was a son of William and Elizabeth (Howe) Sedgwick, and was born in Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, where he was baptized May 6, 1613. He married, in England, Joanna --------, who after his death became the second wife of Rev. Thomas Allen, of Norwich, England, previously of Charlestown, Mass. Mr. Allen’s first wife was Ann (Sadler) Harvard, the widow of Rev. John Harvard.


Capt. Sedgwick (1637) and his wife Joanna joined the Charlestown church, Feb. 27, 1636-7, having emigrated to America in 1635. He became a freeman March 9, 1636-7, when he was appointed Captain for the town, and the next month was chosen a representative. He was repeatedly re-elected, and served in the General Court sixteen terms. He was engaged in Charleston in mercantile pursuits. His house fronted on the square near where the Bunker Hill Bank now stands, and his wharves were near the town dock. Mr. Whitman (1810) says that, "Capt Sedgwick (1637) had been a member of the Artillery Company in London," but his name does not appear on the records or roll of the Honourable Artillery. He was probably connected with "the Military Garden of London," an association for improvement in the art of war, distinct from the company above mentioned. Johnson (1637) plainly tells us that Capt. Sedgwick (1637) was "nursed up in London’s Artillery Garden."


He was chosen captain of the first train-band in Charlestown which he drilled every Friday afternoon; he was captain of the Artillery Company of the Massachusetts in 1640, 1645, and 1648; commander at the castle in 1641, and of the Middlesex regiment in 1643. On the organization of the colonial militia, in 1644, he was appointed "Sergeant Major or commander of the Middlesex regiment. In a pamphlet entitled "Good News from New England," the author says: -


"Prest to oppose haters of peace with guide

Of officers, three regiments abide

In Middlesex, seven ensigns are displayed,

There disciplined by Major Sedgwicke’s aid."


When, in 1645, a king’s ship had been captured in Boston Harbor by Capt. Stagg, who had been commissioned by Parliament, the General Court authorized and appointed Sergt.-Major Gibbons (1637), of Boston, and Sergt.-Major Sedgwick (1637), of Charlestown, "to keep the peace in the said towns, and not to permit any ships to fight in the harbor, without license from authority."


Capt. Sedgwick (1637) was associated with John Winthrop, Jr., and other leading colonists, in establishing iron-works at Lynn, in 1643, the first, it is affirmed, on the American continent. Smelting, forging, and casting were carried on for some years, the bog-ore furnishing the raw material; but Hubbard says that soon, "instead of drawing out bars of iron for the country’s use, there was hammered out nothing but contention and law-suits." After a lingering existence of forty years, the fire of the forges was finally extinguished, the buildings were razed, and heaps of scoria only remained for vegetation, the course of years, to convert into grassy hillocks. In other business operations, Capt. Sedgwick (1637) subjected himself to admonition for the same "frailty" which caused his friend, Capt. Keayne (1637), so much persecution by church and state, "taking more than sixpence in the shilling profit"; but he escaped with an admonition.


In 1652, Sergt.-Major Sedgwick was promoted to the rank of "Sergeant-Major General," or commander-in-chief. He held the office for one year, during which time he was actively engaged in improving the discipline and drill of the colonial forces, spending his money freely, whenever and wherever it was needed.


Gen. Sedgwick (1637), attracting the favorable attention of Oliver Cromwell, then Lord Protector of Great Britain, was authorized, with Capt. John Leverett (1639), afterwards Governor, to organize an expedition against New Netherlands, now New York. Cromwell furnished them with three ships and a small body of troops, and authorized them to increase their force by recruits in New England. When, after some delays, they arrived at Boston, the Dutch war was already over, and, before the Massachusetts contingents could be enlisted, news of the peace reached Boston. The commissioners then determined to make Acadia the object of their attack. "It was," says Hutchinson, "a time of peace between the two nations, but the English had good right to the country, and the complaints of the French in Europe could not prevail upon Cromwell to give it up again." The Lord Protector asserted that a sum of money, promised by France in consideration of the cession of Acadia, had never been paid. Gen. Sedgwick’s (1637) account of his collecting an expedition is so Cromwellian in its tone that it merits republication. It is dated, "From General Sedgwick (1637) at Charles Town, New England, this 24th September, 1654," and is as follows:-


"I know you cannot but be acquainted with our first business we were designed unto. God did not seem to smile upon us in that business, in many of his workings towards us. But so it fell out, even when we were ready to advance with our forces to the southward, we had countermands as touching that business; we, then, being in a posture of war, and soldiers here listed in pay, attended the other part of our commission against the French, and the fourth of July set sail for Nantusket with 3 ships, one Catch and about two hundred Land Soldiers of old England and New. Our first place designed for was St. John’s Fort, there we arrived the 15 Ditto, and in four days took it in, where we found a gallant fort, above seventy proper Soldiers, seventeen peeces of Ordnance, besides Murtherers, Stockefowlers and other Ammunition. Having send away the French and settled our Garrison, we set sail for Port Riall, and five days after our arrival there, took in that Fort, as also a ship of France, that lay under the Fort; In the Fort, we found Seamen, Soldiers and Planters, about 135 fighting men. Our force with which we landed, and lay intrenched against the Fort was but equal in number; there was in the Fort twenty peeces of Ordnance, above forty barrels of powder, with other necessaries. Our work being finished there, we set sail for Penobscout, and took that in, where we found a small Fort, yet very strong, and a very well composed peece with eight peece or Ordnance on Brass, three murtherers, about eighteen Barrels of powder, and eighteen men in garrison. I am willing to hope God intends a blessing in this affair to the English Nation, and to the Plantations in particular. It’s a brave Countrey full of fine Rivers, Airable Pastors, full of Timber, gallant Masts, full of Mines, Coal, Marble, Iron, Lead, and some say, Copper. Many convenient places for fishing, making of Oyl, and good quantities of trade for Beaver and Mous-skins."


Cromwell, who had once thought of emigrating to New England, often expressed a tender regard for the settlers there, and near the close of 1654 he undertook to carry out a plan whereby he might mitigate their trials and hardships by providing homes for them in a more congenial climate where there was a fertile soil. The expedition was repulsed on the island of Hispaniola, but seized the island of Jamaica on the 17th of May, 1655. The troops were soon reinforced by four regiments, one of which was commanded by Gen. Sedgwick (1637), who was immediately detailed to act in the place of Edward Winslow, deceased, as a commissioner to govern the conquered territory. In his first report, he said that he found things "in a said, deplorable and dejected condition," the soldiers being "so lazy and idle as it cannot enter into the heart of any Englishman that such blood should run in the veins of any born in England." As the original commissioners were all dead, Gen. Sedgwick (1637), in conjunction with the principal military officers, framed an instrument of civil government, constituting a Supreme Executive Council, with himself at its head. Cromwell approved of what he did, and promoted him to the rank of the major-general, using every exertion to procure emigrants from Scotland and Ireland for his colony. Gen. Sedgwick (1637) died on the 24th of May, 1656, soon after he received his new appointment. His widow was living in 1667 at Stepney, near London. Their daughter, Sarah, was the second wife of Gov. Leverett (1639). Gen. Sedgwick (1637) and wife, Joanna, had five children, of whom William joined the Artillery Company in 1666, and Robert in 1674. The Book of Possessions (City Document No. 39,. P. 2), represents him as owning nine separate pieces of property in Charlestown, containing about forty-eight acres. He was an active citizen, devoted to the interests of the town, superintended the building of the first fortifications in Charlestown, and was one of the most conspicuous persons of his time.

Robert married Joanna Blake in 1631 in England. (Joanna Blake was born in 1615 in Andover, Hampshire, England and died in 1667 in England.)