Gammon, Joseph

Other Events and Attributes:

• Military: Veteran of the American Revolution
• Tombstone Photo: Norway, Oxford Co., ME; Pikes Hill Cemetery

Notes:

From: "History of Gorham, Me", by Hugh Davis McLellan, 1903
Joseph, b. in Gorham in August, 1758, was a soldier of the Revolution, and a member of Capt. McLellan's company in the expedition against Bagaduce. After the defeat, he and John Lombard made their way to Gorham through the wilderness; they were without arms, and suffered great hardships, but finally, after a long time reached home in safety. Mr. Gammon and Mr. Lombard went together from Gorham to Otisfield, and afterwards to Norway, where they settled on adjoining farms, and there spent the remainder of their days. Mr. Gammon m. in Otisfield, Drusilla Reed, who was b. in Groton, Mass., in 1769. Ch: Charles, Harriet, Seba, Maria, Pomelia and Joseph. Mr. G. d. in Norway, in 1855, ag. 97.

From: Charles F. Whitman, "A history of Norway, Maine: from the earliest settlement to the close of the year 1922" (Norway, Me.: unknown, 1924). Pages 82-83
Joseph Gammon left an account of his and John Lombard's tramp home to Gorham through the woods, on the disastrous failure of the expedition against Castine (Bagaduce) in 1779. Seven others from Gorham and Gray, who were afterwards early settlers in Norway, were also in that expedition, but nothing relating to how these seven reached their homes has come down to us. On the breaking up of the expedition through the cowardice and incompetence of Commodore Saltonstall of Connecticut, and the destruction of the American fleet by the marines to prevent the vessels from falling into the hands of the enemy, the soldiers with the exception of four companies which were collected by General Peleg Wadsworth, and marched to Camden, were told by their officers to separate into small squads and make their way to their homes as best they could with Indians as guides. Gammon and Lombard chose to go by themselves. With others they had jumped from the transport they were on, the day before they began their long tramp, into the Penobscot, from fear of being captured by the British, and swam ashore without their guns or any rations. To travel from an hundred to an hundred and fifty miles, through a trackless forest, subsisting on berries and roots, with an occasional meal of raw flesh from small animals and birds, which they were fortunate enough to kill; wading and swimming streams, plunging through swamps and miry places, in summer was a very serious undertaking even for old hunters, skilled in woodcraft. After a tramp of about three weeks they reached their homes in Gorham. Their clothes were in tatters; their feet nearly naked and covered with blisters; their flesh lacerated and bruised; but with a joy in their hearts that is indescribable

Joseph married Patrick, Polly on 01 Mar 1795. Polly was born about 1775; died between 1801 and 1869. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Joseph married Reed, DrusillaNorway, Oxford Co., ME. Drusilla was born in 1769; died in 1835 in Buckfield, Oxford Co., ME; was buried in Norway, Oxford Co., ME. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Harriet married Lord, C. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
Norway Pine Grove Cemetery