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A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier

Joseph Plumb Martin was born in November 21st of the year 1760 in Becket, Massachusetts. He was the son to Reverend Ebenezer Martin and Susannah Plumb. When he was seven years he was sent to live with his grandparents in Milford, Connecticut and because his family was well to do, Martin was privileged to receive a well-rounded education to which included reading and writing. Plumb Martin was a soldier in the Continental Army and as well a Connecticut Militia during the American Revolutionary War. During the war, Martin possessed the rank of private for most of the war. After the war, Martin considering that he was educated, was devoted to writing a memoir of his experiences as a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The narrative that punished his encounters was rediscovered in the 1950s and became one of the most valuable resources for the historians in the attempt to understand the conditions of a common soldier during the era. Besides understanding the conditions of war, the historians were as well enlightened about the battles that Martin participated.

When Martin was 15 year of age in the year 1775, he was eager to join the revolutionary war just like most of his age mates in the region following the Battles of Lexington and Concord. At first, his grandparents were opposed to the idea but later agreed after Martin’ threats to run away and join the naval ship as a privateer in case the grandparents didn’t allow him to leave. In June 1776, Martin joined the Connecticut Militia and was assigned duty in the New York region as he arrived just before the opening of the British Long Island Campaign. Martin’s first tour of duty ended in December of the same year 1776, and therefore he was forced to return home before the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. Plumb Martin later reenlisted in the Continental army in April 1777 and this time signed for the duration of the American Revolutionary War. Martin served with the 17th Continental Regiment under the command of General James Varnum.

Joseph Plumb Martin participated in various notable battles that included the Battle of White Plains, Battle of Brooklyn, and the siege on Fort Mifflin as well as the Battle of Monmouth. Plumb Martin was encamped at Valley Forge, he witnessed John Andre’s escort for his prosecution, and as well he was present during the climatic Siege of Yorktown. In 1778, Marin was assigned to the Light Infantry, and here he attained the rank of Corporal. In the summer of 1780 under the directives of Washington for the formation of Corps of Sappers and Miners, Martin got a recommendation by his superior officers to be a non-commissioned officer of the regiment. After being selected, Martin was promoted to the rank of a Sergeant. Unlike the duties in Yorktown, the corps were commissioned and made responsible for the digging of the entrenchments for the Continental army. During the battle, the corps were also a Vanguard for the regiment command by Alexander Hamilton and were therefore mandated with the duties of clearing the fields of sharpened logs that were known as abates would be able to capture Redoubt number ten.

Plumb Martin was discharged from his duties in June of the year 1783, just a few months before the Continental Army was disbanded in October. From there, Martin became a teacher and taught in the New York for a year eventually settling in Maine’s frontier becoming one of the founders of the town of Prospect that is near the modern-day Stockton Springs. He was known locally as being a farmer, a selectman and as well a Justice of the peace and town clerk, one of his last positions that he served for 25 years. He married Lucy Clewely 1794, who was born in 1776 and together had five children. Plumb Martin wrote many stories and poems, and one of the most famous is the narrative of his experiences during the revolutionary war in the 1830s.

When the Revolutionary war overwhelmed his country in the year 1776, Plumb Martin was just like any other sixteen-year-old kid and just like the other boys, and he was forced to join the Rebel Infantry. Unlike the other soldiers in the battle, Marin recorded his trials and tribulations after forty-seven years later in the memoir named A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier: Some of the Adventures, Dangers, and Suffering of Joseph Plumb Martin. In the true American style, the Narrative contradicts the standards of the time and rather than worshipping the Revolutionary Army for its moral perfection as well as flawless character, the Narrative provides an unflattering and realistic perception of the burdens and problems and through the book, Plumb Martin offers a staggering truthful image of the Revolutionary War.

Plumb Martin entered the Revolutionary war at a young age with the primary aim of protecting his country demonstrating his patriotism while at the same time wanted to experience the adventures in the war that was worth telling. Martin was devoted to fighting due to his patriotism and therefore engaged in the battle dutifully from 1776 to 1783. Together with his company, they participated in seven battles, and some of them include the Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Princeton and Fort Mifflin. Throughout the six years of service that Martin served as a Militia, he was lucky to escape serious wounds and capture and only got severely ill at a single occasion and this incidence exhibit the stunning physical impunity for the pre-medically competent times. Martin’s battles both minor and major were haunted by his ‘constant companion’ that is hunger that was punctuated by the almost unbearable cold during the night.

Throughout the Narrative, Plumb Martin disapproves the conception that war is combative as he describes arduous marches as well as tedious waiting far more than the battle itself, downplaying bloodshed while at the same time highlighting the daily struggles. The narrative being a historian report indicate that the revolutionary army was usually short on the supplies, but their deprivation is often minimized in the wake of the Battles such that of Princeton and New York battles. The author of the narrative brings to light the plight of the Revolutionary war soldiers through his story of the Continental Congress’ overlooking the troubles of the army during the winter of the year 1777. Where the Congress provided the military with a shockingly sparse thanksgiving dinner that constituted of a tablespoon of vinegar and a quarter cup of rice to the hungry soldiers indicating that the soldiers were starved as their welfare was not well catered. However, besides being malnourished, the revolutionary soldiers were not well furnished with clothes. According to the narrative, the horror stories of the 1777-78 Valley Forge winter report was only part of the deprivations that the revolutionary soldiers were subjected to and he narrates that men did not only march with their bloody bare feet but also went without socks, pants and even coats.

Apart from being honest regarding the nature of the war, Plumb Martin discloses the bare facts that concerned the soldiers fighting in the war. Ever since the end of the revolutionary war, the revolutionary officers and the footmen were lauded for their honesty, chivalry and near perfection, but unfortunately according to Plumb Martin, the stories exaggerate as it is proven by his description of the officers’ unfair treatment of their soldiers, disrespect from the citizens as well as their questionable treatment of both parties. The civilian distrust of the war soldiers were according to Martin was sadly founded as, although the American soldiers never abused the countryside as their enemies, they often scavenged or even stole from the available farms. According to Martin’s accounts, he himself admitted leading numerous of such raids to the farms to scavenge for food. As a result of their overbearing handling of their soldiers, the officers occasionally received harsh treatments from their subordinates. Plumb Martin narrates of several younger soldiers’ packing a musket with black powder and then setting it off near their elderly captain’s tent to make him terrified as a result of being mistreated.

Plumb Martin wrote the ‘Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier’ in a firsthand account, and therefore the reader is made to easily believe in Martins accounts as they are stimulated I the memoir. The reason is that when a narration is provided in the first account, it enables the reader’s trust the author as the author is considered as a credible source of truthful information as they provide information according to their experiences with the events. Therefore, with Plumb Martin detailing the problems to which the foot soldiers of the revolutionary war passed through that included neglect, starvation, disrespect, humiliation and harsh treatment. In overall, the Narrative is a realistic book that is recorded in unusual point of view and commonly readable details as the nineteenth-century authors were too lengthy in descriptions with an example of Adventures of Oliver Twist by Dicken. The book by Martin uses a straightforward language that is enough to make sense to a reader of the 21st century. The potential problem with the narrative is the repetition in storytelling as the reader is taken into circles of the problems such as freezing, starving marching and waiting, although they provide an accurate account of the events as they happened during the war.

Work Cited Leckie, Robert. George Washington’s War: the saga of the American Revolution. HarperCollins, 1992.

Martin, Joseph Plumb. A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier: Some Adventures, Dangers, and Sufferings of Joseph Plumb Martin. Penguin, 2010.

Washington, George, and Continental Army. The American Revolution: 1775-1783. Vol. II. Boston: Little, Brown, 2014.