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NATHANIEL NORTON was born
in the Town of Brook-haven, near Coram, in 1742. Not much
is known of his early life except that he worked the land
on his father Nathaniel's farm. He apparently was a
restless sort for he enlisted as a private in the
Provincial Army at the age of 14 in 1756. He served
throughout the French and Indian War in the forces under
Major General Bradstreet and participated in the
Ticonderoga and Crown Point campaigns in 1759.
In 1760, he was mustered out at Fort
Oswego and returned to Coram. He married and settled down
on the farm and by 1776 had a substantial family of four
sons and two, daughters. His domestic life was
interrupted by the trouble with England. He quickly
signed the Association in June of 1775 and before the end
of the month had accepted a Congressional commission as
2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd New York Regiment (June 28,
1775). In the meantime, before he could assume his post,
he was elected a Lieutenant in the Suffolk County,
Militia (August 7, 1775).
After the disastrous Battle
of Long Island, he packed up his family and belongings
and fled to Connecticut where he made off to join his
Regiment. In November of 1776, he was commissioned a 1st
Lieutenant and transferred to the 4th New York Regiment
under command of Colonel Henry Beekman Livingston. He
participated in the Saratoga campaign but sickness
prevented his being on the battle field at Bemis Heights.
After the tortuous winter at Morristown, he was appointed
a Captain on April 23, 1778 and assumed command of a
detachment of artillery with which he distinguished
himself at the battle of Monmouth Courthouse. After a
long and weary campaign against the Indians with Generals
Sullivan and Clinton in 1779, his Regiment was detached
to the Hudson Highlands.
The orderly books of the 4th
New York tell us that Captain Norton was considered an
able officer. He was appointed president of numerous
court martials and it is evident he was a stern
taskmaster. At Warwick in November of 1779, it was his
opinion as president of the court martial that a certain
soldier with an unclean musket should be sentenced to 15
lashes. Said sentence was carried out. Another time in
December of 1780 at Fort Schuyler, a Corporal John Howe
was courtmartialed for "calling Captain Norton a
Dam'd Rascall."
Near the beginning of 1780,
Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Weisenfels appointed Norton
to enlist men within the western frontiers of New York
State. On August 15th he wrote to Governor Clinton to say
he had enlisted some men but was handicapped by a lack of
funds. He added that he would like to go with his friend
and fellow officer, Major John Davis of East Hampton, to
Long Island for money to pay bounties to the newly
enlisted men. It was his idea that they visit certain
Whigs on the Island whom he considered "our staunch
friends who have a considerable quantity of hard
cash."
Governor Clinton agreed that
this was a fine plan but was unable to enter into such a
venture without the consent of the Legislature. Norton
then resorted to his friend Ezra L'Hommedieu to intercede
in his behalf for permission to accomplish this project.
On January 1, 1781, he retired his commission and awaited
his orders to go to Long Island. In the meantime, he had
become a widower, and met and married his second wife by
whom he had a son Samuel. He also became active in the
Baptist Church and frequently journeyed to Baiting Hollow
to lead religious meetings there. Through his efforts,
the Congregational Church of Baiting Hollow was
organized.
Finally on May 2, 1781,
L'Hommedieu was able to persuade Clinton to commission
Norton to cruise Long Island Sound in an armed boat with
the possibility in mind of bringing off some of the loyal
inhabitants and taking them to the interior of New York
State. He did this for a few months until the end of 1781
when he was secretly commissioned by Governor Clinton to
obtain the money on Long Island; and to conceal the
object at hand, he was placed in command of an armed
gunboat, the "Suffolk,"in which he cruised the
length and width of Long Island Sound. In the meantime,
his friend Major Davis was commissioned to purchase
supplies for the State and was captured with Captain John
Grinnel at Sag Harbor. Both were conveyed to the Provost
in New York where they were imprisoned. Davis died as a
result, so they say, of poisoned chocolates given to him.
At the close of the war,
Norton returned to Long Island. In July of 1783, he was
involved in a fight with Elisha Brown of North Hampton.
Brown was killed and Norton escaped. The next we hear of
him was that he was in Herkimer, New York, where he
became first an Elder and then a minister in the Baptist
Church. After joining the Society of the Cincinnati, he
went to Connecticut where he assumed another pastorate.
He retired this post in 1805 and went to live in New York
City with his third wife. He did some preaching there and
was influential in the Cincinnati.
He died at that city at the
age of 95 on October 7, 1837, being the oldest living
member of the Cincinnati Society. His funeral was
attended by almost all of his surviving fellow officers
and his body was conveyed to a plot near the Baptist
Church in Coram where it was interred on October 10th. He
had lived a life of adventure and action yet was a man of
taste and refinement. A brave man and a respected
clergyman, he ended his life far more modestly than he
had lived it.
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