Remembering the American Revolution in Iowa

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, or, more accurately, Breed’s Hill, the first major military engagement for the colonists, in Boston. Colonists revolting against unfair taxes and the forced quartering of soldiers in their homes of by order of Britain’s King George. This meant the colonists of New England (and all along the East Coast) were required to pay high taxes on tea and give up their houses for soldiers to live in them anytime the soldiers wished.

Having suffered enough from these impositions, residents, especially in New England, began forming militias, often known as Minutemen because they had to be ready in a minute as soon as they heard that British troops were advancing on their community.

In the summer of 1775, these militiamen were creating fortifications on the north side of Boston as British soldiers were assembling in mass to prepare for quelling any armed rebellion that might occur. Most British troops thought that if they simply lined up and marched forward, the colonists would run away and the uprising would be over.

More than 2,000 soldiers under General William Howe launched a march toward the colonists’ fortifications at Breed’s Hill. The leader of the colonial forces, William Prescott, impressed upon his men ”Don’t fire ‘til you see the whites of their eyes.“ When the British regiments got close enough, the Minutemen opened up a concerted and organized volley against them.

The British, stunned, in response, opened a round against the colonists. Each exchanged fire toward the other until the militiamen ran out of ammunition. Hand-to-hand combat with knives and bayonets spilled blood across the ramparts of the fort.

Finally, the colonists, who had half the number of soldiers as the British, fell back in retreat. While technically a Royal victory for the Crown of King George III, it was a moral victory for the Minutemen.

The British marched back to Boston Harbor and counted their losses. To their shock, 1,100 had fallen in the engagement at Breed’s Hill. The rebellion would not be as easy to put down as they had believed. The colonists had shown their resolve in ridding themselves of the king’s tyranny.

Equally as surprising as the rebellion was to British soldiers is the fact that Iowa, a state not founded until 1846, is the final resting place for nineteen soldiers of the American Revolutionary War. Most of these soldiers, having been born in the early 1760s, were in their seventies when they arrived in the state, usually accompanied by their adult sons and daughters, as the next generation sought a new life on the prairies of the West.

One of these patriots was Nathan Fellows. His father, Samuel, also served in the war. Nathaniel was born in 1758 at Dorchester, New Hampshire. At the age of 17, he joined the New Hampshire Line, which was incorporated with the Continental Line of the Army and assigned to guard the Northern border where the British had removed the French from the French fortresses that lined the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes.

The colonial forces, based at Fort Ticonderoga, in upper New York, were led by General Richard Montgomery and General Benedict Arnold. In the winter of 1775, they began a treacherous march through deep snow to take positions surrounding Quebec.

With less than 2,000 soldiers, the assault against the heavily fortified British failed and the colonists suffered severe losses. General Montgomery, himself, was killed in action during the battle. In retreat, they attempted to block supplies from reaching the British at Montreal, but were only partially successful.

While the whole Canadian campaign was not a tactical victory, it did, nonetheless, prevent the British from initiating an attack on Fort Ticonderoga in 1776, thus allowing the colonial forces to train and grow in greater strength. As such, through the efforts of Fellows, and his fellow patriots, the Northern border was later able to be secured and retained by the colonists at the boundary lines we know today.

Fellows returned to New Hampshire and married a local acquaintance, Mercy Flanders, in 1782. They had one son, Nathaniel, Jr, who was born in 1796. At the age of forty, he led his mother and father on a trek by wagon west across the Mississippi River to what was at the time the Territory of Iowa.

During that era, the land was legally still occupied by the Sauk and Fox Native American tribes, but they welcomed the Fellows family, helped them ford the Iowa River, and the Fellows ultimately farmed on 260 acres near Clear Creek close to what is today 10th and 12th Avenue in Coralville.

Unfortunately, Nathaniel Sr. did not have a chance to enjoy the new residency for long, as he died at age of eighty in 1838. The family then buried him in a shallow grave on their property, which came to be known as Evergreen Farm.

The real estate, with its rich, fertile, soil, was preserved as a sanctuary despite development around it, and in 1940, a military marker was added to identify the site. This was not sufficient to block expansion of Highway 6 in 1970, so the marker was dug up and relocated to Oak Hill Cemetery on the far north side of Coralville, where it stands today.

In honor of the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, and in remembrance of the later Battle of Quebec, this Independence Day, stop by Oak Hill, look for the modest white marble stone, and render an appreciative salute.

David V. Wendell is a Marion historian, author and special events coordinator specializing in American history.