William HUNTER

                   The History of Vermont: The Churchill Family, p. 601
DAR Patriots' Index
Green Mt. Boys, File #19827, Vol. 11
Hunter in History of the Town of Windsor, Vermont, by Lewis Cass Aldrich &
       Frank R. Holmes 1891

       William Hunter lived in or near Fort Edward, NY from the age of nine until age twenty-one when he went to Windsor, Vermont and married.  He enlisted as a sergeant in Capt. Grant's regiment in 1775 and became the orderly of the company.  He took part in the brilliant operations which resulted in the capture of St. John's and Montreal and his good conduct received a commission as first Lieutenant.    He returned to Windsor and recruited more troops which he mustered and marched with them on snow shoes to Skenesborough, now Whitehall, and reached the army destined to Quebec and finally encamped on the plains of Abraham.
       In the disastrous retreat of the ensuing spring, his regiment was the last on the field and kept the rear.  It was on this retreat that Lieut. Hunter, discovering a sick Cornish soldier who had laid down to die, inspired with hope the despairing man's heart, lifting him on his back and carrying him three miles to the bateaux, thus saving his life.
       During the remainer of the war the militia from Windsor were prepetually on the alert and were frequently called into service.  Under Capt. Benjamin Wit and Major Joab Hoisington they were of the troops who kept back the English and Indians from the northern towns and when Royalton was attacked and burned, marched in such numbers as to repel and punish the invasion.  Most of the women left unprotected, they fled with their children to Cornish until the return of the men.
       Declining a captaincy in the Continental service, William Hunter became lieutenant of the Windsor company under Capt. Samuel Stow Savage and suceeded him as captain in the year 1789.

       Five of the children of William and Mary died in infancy or childhood.