Cato Mead
Cato Mead | |
|---|---|
 Cato Mead cemetery marker to an unknown grave inMontrose Cemetery | |
| Born | 1762 or 1764 |
| Died | April 25, 1846 (aged 80–82) |
| Resting place | In or nearMontrose Cemetery,Montrose, Iowa |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | soldier, farmer, slave? |
| Known for | Being the only knownAfrican American,PatriotAmerican Revolutionary Warveteran buried west of theMississippi River |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service/ |  United States Army
Continental Army |
| Years of service | 1776 or 1777 –? |
| Rank | Private |
| Unit | Captain John McGregor's Company,4th Connecticut Regiment |
| Battles/wars | American Revolutionary War |
Cato Mead(c. 1761– 1846; also spelledMeed) is the only knownBlack Patriot(American Revolutionary Warveteran) buried west of theMississippi River.Mead is buried in or nearMontrose CemeteryinMontrose, Iowa.
According to historian Barbara MacLeish, who is researching a book on Cato Mead, he joined the4th Connecticut Regimentof theContinental Armycommanded by ColonelJohn DurkeeofNorwich, Connecticutin 1776 or 1777. Other sources reveal that Mead was born in 1762 and that he enlisted as a private on March 1, 1778, for a one-year enlistment serving in CaptainJohn McGregor's Company.[1]It is unclear if he was formerly enslaved. He served atValley Forgefrom December 1777 through June 1778, where he contractedsmallpox,spending two months in a Pennsylvania hospital.[2]Early military records show Mead received solder's pay of $10.04 for service his in the Continental Army in July 1783.[3]It is not known why he migrated to Iowa. While the exact grave location of Cato Mead is unknown, a marker stands at the Montrose Cemetery.
Sources
[edit]- Abigail Adams Chapter,Daughters of the American Revolution.Revolutionary War soldiers and patriots buried in Iowa.1978.
- Pierce's Register: Register of the Certificates Issued by John Pierce, Esquire, Paymaster General and Commissioner of Army Accounts for the United States, to Officers and Soldiers of the Continental Army Under Act of July 4, 1783, Issue 2 Volume 9, Issue 988 of Document, United States 63d Cong., 3d sess.,1915.
References
[edit]- ^'Abigail Adams Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.Revolutionary War soldiers and patriots buried in Iowa.1978, p. 81
- ^Des Moines Register,"ZOOM".Archived fromthe originalon 2008-07-25.Retrieved2008-06-20.
- ^Pierce's Register: Register of the Certificates Issued by John Pierce, Esquire, Paymaster General and Commissioner of Army Accounts for the United States, to Officers and Soldiers of the Continental Army Under Act of July 4, 1783, Issue 2 Volume 9, Issue 988 of Document, United States 63d Cong., 3d sess.Genealogical Publishing Company, 1915, p. 348