One of the heroes of the American Revolution was John Boyd of Northumberland County. Born in Chester County, he came to Northumberland County. Frederic Godcharles details his service in the book, Daily Stories of Pennsylvania. John Boyd had two brothers who also served in the war. William died at the Battle of Brandywine, while Thomas met a horrific death after being captured by Indians and Tories in southern New York.

Here is the Godcharles account of those three Revolutionary War heroes from Northumberland County.    

“The Boyd family gained a foothold in America when John Boyd, the emigrant from the North of Ireland, landed on these shores in 1744 and settled in Chester County. He married Sarah De Vane, and they moved to Northumberland County, where they continued to reside until their decease. They were the parents of three patriotic sons: John, born February 22, 1750; Thomas, born in 1752,and William, born in 1755.

“William Boyd was a lieutenant in the Twelfth Regiment of the Continental Line, under Colonel William Cooke. He fell at the Battle of Brandywine. Thomas Boyd was a lieutenant in General John Sullivan's command when he made his successful campaign against the Six Nations in northern Pennsylvania and southern New York in 1779. Lieutenant Boyd was in charge of a scouting detail on the march when he was captured by the Indians and Tories under the command of Colonel John Butler, near Little Beard's Town, in the Genesee.

“Boyd was surrounded by a strong detachment of the enemy, who killed fourteen of his men. He and a soldier were captured, and only eight escaped. When General Sullivan learned of Boyd's fate, the advance was quickened in the hope they could reach him, but on arriving at Genesee Castle his remains and those of the other prisoners were found, surrounded by all the horrid evidences of savage barbarity. The torture fires were yet burning. Flaming pine knots had been thrust into their flesh, their fingernails pulled out, their tongues cut off, and their heads severed from their bodies.

“John, the eldest brother, was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Continental Army in May, 1777, which rank he held until February, 1781, when he received a captain's commission from the State of Pennsylvania, which had resolved to raise and equip three companies of Rangers for the defense of the western frontier, then sorely distressed by the hostile incursions of the savages. It was to the command of one of these companies that Captain John Boyd was promoted.

“In June 1781, while marching his men across the Allegheny Mountains, he fell into an ambuscade of Indians near the headwaters of the Raystown branch of the Juniata River, in Bedford County, and was made a prisoner with a number of his soldiers, and led captive through the wilderness to Canada.

“Captain Boyd was confined during his imprisonment in Canada on an island in the St. Lawrence, near Montreal. In the spring of 1782, an exchange of prisoners took place, and he was returned to Philadelphia with a number of his fellow soldiers. Previous to his capture, he had been engaged in the Battles of White Plains, Germantown, Brandywine and Stony Point. He was one of the fifty who composed the "forlorn hope," led by Mad Anthony Wayne at Stony Point, who met within the fort. He was at West Point and witnessed the execution of the unfortunate Major Andre.

“At the time of the ambuscade Captain Boyd was wounded during the skirmish, but after his capture and in spite of his wounds, he made a desperate effort to escape by running but was pursued and received three terrible gashes in his head with a tomahawk when he was recaptured.

“The Indians immediately struck across the country, reaching the West Branch of the Susquehanna near the mouth of the Sinnemahoning Creek. They also had another prisoner named Ross, who was wounded even more severely than Boyd, and could travel no farther. He was fastened to a stake, with his arms tied behind his back; his body was cut with sharp points and pitch-pine splinters stuck into the incisions; the fire was lighted and the savages danced around him in fiendish glee.

“His tortures were terrible before death relieved him. During this tragic scene Captain Boyd, faint from the loss of blood, was tied to a small oak sapling, in such a position that he could not refrain from being a silent spectator of the horrible scene; realizing that he was soon to suffer the same tortures. He summoned up all his courage and resigned himself to his fate.

“Certainly, his thoughts must have reminded him of the sufferings of his heroic brother only two years before, almost in the same manner. While the incarnate fiends were making preparations to torture him to death by inches, he sang a pretty Masonic song, with a plaintive air which attracted their attention, and they listened to it closely until it was finished. At this critical moment an old squaw came up and claimed him for her son. The Indians did not interfere, and she immediately dressed his wounds and attended to his comfort, carefully guarding him during their journey to Canada.

“This old squaw accompanied Captain Boyd to Quebec, where he was placed in a hospital and attended by an English surgeon. When he recovered, he was turned out on the street without a penny or a friend. He found a Masonic Inn and made himself known to the proprietor, who cared for him until he was exchanged.

“The old squaw who befriended him belonged to the Oneida tribe. Captain Boyd remembered her kindly as one of his best friends and frequently sent her presents of money and trinkets. On one occasion he made a journey north to visit her in her aboriginal home and personally thank her for saving his life.

“Captain Boyd, in partnership with Colonel William Wilson, operated a mill on Chillisquaque Creek, Northumberland County, for many years. He was one of the surviving officers who enjoyed the provisions of the act of Congress, May 1828.

“He was a delegate to the convention which ratified the Federal Constitution December 12, 1787. He was an elector of President and Vice President in 1792, when he voted for Washington and Adams. President Washington, Inspector of Internal Revenue, appointed him for Pennsylvania. He also served as Register and Recorder of Northumberland County.

Captain Boyd married May 13, 1794, Rebecca, daughter of Colonel John Bull, a famous Revolutionary officer. They were the parents of five daughters and two sons. He died February 23, 1832.”

During his years as Register and Recorder in Northumberland County from 1805 to 09, Boyd lived in a stone house at the southeast corner of Front and Arch Streets in Northumberland.

John Boyd, his wife Rebecca, his mother Sarah and two children are buried in the Riverview Cemetery in Northumberland. A photo of his tombstone and that of his mother, accompanies this story.