Ebenezer Battelle (1754–1815) was an American Revolutionary War veteran, a bookseller in Boston, Massachusetts, and a settler of Marietta, Ohio, in the late 18th century.
Life in Dedham Battelle was born in 1754 in Dedham, Massachusetts, to Ebenezer Battle (d.1776) and Prudence Draper. He attended Harvard College (class of 1775); schoolmates included Fisher Ames and Benjamin Bourne. He was a member of the Sons of Liberty and the Free Brothers in Dedham.
He was also town clerk for a total of two years, having first been elected in 1778, and selectman for two terms, with his first election the same year.
He was one of three, along with Nathaniel Ames and Abijah Draper who erected the Pillar of Liberty in Dedham in 1766 to commemorate the repeal of the Stamp Act.
Military He "was a volunteer at the battle of Lexington. ... [In 1776, he] served nineteen days at Castle Island, Dec. 11 to Dec. 30, 1776; went on the expedition to Providence, R.I., May 8 to July 8, 1777; re-enlisted, and served from March 23 to April 5, 1778, and was commissioned captain of the Eighth Company in the Suffolk Regiment, July 2, 1778. He was promoted to be major, April 1, 1780, and became colonel of the Boston regiment in 1784." He joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts in 1786.
Bookseller After the war Battelle sold and published books from his shop in Boston on State Street (ca.1783-1785) and Marlboro Street (1785-ca.1787). In addition to books imported from London, he stocked American publications such as Isaiah Thomas' Almanack and Noah Webster's Grammatical Institutes.
Personal life
Battelle married Anna Durant; children included Ebenezer Battelle (b.1778) and Thomas Battelle (b.1781). Battelle and his family settled in Marietta, Ohio, around 1789.
On July 26, 1783, Henry Belcher of Boston wrote to Battelle asking to be paid $8 for a beaver skin hat that Belcher sold to Battelle but for which he had not yet received payment.
See also List of booksellers in Boston
References Roberts. History of the Military company of the Massachusetts, now called the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. 1637-1888, Volume 2. A. Mudge & son, printers, 1897.
Letter from Fisher Ames to Rufus Putman, 1791. Memoirs of Rufus Putnam and certain official papers and correspondence. Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1903. Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates of Harvard University, 1636-1915. Harvard University Press, 1915 WorldCat. Battelle, Ebenezer 1754-1818 Boston Evening Post, Sept. 13, 1783 Massachusetts Centinel, Feb. 2, 1785 Massachusetts Spy, April 12, 1787 Massachusetts Spy, Nov. 6, 1783 An oration, delivered at Marietta, April 7, 1789, in commemoration of the commencement of the settlement formed by the Ohio Company. By Solomon Drown, Esq. M.B. / Early American Imprints, Series 1, no. 21802
Works cited
Further reading
Battelle family. In: History of Ohio: the rise and progress of an American state, Volume 6. Century History Co., 1912.