Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

---

Knowlton, Thomas 1740-

Military officer; born in West Boxford, Mass., Nov. 30, 1740; was a soldier of the French and Indian War, and assisted in the reduction of Havana in 1762. He was in the Ashford militia at Lexington, April 19, 1775, and was selected as one of the fatigue party to fortify Bunker Hill. In action there he fought bravely. A regiment of light infantry, which formed the van of the American army at New York, was commanded by him, and he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of a regiment of rangers selected from the Connecticut troops. He fell in the battle of Harlem Plains, Sept. 16, 1776, and his character was eulogized by Washington in general orders.