Private Joseph Paugenit*
Joseph Pocknet/Paugenit (unknown - 1777), of Indigenous heritage, was baptized in Natick on November 10, 1754. He enlisted on April 24, 1775 from Framingham in the Company of Captain Thomas Drury, in Colonel John Nixon’s Regiment.
Twelve days before the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, he, along with others in his Company, signed a petition to Gen. Artemus Ward ‘“stating that they had enlisted to serve in Col. Nixon’s regiment, but had been shifted to Col. [Thomas] Gardner’s regiment, and requesting that they might be permitted to continue in Col. Nixon’s regiment.’’ Evidently, their protest was favorably received. Two months later, in August 1775, Paugenit is listed as a member of Drury’s Company in Colonel Nixon’s Regiment.
Later that year, Paugenit was stationed at Winter Hill in Somerville, Massachusetts. In 1776, he was engaged in the New York Campaign in Captain Micajah Gleason’s Company, in Colonel Thomas Nixon’s 4th Regiment at North Castle (now Mt. Kisko, New York). In Gleason’s Company, Paugenit was likely involved in the Battles of Harlem Heights and White Plains. He was discharged in December 1776.
On February 12, 1777, Paugenit enlisted in the Continental Army in the Company of Captain John Holden, in the Regiment of Colonel Thomas Nixon again. This Regiment fought at the Battle of Saratoga. Joseph Paugenit is ‘reported deceased’ on November 15, 1777. Although the cause of his death is unknown, Revolutionary War soldiers were far more likley to die from disease than from bullets.
Deeper Analysis: Although his birth place is unknown, Paugenit was baptized in Natick on November 10, 1754. He was the son of Joseph and Zipporah Paugenit.
Kenepaugenit, often shortened to Paugenit or Pocknett, means “codfish” in the Wǒmpanaak dialect of southern New England Algonkian. Most of the Pocknett Revolutionary War veterans mustered in from Mashpee. Joseph Paugenit, and his kin Samuel, were exceptions. Both were likely baptized in Natick, though neither had a birth record in the town. It’s possible that the boys’ parents left Cape Cod at a time when smallpox began to ravage Native communities. Devastating outbreaks of smallpox in Barnstable and Yarmouth have been documented in the 1750s.
Note: More often than not, service, vital, and/or other historical records were created and kept by men of English and European backgrounds. They employed a wide range of descriptive terms, such as "mulatto," “negro," and "dark complexion." These terms cannot fully capture any soldier's identity, but they do offer clues. In some cases, the surname of a soldier of color connects him to a Natick family that is well documented. Often, these soldiers are Indigenous men. The biographies in this project make it possible to say more not only about a soldier's identity or background, but also about the life he led in Natick and beyond.