Private Thomas Ferrit*

Thomas Ferrit was born in Natick in 1751. On April 19, 1775, as a resident of the 4th Parish of Dedham, Private Thomas Ferrit responded to the Lexington Alarm as a member of Captain Ebenezer Battle’s Company.

Private Thomas Ferrit was one of three Black and Indigenous soldiers known to have fought on April 19, 1775.  The others two are his father, Caesar and his brother John.  His mother Naomi Isaac is believed to have been an enslaved Indian from Cohasset, MA who was baptized on September 19, 1736. His father, Caesar Ferrit, was likely born enslaved on a Caribbean island in 1720. Later in his late Ferrit was recorded as having said that he had the "blood of four nations in his veins” from his African and Indigenous Caribbean grandmothers and his Dutch and French grandfathers. Caesar and Naomi Ferrit were free when they were married. Therefore, Thomas and his six siblings were born free.

Private Thomas Ferrit served with the colonial forces for two days. He married Lydia Fagins of Natick on May 8, 1777.  His name is memorialized on a tablet at the Indian Burial Ground on Pond Street in Natick.

Thomas Ferrit was born in Natick in 1751.  He was a veteran of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War.  On April 19, 1775, as a resident of the 4th Parish of Dedham, Private Thomas Ferrit responded to the Lexington Alarm as a member of Capt. Ebenezer Battle’s company.

Private Thomas Ferrit was one of three Afro-Indigenous soldiers known to have fought on April 19, 1775.  The other two Afro-Indigenous soldiers are his father Caesar and his brother John.  His mother Naomi Isaac was likely an enslaved Indian from Cohasset, MA who was baptized into the church on September 19, 1736. His father Caesar Ferrit was likely born enslaved on a Caribbean island in 1720 and had the "blood of four nations in his veins” from his African and Indigenous Caribbean grandmothers and his Dutch and French grandfathers. Caesar and Naomi Ferrit were free when they were married.  Therefore, Thomas and his six siblings were born free.

Private John Ferrit served honorably with the colonial forces for two days. He married Lydia Fagins of Natick on May 8, 1777.   His name is memorialized on a tablet at the Indian Burial Ground on Pond Street in Natick.

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.