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Cato Mead24 June 2010: It is with pride and joy that the Society of the Founders of Norwich, CT and the Leffingwell House Museum received from Maurice Barboza of the Liberty Fund DC libertyfunddc.org notice that another milestone has been passed in creating a monument on the Washington DC Mall honoring African Americans who served in the Revolutionary War. The Society of the Founders of Norwich and the Leffingwell House Museum have been active participants in the investigation of the life story of Cato Mead with the Hunold Heritage Center Museum of Montrose, IA and thank Senator Chuck Grassley and CT Senator Christopher Dodd for their interest and support of a national memorial to honor free and enslaved African Americans who served or provided civilian assistance during the American Revolution on the Mall in Washington DC. 
The Leffingwell House Museum in Norwich, CT, and the Hunold Heritage Center Museum of Montrose, Iowa, are working together to trace the life of Revolutionary War soldier, Cato Mead. The following is what we know and what we wonder. Cato Mead was born at Norwich in 1761/62 and died near Montrose, IA, 04/25/1846. To date, he is the only known black Revolutionary War soldier buried west of the Mississippi River. Documentation of his life begins only when he joined the military in 1777. Had he stood at the back door of the Durkee Tavern on Bean Hill and listened to the business men and farmers talk of freedom, taxes and lack of representation? Had he grown up listening to the telling and re-telling of how in 1765 Col. Durkee gathered and led a group of 500 men to capture the English Stamp Tax Collector in Connecticut and how they brought the man to Hartford and forced him to resign? Who was Cato? Was he born free? Was he indentured? Was he a slave? Had someone promised him freedom if he joined the revolution? Was there an apprenticeship in a career being discussed that he wasn’t interested in? Was he in the military to take a rich man’s place? Was it his choice? Who gave permission? What was his dream? He was only fifteen. In a pension court document we see that Cato could smoothly and clearly write his name but was he able to read? Could he do sums? Who taught him? Was he a good student? In March of 1777, Cato enlisted in the 4th Connecticut Regiment with 22-year-old Capt. John McGregier when he was recruiting a company in Norwich. This new company travelled to the battlefields of Philadelphia, Brandywine and Germantown before heading to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania where General Washington was gathering all the troops. The signs were clear the winter of 1777-78 was going to be long and cold. They built shelters out of everything they could find. A warm coat or a blanket was an item to be treasured as many did not have either. Some didn’t even have shoes to protect their feet from the deep snow of that winter or the mud when the ground thawed in the sun. Cato was one of the lucky ones. A clothing account dated only 1777 shows he was issued 1 coat, 1 vest, 1 Pr. Frocks, 1 hat, 1 napsack, 1 stockings, 1 shoes, 2 shirts, 1 overhalls, there was even a balance due the soldier, 12 Do, 30 90th [12.90] . Some men had breeches and blankets issued to them too. But Cato was not issued either of those. With the cold and the weather came sickness, not just runny noses but smallpox as well. The tiny pus blisters would itch and bleed when scratched and broken. The scars would last a lifetime. The camp was dirty, the soldiers suffering with hunger, thirst, fevers, chills and sores. During December and January, Cato, like many others, was too ill with smallpox to be on duty. A running feversore developed on his leg and would continue to plague him for the rest of his life. Cato was in better shape than some of the other soldiers as in February and March he was able to return to duty. But in April he was sent to the nearby Yellow Springs Hospital and remained there through May. It must have seemed like heaven to him: regular food, sulfur springs to help his leg heal, warmth, and people to help take care of him. In June Cato returned to his company, in time for the battle of Monmouth. Was he also at the battle of Yorktown in October 1781? Had he seen General Washington and French General Lafayette? A month later, November 11, 1781, Cato was discharged. How had his time in the service changed him? The next mention we have shows Cato to be on the New York frontier in Clinton, Oneida County. Cato had married and it was there that a fire destroyed all he had. He and his wife moved to Cuyohoga County in Ohio to the area we know as Cleveland but back then it was the towns of Brooklyn and Rockport. Cato must have been well respected because in 1818, as one of the early filers for a pension at Rockport, he began to receive his pension check from the government: $8.00 a month of guaranteed income. The couple settled by 1820 to farming in Coventry Township, Portage County, Ohio. Cato’s leg continued to give him trouble and the health of his wife became troublesome as well. A comment in a document lists the household as having two spinning wheels. Is it too great a leap to imagine that Cato and his wife turned to spinning wool from the large herds of sheep in the area? Spinning wouldn’t be dependent on the weather, didn’t have to be fed, and could be done in the day or in the night or by a bedside if need be. There was always a market for yarn so long as it was of good quality. Was it their spinning that earned Cato and his wife a place in the wagon train of a group of Mormons that left Ohio for Missouri? The Mormon preachers held regular church services in their area and Cato and his wife moved with the Mormons to New Portage in Medina County Ohio and from there to Missouri for 2 ½ years, then to Illinois for about a year and then they finally settled in Lee County, Iowa in 1839. Cato was 77 years old and his wife 10 years younger. At first Cato and his wife settled in the remote, hilly area of Sugar Creek, but later they moved into or near Montrose. His travel would have been easier from there to the County Court House where he had to go twice a year to collect his pension money. I wonder if the bustling riverfront town of Montrose reminded him of Norwich? I hope his memories were happy. Cato must have made good friends in Montrose. In 1845 he had to go to the court in Fort Madison to request a replacement for the pension certificate he had lost, two highly respected Montrose men, one a merchant and the other a Justice of the Peace, accompanied him and testified to his good character. 
On May 16, 1846, Iowa Argus and Lee County Commercial Advertiser, Keokuk, Iowa ran their obituary: To learn how you can help, please visit the Leffingwell House Museum any Saturday afternoon through October 2009. We are looking for people who have the time to search through church records, account books, or public documents to find verifiable facts of his life or other members of his family. Spellings vary for his surname: Meeds, Meed, Meads, Medes, Meades. Information credits: Barbara MacLeish, Mary Sue Chatfield, Linda Hayes, Maureen Mead and Michael Rowley. Photograph credit: Michael J. McMeins. Any questions or please contact Beryl Fishbone evenings at 860.887.9000 Program Volunteer Leffingwell House Museum, Norwich, CT |
