Isaac, Jr. would find himself swept up by the struggle for independence spreading through the American colonies in the 1700's. He would answer the call to arms, fighting with his brothers and neighbors in an attempt to break free from the colonial control of the British Crown and establish a young, new nation. He would pay a high price.

As a young boy, he moved to Tolland, Connecticut, with his parents around the year 1745. He later moved to Woodstock, Connecticut, where he bought 30 acres below the Little Mill Pond. He met and married Lucy of Littleton there. After Lucy's death, he married Leah Paine of Woodstock. Isaac had two slaves named Cuff and Dinah. They later assumed his last name as their own.

Records indicate that Isaac remained in Woodstock, having purchased land there in 1771. Isaac marched on the Alarm of April 19, 1775, fighting in the Battle of Lexington. The battle was against a British column of troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Frances Smith, enroute from Boston to Concord to seize the gun powder of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. This incident, known as "the shot heard around the world", would sebsequently touch off the start of the American Revolutionary War. By the time the British troops finally reached Concord, they found little of the powder because news of their mission had been carried across the country by Paul Revere and his associates. Isaac's service was listed as three days. He later served as a soldier in the Continental Army as a member of Captain Williss' Company, attached to Col. Samuel Wyley's 2nd Continental Regiment in 1775.

Isaac fought in the Battle of Long Island under the command of General George Washington. It was the first major battle of the Revolutionary War and was fought against British troops led by General William Howe. The British forces outflanked the American forces and routed them. The revolutionary forces lost over 1000 men that day. Isaac was taken prisoner by the British during the battle and subsequently killed on August 27, 1776. He was mention in personal correspondence in letters between George Washington and Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut. In the novel "Ethan Allen", written by Charles Walter Brown, events that led to the death of Isaac are detailed. The text states: "The reader is next invited to a retrospective view of the doleful scene of inhumanity exercised towards the prisoners taken at Long Island on the 27th day of August, 1776. Many of these men were inhumanely and barbarously murdered after they had surrendered their arms, particularly a General Odel of Woodhul, belonging to the militia, who was hacked to piees with cutlasses while yet alive, by light horsemen and also a Captain Fellows of the Continental Army who was thrust thru with a bayonet of which wound he died instantly."

Provided by: Allan Green [email protected]