Generations of Soldiers

I’ve posted this list before, but it never occurred to me that some of the men in our family might have fought on the “other side”. I recently found this account of Mr. Wiert Banta, a famous Tory!

Banta Men in the Revolutionary War

(from A Frisian Family by Theodore M. Banta, 1893)

Hendrick Banta (NY) First Lieutenant in the Twelfth Regiment New York State.

John Banta (NY) Sergeant in the Twelfth Regiment, New York State.

Hildebrant Banta (NY) Served under Captain Fonda in the New York Regiment.

Daniel Banta (Bergen,NJ) Wounded in the leg during the attack on Fort Lee and later received a pension of $80 per year.

Dirck Banta (NJ)

Hendrick Banta (NJ)

John Banta (Bergen, NJ)

Peter Banta (NJ) Served as a scout.

Samuel Banta (NJ)

Wiert Banta (NJ)*

Abraham Banta (NJ)Served in the militia under several different commanders.

John Banta (Essex, NJ) Soldier in Captain Herring’s Company, Second New Jersey Regiment.

Daniel (Essex, NJ)

Abraham Banta (PA) In Captain Hugh Campbell’s Company of the 2^nd Battalion of York County, Pa.

Cornelius Banta (PA)

John Banta (PA)

 

Wiert Banta*

 “Going down in American history as one of the most notorious and daring of the Tory marauders and spies was Wiert C. Banta. He was the great-grandson of the original Cornelius Epke (brother of my ancestor), and had been born in the Sluckup area of the valley, west of the Hackensack River (NJ), in 1743. At the age of 23 he had gone to New York to become a carpenter and there married Elizabeth Mildeburger. In 1774, in New York, he was involved in a disturbance with some violent patriots and as a result he had to leave the city hastily in order to avoid being tarred and feathered. He was put in jail at the beginning of the war as a “dangerous Tory”, but after 10 months in the Albany prison he escaped. He then joined with Colonel VanBuskirk, an officer for the British and a fellow Dutchman, against his former neighbors and family and acted as a guide for the enemy in their raids on the Dutch neighborhood. Wiert was later wounded when a musket ball penetrated his knee. He escaped to Nova Scotia with others, across Lake Ontario, in a small sailing vessel and there spent the rest of his days.” Banta Pioneers, Elsa M. Banta, 1983

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Mary Arteaga]

Interesting story. I have some of those, as well. But mine went south to LA then to MS. Lost the Civil War, too.