Odell, Jackson
John M. McDonald interview — 1847-09-16
Jackson Odell (1792-1849) was a son of John Odell, one of the Westchester Guides. He notes that he learned from Dr. Lyman Cook that Aaron Ward possessed a letter written by an officer named Hughes of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment that was written the day after the Battle of Pines Bridge. (The man to whom Odell is referring is likely Aaron Ward of Ossining, who represented Westchester County for four terms in the United States House of Representatives.) He also tells the story of John Shaw, an American soldier who successfully retrieved his saddle from Stephen Ward’s House in present-day Tuckahoe during a British attack on March 16, 1777.
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Transcription
- Hufeland Index Page 501 -
Sept. 16. Jackson Odell: “Dr. Cook informed me this summer that Aaron
- Hufeland Index Page 502 -
Ward had in his possession a letter written by a Lieut Hughes of Colonel Greene’s regt,. on the morning after the surprise and defeat at Davenport’s giving a full account of that disaster. This Hughes was paymaster of the regiment. John Shaw, was a Scotchman from somewhere in Salem, a mechanic of some kind, a good swordsman, and was a dragoon (a private) in, I believe Captn Samuel Delavan’s light horse. At the urprise of Ward’s house in March 1777, he went upstairs for his saddle and took it off safely although at every step the stirrups struck the stairs with a loud noise. He left a son who married the youngest sister of James McChain and lives now at Peekskill. John Shaw had the reputation of being a very brave soldier.