Paxton Riflemen
Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Under Capt. Matthew Smith and Lt. Michael Simpson, a company of riflemen from Paxton Township marched to Quebec, Canada, to serve with Montgomery in the attack on that city on December 31, 1775.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
When the Revolution called, a company of riflemen from Paxton Township answered. Under Captain Matthew Smith and Lieutenant Michael Simpson, they marched hundreds of miles north to join General Richard Montgomery's daring assault on Quebec on December 31, 1775. That midwinter attack — one of the war's first major campaigns — ended in bloody failure, but the sharpshooting frontiersmen of Pennsylvania had already earned a fearsome reputation.
Why it matters
The Paxton riflemen were part of the celebrated frontier marksmen whose long rifles and hard marching made the Continental cause a continental fight from its earliest months.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Matthew Smith
- · Michael Simpson
- · Richard Montgomery
Related events
- · Battle of Quebec (1775)
- · Invasion of Canada
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Revolutionary War Gun Factory
Hummelstown, PA · est. 2012
When British troops seized Philadelphia in 1777, Pennsylvania's revolutionary government fled westward and needed weapons for the fight. Near Hummelstown it set up its official state gun factory, working in secret from 1777 to 1779 to turn out muskets and rifles for the Continental Army. In an age when a single skilled gunsmith might finish only a few arms a month, the concentrated production here was a small but vital arsenal for a cause perpetually short of firepower.
Harrisburg Cemetery
Harrisburg, PA · est. 1990
Chartered by the Commonwealth and opened in 1845, the Harrisburg Cemetery is the oldest and largest burial ground in Pennsylvania's capital, spreading across 35 acres of carefully composed late-Victorian landscape. Its ornate statuary and its caretaker's house — designed by A.J. Downing, the era's foremost American landscape gardener — reflect the rural-cemetery movement's ideal of the graveyard as a serene, park-like place. More than 30,000 people rest here, among them Revolutionary War soldiers, Pennsylvania governors, and figures of local, state, and national note.
Simon Girty
Susquehanna Township, PA · est. 2001
Born near this spot, Simon Girty became one of the American frontier's most divisive figures. Captured by Native forces in 1756 as a boy, he spent years among the Senecas, mastering their language and ways, and later served the American army as an interpreter before deserting in 1778. Thereafter he led British and allied Native war parties against frontier settlements and remained hostile to the United States through the War of 1812, dying in exile in Canada.
Hanover Church
East Hanover Township, PA · est. 1947
Two miles north stood one of the region's pioneer Presbyterian congregations, founded in 1736 under its first pastor, Richard Sankey. Its graveyard became the resting place of the valley's earliest settlers alongside men who fought in the frontier wars and the Revolution that followed. A country churchyard like this is a layered record of the community that grew up around it.