NameEzekiel Henry Field
Birth1750, Culpeper, VA
Death19 Aug 1782, Blue Licks Spring, Nicholas, KY
FatherCol. John Field (~1735-1774)
MotherAnna R. Clark
Misc. Notes
Ezekiel was captured by a party of Shawnee Indians when he, his father, and a small party were exploring the Kanawha River country. Ezekiel had not been found when his father made out his will which refers to the fact of his son, Ezekiel, being missing, and the "certainty of his being dead or alive not known." His father left him much property in case he was found alive.
Ezekiel lived with the Indians for two years. Accompanying a trading party to Fort Duguesul, near Pittsburg, he was recognized and ransomed by Col. Bayard, the commanding officer, and returned to his father in Virginia. Ezekiel was a member of a company of scouts organized by General George Rogers Clark (of Lewis and Clark Expedition fame), to report raids of the Indians across the Ohio River.
Ezekiel and his brother, John Jr., married sisters, daughters of Henry Field, Jr. Ezekiel's wife was Elizabeth. In 1782, Ezekiel had attained the rank of Colonel. He went to the relief of Bryant's Station, following on to Blue Licks, where he was killed in that bloody engagement. Ezekiel is not mentioned in the will of his mother (Mary James Field. She made out her will in 1799 and Ezekiel had died in 1782.
Ezekiel was listed in the will of his father, Col. John Field, as "unhappily missing."
On 14 June 1775, in Williamsburg, Virginia, Ezekiel petitioned the House of Burgesses for relief of his debts:
"A Petition of Ezekiel Field was presented to the House and read, setting forth, that the Petitioner, the last Year accompanying his father the late Colonel John Field to the Kanhawa River, in order to make a settlement there was taken prisoner by the Shawanese Indians, who treated him cruelly; that his father who was slain in the late engagement with the Indians at the mouth of the said River, after he had given signal proofs of his bravery, having made his Will before that Expedition, supposing the Petitioner, who still remained in Captivity, to be dead, charged the Estate devised to him in case he should return with the payment of his debts, which were so confiderable as to be nearly equal to the value of it, so that the provision made for the Petitioner is a very scanty one, and he is reduced to necessitous Circumstances; and therefore praying relief.
"Ordered, that the said Petition be referred to the Consideration of the Committee of public Claims; and that they do examine the matter thereof, and report the same, with their Opinion thereupon to the House."
His death on 19 August 1782 at Blue Licks, Robertson County, Kentucky is documented by a Commonwealth of Kentucky state historical marker at the site.
"He was with the heroic band that marched to the relief of the Bryan's Station garrison that had been surrounded by Indians until food was almost exhausted. They routed the Indiana and persued them in thier flight to Blue Lick, where the Indiana made a stand, and a fierce engagement took place in which many of our boys were slaughtered. In that desperate engagement Ezekiel Field lost his life..."
"In August 1792, he volunteered, with his company, to go to the relief of Bryan' Station, and followed on the Blue Licks, where he was killed in that bloody battle by an arrow from over the palisades."
Spouses
1Elizabeth
Birthabt 1756, Culpeper, VA
Death1837, Richmond, Madison Co., KY
Marriage1778, Culpeper, VA
Last Modified 27 Feb 2019Created 7 May 2020 using Reunion for Macintosh