Revolutionary War Fowler

Revolutionary War Fowler (Identified)

Revolutionary War Fowler signed on the barrel Thomas Holbrook and dated 1774 on the wrist inlay. This musket came from the George Hiltz Family. It was sold to me by a surviving family member Paul Hiltz living in Hull, MA, who stated that his George Hiltz his great great……grandfather carried it during the Revolutionary War.

(See photograph of the fowler hanging Paul Hiltz’s home and then him with fowler boxed for shipping to me.)

This fowler is well used but complete. It was obviously made in haste for the Revolutionary War possibly by Thomas Holbrook but most likely re-stocked during the war using his fowler barrel. (Notice that there was never a front lock screw used in the stocking which show the haste of firearms production by American gunsmiths during the war.) The fowler is original and was converted to percussion during hits working life. Unique Revolutionary War fowler. Difficult to find Revolutionary War firearms still in families.  Nice piece

George Hiltz Bio

George Hiltz (based on information his descend Paul Hiltz) was a soldiers in the 4th Regiment of New York’s Tryon County, which was a huge county in upstate NY that extended north to the border with Canada.  Part of this unit fought at the disastrous Battle of Oriskany on August 6, 1777. It is possible that George Hiltz fought at the bloody Battle of Oriskany.  British/Indian ambush of colonialists.  4th Regiment of NY Militia, his unit, was there.

The 4th Regiment, sometimes called Bellinger’s Regiment, from an early commander’s name. Other significant soldiers in the unit were: Major John Eisenlord; Adjutant George Demuth; and Quarter Master Rudolph Steele.  I believe that Hiltz’s company commander was Captain HENRIG HERDER.

Here is the best link showing personnel in the unit: https://herkimer.nygenweb.net/militia/tryon4.html

Compiled Revolutionary War Military Service Records, 1775-1783 shows a George G. Hiltz in Bellinger’s Regiment in January 1781.

The Hiltz’s farm was destroyed in the war.  The raid on the frontier settlement of German Flatts occurred on September 17, 1778, at present day Herkimer, in central upstate New York on the Mohawk River. It was enacted by British partisan forces of Loyalists and four nations of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Confederation, mainly Mohawk and Seneca, under the overall command of Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea). This attack, that included the destruction of homes, crops, and the removal of livestock, resulted in very little loss of life; the residents and soldiers had been warned of the enemy’s approach and took refuge in Fort Herkimer, a stockaded mansion on the south banks of the Mohawk River, and the palisaded Fort Dayton, two miles further west north of the river.