The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America: 2026

Friday, August 28, 2026

Wyeth Brothers at the Largest Battle of the Revolutionary War

“History does not move you more than when it’s in the iron of your own blood.” ~ J.R. Thompkins

250th Battle of Brooklyn Reenactment (Flatbush is through the trees)

Here is a reminder of the price of our freedom from 250 years ago.

The three oldest sons of my 6th great grandfather, Ebenezer Wyeth Jr. (1727-1799), served in Captain Eliphalet Newell’s company of Colonel Henry Knox’s artillery. After Ebenezer III, Jonas Jr. and Joshua Wyeth helped to defeat the British in the siege of Boston on 17 Mar 1776, the brothers were among 19,000 men in the Continental Army who marched south with commander-in-chief George Washington to defend the port city of New York.

Shortly after the joy of hearing the Declaration of Independence read on 4 Jul 1776, the three brothers fought on 27 Aug 1776 in the largest battle of the Revolutionary War. With the British fleet numbering over 400 ships, including 73 warships, and 32,000 troops camped on Staten Island, Washington split his army in half. Part of the army remained on Manhattan and the rest were dispatched to Long Island.

Ebenezer, Jonas and Joshua were among 1,000 soldiers defending the Flatbush Road in Brooklyn. Joshua was captured in a skirmish there a few days before the main battle. He apparently escaped as he went on to fight in later battles on Manhattan and in White Plains.

Christina Wyeth Baker Traveling the same route
on the East River Ferry as the Army did from Brooklyn to Manhattan

With the East River at his back, Washington used the only exit route available to him. He evacuated his entire army on small boats from the Brookland Ferry across the river to Manhattan. Under cover of darkness, rain and thick fog, the Continental Army appeared to the British to have vanished. With the artillery, Ebenezer, Jonas and Joshua were on one of the first boats. Washington was on the last boat.

During the Battle of Brooklyn, about 300 Americans were killed and over 1,000 captured. When the British starved and denied medical attention to the prisoners, more than half of them perished.

Following the defeat in Brooklyn, the 29 Aug 1776 escape allowed the Continental Army to fight in at least 10 more major battles before the British finally surrendered five years later after the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.

Until the end of the war, all three Wyeth brothers continued to take up arms against the tyrannical British government. Jonas joined the Continental Navy and was held for a time as a POW. His health weakened by exposure during his military service, Jonas died young. Ebenezer and Joshua were affected by ill health for the rest of their lives due to wounds, sickness and injuries suffered while they helped to give us the freedom we now enjoy.

Sources: “Abstract of pay for Captain Newell’s Company in Henry Knox’s regiment,” Gilder Lehrman Collection, Jan 1776; "Joshua Wyeth prisoner at Long-Island," Long Island Star (Brooklyn, NY), 28 Sep 1826, Newspapers.com citing page 3; U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, Ebenezer Wyeth III and Joshua Wyeth; Battle of Long Island, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Long_Island

THE WYETH AND WYTHE FAMILIES OF AMERICA

Written by Christina Wyeth Baker and published by Heritage Books of Berwyn Heights, MD, 2019, 8½x11, paperback, 558 pages, B5897, ISBN-10 0788458973 is $55.00 plus shipping and handling. To buy the book and have it inscribed by the author, please click here to email Christina Wyeth Baker. Additionally, the publisher, Heritage Books, sells the book on their website as well as through several well-known booksellers. For more information, please check out and like our Facebook site @WyethWythefamilies

About Jeff Wyeth

In 1977, while stationed with the U.S. Army in Germany, Jeff began writing letters of inquiry to family all over the U.S. One of the first responses came from Palm Beach architect Marion Sims Wyeth who designed the exterior of Mar-a-Lago. Marion sent Jeff his privately published booklet detailing the discovery of Nicholas Wyeth's birthplace in Saxtead. On page three of the booklet, Marion said he “is issuing this account at the present time in its very incomplete condition for fear that the notes might be … lost to some other member of the family who may be interested in carrying on this search.” Jeff took the word "search" literally. Finally after 33 years of searching, in 2010, Jeff convinced his sister to write a book based on his collections. Jeff and Christina are from the line of Nicholas' 3rd great grandson, Stephen Wyeth, who transplanted the Wyeth name from MA to OH. Stephen’s father Ebenezer Wyeth III, the oldest child of Ebenezer Wyeth Jr. and Mary Winship, grew up on the shores of Cambridge’s Fresh Pond. In 2020, Jeff and his wife Teresa celebrated 40 years of marriage. They are the proud parents and grandparents of one son and three grandchildren. Jeff serves as an evangelist for the Church of Christ in Grayling, MI.

ABOUT JAMIE WYETH

Celebrated artist, James Browning “Jamie” Wyeth really needs no introduction. Undoubtedly, Jamie is now the most famous Wyeth-named descendant of Nicholas Wyeth. For over six decades, Jamie has painted portraits of pigs, presidents and ballet dancers with equal skill. Walking in the legendary footsteps of his father, Andrew, and grandfather, Newell Convers "N. C.", Jamie has distinguished himself in his own right as a contemporary realist painter. Like his father and grandfather, Jamie’s creativity thrives in the unique environments of the Brandywine region of Pennsylvania and Delaware as well as the mid-coast of Maine. Jamie descends from Nicholas Wyeth’s great grandson, Noah Wyeth. Interestingly, when her mother died, Jamie’s third great grandmother, Lydia Convers Francis, age nine, went to live with Christina and Jeff’s ancestors, Ebenezer Wyeth Jr. and Mary Winship, on the shores of Cambridge’s Fresh Pond. At age 25, Lydia married the nephew of her benefactors, Captain Job Wyeth.

Library Holdings for Christina Wyeth Baker's Book

The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America is owned by The Library of Congress, Washington, DC; the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA; the Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN; the Saint Louis County Library, St. Louis, MO; the Mid-Continent Public Library, Independence, MO; the Wichita Public Library, Wichita, KS; the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington, DC; the Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge, MA; the Framingham Public Library, Framingham, MA; and the Licking County Genealogical Society at the Licking County Library, Newark, OH.