Timothy Lee’s Canteen

Lee was born in 1745 in Guilford, CT. He served as a private in the 7th Regiment Connecticut Militia from October 6 until December 6, 1777, while it was stationed at Peekskill, New York.
He was called back to the militia four years later, in 1781, leaving his wife Freelove Crampton home while he served for two weeks with his younger brother Levi, a sergeant, and under the command of his older brother, Samuel, Jr., a lieutenant, in the Sea Coast Guard in Guilford.

A typical soldier’s kit during the Revolutionary War included a musket, cartridge box, bayonet carriage and scabbard, a haversack for food, a pack or bedroll for spare clothing – and a canteen. Lee’s canteen was preserved by the family for more than a century; it was donated to the Henry Whitfield Museum in 1902 by Lee’s great-great-grandnephew.

Timothy Lee’s canteen is in the collection of the Henry Whitfield State Museum in Guilford.