a pamphlet by Henry Dwight Sedgwick
reprinted from the publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts Vol III
Cambridge, John Wilson and Son, University Press, 1896

Major General Robert Sedgwick (1613 - 1656) arrived in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1635. He became immediately involved in the political, military and business life of the colony, and was a leader in each area.

He was selectman of Charlestown, the "Major-General of the Colony," and a successful businessman. He was part owner of the first iron works in the new world, and of the first brewery.

He was instrumental in the building of the defenses of Boston Harbor. He ws called upon by Cromwell to organize an expedition against the Dutch in New York, but when a peace accord was reached before the expedition could be launched, he took the force instead against the French in Acadia, and recaptured lands that they had taken several years earlier.

He was then sent by Cromwell to Jamaica as one of the leaders of an occupational force after the island was taken from the Spanish. He was made Governor of Jamaica, but died of disease shortly thereafter.

Henry Dwight Sedgwick, a descendant of Major-General Robert, tells the General's story as it was known in 1895.