CAPTAIN JOEL PRATT

Inscription

CAPTAIN JOEL PRATT
IN 1775, RAISED SPENCERTOWN
COMPANY OF 49 MEN TO MARCH TO
TICONDEROGA DURING REV. WAR.
RESIDED HERE UNTIL CA. 1802
THEN MOVED TO STEUBEN COUNTY.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2022

Soon after the battles of Lexington and Concord at the start of the American Revolutionary War, Captain Joel Pratt (1745-1821) raised a company of 49 men from Spencertown in May 1775. At first intending to march toward Boston, Captain Pratt agreed to a request from the Albany Committee of Correspondence to instead march to Ticonderoga. On June 7, 1775 they were directed to stop at Fort George and “proceed no farther than the South End of Lake George.” By October, Captain Pratt and his company were at Fort George and had been absorbed into the 2nd New York Regiment. After his service, Captain Pratt was listed in the Association of Exempts at Claverack, documented in volume three of the published papers of George Clinton, the first governor of New York.

Captain Pratt resided in Spencertown, New York until circa 1802 when he moved to Steuben County. As one of the first settlers in the area, he is believed to be the eponym of Prattsburgh, a town in Steuben County. According to the 1853 History of the Settlement of Steuben County, N.Y. by Guy H. McMaster, Captain Pratt was “the pioneer of Prattsburgh” and “while there were actual residents within the boundaries of that town before Captain Pratt … its settlement and sale were conducted by him.” McMaster claims that Captain Pratt “gained an influence and enjoyed a public confidence at home, which entitle him to be styled the Founder of Prattsburgh.” Captain Pratt died in 1821 and is buried in Pioneer Cemetery, in Prattsburgh, a cemetery established in 1806 on lands owned by Captain Pratt. In 2016, a historic roadside marker was erected at Pioneer Cemetery.