Closeup Militia Muster 04-20-17

Darien Historical Society Gets Gift of Revolutionary War Era List of Militia Members

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Although historian Ken Reiss had knowledge of its existence, and had hoped for years for its re-emergence, he was unexpectedly and happily surprised when Dave Burt expressed his plans to donate a significant piece of history to the Darien Historical Society, a Middlesex militia muster roll from April of 1767. Although the document had been in Burt’s family for decades, he deemed it an appropriate time to give it back to the town; Its 250th anniversary was approaching.  

Burt, along with family members, mother Carolyn “Rusty” Burt, brother Jeffrey Burt, nieces Hattie, Chloe and Sophie Burt, and uncle Bill Ruscoe, were in attendance at an informal ceremony where the muster roll was donated to the Society. The occasion was marked with a champagne toast and refreshments, and a reading by Rusty Burt, touching on the family’s connection with the document. Established as a way to account for members in a military unit, the muster lists the names of soldiers assigned to the Fourth Company of the Ninth Regiment, which was made up of the militias from Norwalk, Stamford, Greenwich and Ridgefield.