John Goffe

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For the lawyer and judge, see John Goff.

John Goffe (born March 25, 1701 in Boston, Massachusetts; died October 20, 1786 in New Hampshire) was a Colonial American soldier.

As a young man, Goffe was a hunter and trapper in the woods of New Hampshire. He married Hannah Griggs of Roxbury, Massachusetts on October 16, 1722, with whom he had a family of eight daughters and one son.

[edit] Service in the Colonial Wars

On April 16, 1725, Goffe was with Captain John Lovewell on his third and final expedition against the Abenaki during Dummer's War. He was left with a small garrison at a fort built at Ossipee before the climactic fight and death of Capt. Lovewell on May 8th near the Abenaki village of Pequewket now Fryeburg, Maine.

In 1734, Goffe and his family moved to Derryfield, New Hampshire, now named Goffstown in his memory. During King George's War, Goffe was a captain of scouts (snowshoe men) and led a company protecting the frontier of New Hampshire from Indian attack. At the outbreak of the French and Indian War, Goffe rejoined the New Hampshire Militia and served in Joseph Blanchard's Regiment. He saw action at the battles of Lake George, Fort William Henry, Carillon, Ticonderoga and Montreal, during which time he rose to the rank of Colonel and became the commander of the New Hampshire Provincial Regiment. In 1759, the regiment helped to build the Crown Point Military Road from Fort at Number 4 to Fort Crown Point. After the war, Goffe became the commander the Ninth New Hampshire Militia Regiment.

[edit] American Revolution

Though too old at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War to take command of troops in the field – he was seventy-four – Goffe was an avid revolutionary, serving in the provincial legislature and becoming the first probate judge for Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. Before dying, he also witnessed the creation of the United States.

Goffe is buried at the old graveyard in Bedford, New Hampshire.