Naperville ceremony to honor Revolutionary War soldier

A veteran of the Revolutionary War, John Dudley, will be honored Saturday with the installation of a commemorative marker in Naperville Cemetery by the Sons of the American Revolution - Fox Valley Chapter.

Dudley, who was born in 1758 in Connecticut and died on Jan. 2, 1846, at his son's home in Lisle Township, is buried in the cemetery.

During the Revolutionary War he sailed across the Delaware River with Gen. George Washington and assisted in the capture of 900 Hessian soldiers in the subsequent surprise attack at the Battle of Trenton on Dec. 26, 1776.

The marker ceremony will be at 10 a.m. near the southwest corner of Washington Street and Hillside Road in Section 2 of the cemetery, Plot 506.

The plaque recounts Dudley's exploits during the war, including the following:

Dudley enlisted in the New Hampshire militia in 1776 at the age of 18 and served at Fort Ticonderoga in Col. Reed's Regiment. There Dudley and the rest of the American troops guarded against a British attack from Canada.

In December of that year, his brigade marched to Newtown, Pennsylvania, to join the main forces of Gen. George Washington's army. A short time later, on a bitterly cold Christmas night, Washington led Dudley and 2,400 other American troops in the legendary crossing of the Delaware River.

Dudley assisted in the capture of 900 Hessian soldiers in the subsequent surprise attack at the Battle of Trenton on Dec. 26. It was an American victory that did much to boost the fledgling nation's morale.

On Jan. 3, 1777, Dudley saw action in the Battle of Princeton, at which hundreds of British soldiers were captured.

In May he returned to Fort Ticonderoga with the militia and in September 1777 he fought at the Battle of Saratoga, where British Gen. Burgoyne surrendered.

A short time later the militia was discharged, and Dudley returned home to Newport, New Hampshire.

In 1782, Dudley married Lydia Stevens. They raised a family over the next 15 years, including a son named John born in 1795.

In 1816 the Dudleys moved to Ogden, Monroe County, New York, where Lydia died some years later. During the 1830s, he received a government pension for his Revolutionary War service.

It was around that time that John Dudley Jr. and his wife, Mary Barrows, moved to Lisle Township. John Sr. joined them there by the summer of 1840 because he was "aged and unable to support himself."

Dudley died at his son's home on Jan. 2, 1846, at age 87.