Biographical Sketches of the Generals of the Continental Army

Joseph Frye

Joseph Frye, born in Andover, Massachusetts, in April, 1711, was enterprising and intelligent, and at an early age represented his town in the General Court of the county. Entering the army, he was present at the siege of Louisburg and wrote the terms of the surrender. He was a colonel when Montcalm captured Fort William Henry in 1757. Being seized and stripped by an Indian, he was led away to torture; but overpowering and killing his captor, Frye fled into the woods, succeeded in eluding the savages, and after several days reached a place of safety. In June, 1775, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts appointed Colonel Frye a major-general, and the 10th of January, 1776, Congress gave him the rank of brigadier-general in the Continental army. His age and infirmities, however, compelled him to retire soon after from active service. Removing with his family to the frontier of Maine, he founded the town of Fryeburg, and died there in 1794.