Family Newsletter

In Issue 10, I offer two stories: one covering a branch of the family, involving brothers Samuel and Elgate Hitch with first cousin George Hitch, that migrated north from the original settlement in Somerset Co., Maryland to settle in Bristol Co., Massachusetts in the 1760s near the great whaling village of New Bedford.

The second story involves the heroics of Private Frederick Hitch of the 2^nd battalion, 24^th Foot of the British Army in the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. He won the distinguished Victoria Cross for his gallantry in that campaign for his actions at the Battle of Rorke's Drift.

Both stories offer very interesting recounts of how the Hitch family has played a role in the making of American and world history. Please continue to write to me with your thoughts, suggestions or comments about the HFN and, continue to send me information and stories about your branches of the family. Thank you and happy reading,

Mike Hitch

The Massachusetts Line (of Hitches)

Samuel and Elgate were brothers and sons of Samuel Hitch (1703/09-1750) [of Adam] and Rachel Hardy (c.1710-1771/73). Samuel was obviously named for his father, where Elgate was named for his Uncle Elgate Hitch (1712/13-1772/73) who, in turn got the name from his maternal grandfather, William Elgate. George Hitch was a first cousin to Samuel and Elgate and son of John Hitch (c.1695-1762/63) of Adam.

We know that Samuel Hitch was in Massachusetts by July 13, 1764 when he registered an intent to marry Lydia Allen in Bristol County on that date. Similarly, George Hitch registered an intent to marry Hannah Weeks on January 21, 1765 in the same county. Elgate Hitch was younger and may have gone north at a later time as he registered with an intent to marry Elisabeth (Allen) Samson some eleven years later on January 4, 1776.

Ties to Maryland from Massachusetts are established, among other ways, from the Somerset Co., Maryland Land Records ⁽¹⁾ where George Hitch "of the township of Dartmouth in the province of Massachusetts" sold 50 acres of land called "Chance" and 25 acres of "Last Choice" to his brother Joseph - land conveyed to him in his father's last will and testament written in 1762

and probated in Somerset County in 1763 ⁽²⁾.

Of the three, Samuel Hitch was the oldest born in 1740/41 ⁽³⁾. George was born next in 1745/46 ⁽⁴⁾, followed by Elgate probably born not long before his father's death in 1749/50 ⁽⁵⁾. Not much record is left of Elgate Hitch's lineage except for the fact that he lived into the 1830s and married Elizabeth (Allen) Samson - the Quaker daughter of Sylvanus Allen and widow of Irsacher Samson - in 1776. She was also the sister of his brother Samuel's wife.

Elgate probably did not leave Maryland until after the death of his mother Rachel in 1773 ⁽⁶⁾. Nonetheless, from census records, it appears that Elgate fathered a son (born 1784/1800 and died 1801/09) and daughter (whose name was probably Abigail ⁽⁷⁾) with Elizabeth (Allen) Hitch. According to Bristol County death records, Elizabeth (Allen-Samson) Hitch died on July 9, 1818. On December 30, 1820, Elgate Hitch married a second time to Elizabeth Doane.

Historical records have left us much more with regard to Samuel and George Hitch. Both served in the Revolutionary War for the American cause. Samuel served various stints under Captain Benjamin Dillingham, and Colonel Hathaway (as both Private and Corporal) for various "alarms". George served in "defense of the seacoast" as a Private under Captain George Claghorn and Corporal under Captain Thomas Crandon. [More on the Revolutionary War service of these men can be found in Issue 1 of the HFN.]

George Hitch married Hannah Weeks (1747-1812) in 1765 and had one son and five daughters as shown (again note footnote 7 regarding the names of the daughters - an asterisk below indicates an uncertain linkage per that note):

1. Eunice* Hitch; born c.1770 and married to Benjamin Drew on 10/10/1790. (NOTE - we now know that Eunice was indeed a daughter as indicated here)

2. George Hitch Jr.; 4/12/1773-8/16/1853; married (1) Nancy Tripp on 11/22/1795 and (2) Abigail Church on 12/14/1826.

3. Mary* Hitch; born c.1774 and married Richard Wood on 10/26/1794.

4. Susanna* Hitch; born 1774/84 and married Ebenezer Jenne on 11/4/1800.

5. Hannah Hitch; born c.1780 and married Thomas Maxfield on 8/16/1800.

6. Abby Hitch; born 1792/93 and married a Mr. Briggs.

Samuel Hitch married Lydia Allen (1745-1834) in 1764 and had children as shown:

1. Rachel* Hitch; born c.1770 and married to Russell Wood on 6/12/1791.

2. Hardy Elgate Hitch; 6/12/1775-8/30/1858; married (1) Martha (Patty) Mayhew on 12/14/1796 and (2) Betsy Delano on 12/11/1803.

3. Joshua Hitch; 9/16/1777-8/16/1838; married Mary Wilkey on 10/21/1802.

4. Lydia Hitch; born c. 1781 and married to Killey S. Eldredge on 7/18/1801.

5. Sylvanus Hitch; 1782-1831/39; married Sally (Polly) Wood on 1/4/1807.

6. Ebenezer Hitch; c.1784-6/5/1824; married Sarah White on 8/16/1821.

7. Betsy* Hitch; born 1784/90 and married to Selathiel Eldredge on 10/13/1805.

The three Massachusetts Hitch families settled in the village of Fairhaven, a virtual suburb of New Bedford. The community was composed of sea-going men, with New Bedford being the home of a booming whaling industry from the late 18^th through the mid-19th centuries. The Hitch clan enveloped itself within this community becoming both seaman directly and supporting the industry indirectly through sailmaking.

Samuel Hitch earned the title of "captain" as did many of his ancestors over the years. George Hitch's son, Capt. George Hitch was a "noted sea captain in his day" according to A Hitch Orchard (whose author Daisy Hitch Davies, by the way, descends from Samuel Hitch of MA). According to the Columbian Centinel, Samuel Hitch's son Capt. Ebenezer Hitch "of the brig Elbe died at sea, lost overboard, on passage from New York to Ireland, 14 days out." Samuel's great-grandson Charles Henry Hitch (born 3/31/1839) suffered a similar fate on August 16, 1861. His tombstone simply states he was "lost at sea."

I cannot help but to think of that great classic by Herman Melville, Moby Dick, and think what it must of been like aboard one of those old whaling boats under sail in the north Atlantic. It had to have been a very rough way to make a living! Back in 1990 (unfortunately, before I really got into Hitch genealogy), I took my family on a trip through New England. We stopped one rainy day in September at the whaling museum in New Bedford, quite by accident. One is really taken aback when looking at the crude tools and weapons (hand harpoons) and the seemingly insufficiently-built long boats used to go after the whales and their precious blubber to be refined into lamp oil. It is no wonder why many in this trade were "lost at sea" like our Hitch ancestors who lived there.

Many of the Hitch family are buried in the old Woodside Cemetery on Main and Morgan Streets in North Fairhaven. The family grew to quite a level of prominence in the area and the vicinity in which they lived was called "Hitch Grove". Today, even though the Hitch name seems to be absent in the area, there is still a surviving reminder that is "Hitch Street".

The Samuel Hitch line seemed to be the most proliferate of the three with many distinguished members over the ensuing years. Son Hardy Elgate Hitch was an accomplished sailmaker and passed that trade on to his progeny. He served in the Massachusetts Militia in the War of 1812 and his sailmaking trade proved advantageous to his children and grandchildren who converted the knowledge to tent making for the Union side in the Civil War.

Also through Hardy E. Hitch, the Hitch family crossed paths with the landed Delano family through his second wife Betsy Delano. This family has produced a number of notables through history including Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the U.S. President.

The sea-going background also served the Hitch family well in later years. Frederick Delano Hitch (10/1833-3/21/1911), son of Capt. George Hitch of George, went to China in 1860 where he stayed until 1884. While there, he managed a fleet of 14 steamships which plied the Yangtze River from Shanghai. This China connection has carried into the current day as Simon Herbert Hitch, a direct descendant of Samuel Hitch, has - since just after World War II - acted in various envoy-like roles with China with connections up to the highest levels in its government. [I have had the pleasure of corresponding and talking with this gentleman several times over the past couple years and will report more on his story in later issues.]

Henry Hiram Hitch (1807-1847), son of Capt. Joshua of Capt. Samuel Hitch, used his sea-going roots to travel to Pernambuco, Brazil. There, he was made Captain and established a partnership with his brother-in-law Henry Forster to set up a shipping trade between Brazil and the U.S. The business became quite successful and both men became very well-known in the industry.

As can be seen by the wide and varied accomplishments of the "Massachusetts Hitches", they were a quite renowned bunch. Future issues of this newsletter will shed more detailed light on some of the newer generations of this line.

Private Frederick Hitch VC

Hero of Rorke's Drift

It continues to amaze me with regard to the coincidences and general serendipity that I have encountered in my quest to tell the story of the Hitch family. That environment continues with this story.

My wife and I had the opportunity to visit Africa for one week in late February. I was sent there to complete a project that was contracted to my company for a bank in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). The trip turned out to be extremely interesting offering a glimpse into the deep culture of the Dark Continent - both from the standpoint of the native customs and the influence of European colonialization there from the 17^th through 20^th centuries (Cote d'Ivoire was a French colony until 1960).

Upon my return to the U.S., I began thinking about some documents I had received some time earlier about another Hitch who had spent some time in Africa predating my visit by 118 years. Digging back into my files, I found a letter dated February 24, 1995 from Miss Cecilia R. Hitch of Montrose, Iowa where she had sent me a copy of the service records ⁽⁸⁾ of Frederick Hitch, a Private in the 2^nd Battalion, 24^th Regiment (or 24^th Foot as it was known) of Her Majesty's Army for the years 1877 through 1879. "Her Majesty" at the time was none other than Queen Victoria of Great Britain.

The record of service for Private Hitch in the British Army may have otherwise seemed like just another ordinary example of the many Hitches who served their country in various capacities over the years. However, included within the records of Private Hitch was something extraordinary - the papers approving him as a recipient of the Victoria Cross ⁽⁹⁾!

The Victoria Cross (VC) is the British realm's highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy and has precedence over any other award or Commonwealth decoration. The VC was instituted in 1856, but was made retroactive to the autumn of 1854 to cover the period of the Crimean War. To date, there have only been 1,351 Victoria Crosses awarded to members of the Armed Forces of the British Commonwealth.

I simply had to know more about this fellow Frederick Hitch and how he came to be recognized in such a hallowed way! On his service records dated July 28, 1879, there is a handwritten notation that states, ". . . he has been awarded the Victoria Cross for gallant conduct in the defence of Rorke's drift on the occasion of the attack by the Zulus on 22 January 1879."

Now, being a student of American History, I was a little rusty on any facts pertaining to general world history, especially that of the British empire and her former colonies in Africa. I needed to do some catching up so that I could place our Private Hitch properly into the annals of history.

I searched through the Microsoft Encarta 97 encyclopedia and found a brief article on the Zulu War - nothing of the detail I was looking for. I then went onto the Internet and searched the World Wide Web for items like "Zulu", "Rorke's Drift" and "Victoria Cross." While I did find some very good background on the VC, the only thing coming out of my search into the Zulus was some tourism information for South Africa. This was not what I was looking for!

About to give up, I decided to try one more resource on the "information highway." You see, there is a whole separate sub-culture on the Internet that devotes itself to discussion of a multitude of esoteric topics. This segment covers topics from the enlightening and uplifting, cultural and historical, to the sublime and bizarre and is called the Usenet where each subject area is discussed under the veil of various "newsgroups". I decided to search for my answers here.

What I found was a few scholarly articles under two newsgroups, respectively entitled comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic and soc.history.war.misc. Now, for you folks in the readership ranks who are not particularly fond of or adept at using the modern-day computer, these designations probably seem like gobbledygook. Please do not lose interest however, for they're gobbledygook for us computer literates as well!

What they did do, however, was to give me a much needed lead from which to pursue my objective. This came in the form of a gentleman named Al Sumrall, to whom I corresponded with in England via electronic mail ⁽¹⁰⁾. He was able to point me to two very good references to update me not only on the history behind the fight at Rorke's Drift, but also a detail of the actions of our protagonist, Frederick Hitch. I review both in the following paragraphs.

ZULU WAR & RORKE'S DRIFT

"The battle of Rorke's Drift is not only the most famous engagement of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, but arguably one of the best known battles in the history of the British Army." So goes the first sentence in a book by Ian Knight called Rorke's Drift 1879 - Pinned Like Rats in a Hole (©1996, Reed International Books, London).

Rorke's Drift, until the time of the battle, was simply a shallow, or "drift", denoting a fording place along the Mzinyathi River which formed the border between Natal and Zululand in Africa. Ten miles to the east was Isandlwana in Zululand. The drift was named after Jim Rorke, an Irish hunter and trader who had bought a farm in the region in the 1840s. Rorke died in the 1870s and his widow sold the farm to a Swedish mission society who had installed Reverend Otto Witt as incumbent ⁽¹¹⁾.

Rorke's Drift was located on a key road acting as a gateway into Zululand and the British Army under Lord Chelmsford used this route as they set out to invade Zululand in January 1879. On their way to Isandlwana, the Army left one company of the 2^nd Battalion, 24^th Regiment of Foot to guard the mission post at Rorke's Drift. This was Company B, the unit to which Private Frederick Hitch was assigned.

The Army also left about 30 of its men that had become sick with many of the typical African maladies of the day including diarrhea and dysentery, and some men that had become injured with broken limbs or sprains. Reverend Witt's house was converted to a makeshift hospital for the occasion under the care of Surgeon Reynolds of the Army Medical Department.

On January 22, 1879, the British Army under Chelmsford - consisting of 1,500 to 1,700 troops - engaged in battle with approximately 20,000 Zulus commanded by Chiefs Tshingwayo and Mavumengwana at Isandlwana. The result was a sound thrashing of the British by the Zulus that resulted in 1,329 British killed, including 21 officers and 578 other ranks ⁽¹²⁾. 2,000 to 3,000 Zulu were killed. The engagement which was concluded in the early afternoon of January 22 amounted to no less than a general slaughter of the British forces.

Though there are varying accounts of the exact number, 3,000 to upwards of 5,000 of the remaining Zulu then set their bearings on the little encampment at Rorke's Drift where there were about 95 healthy soldiers of Company B commanded by Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers and the 30 sick or wounded soldiers in the hospital. At about 4:00pm, the Zulus attacked and continued wave after wave of assaults until about 4:00am on the morning of the 23^rd of January - a full twelve hours later!

Unlike at Isandlwana, the Battle of Rorke's Drift saw the British as victors. Casualties on the British side showed 15 killed and 12 seriously wounded with the Zulus suffering 500 killed and a comparable number seriously wounded. Because of their extreme bravery against overwhelming odds, eleven (11) members of the British guard at Rorke's Drift were awarded the Victoria Cross. Among these was our Private Hitch.

For Private Hitch's part, I again refer the reader to Rorke's Drift 1879 by Ian Knight. On page 60 of that reference, it is portraying The Fighting Around the Storehouse where it states in a single paragraph, "Private Hitch saw a Zulu about to stab (Lt.) Bromhead. He presented his rifle at him, knowing it to be unloaded, and the Zulu dropped back out of the way. A few minutes later Hitch himself was fully occupied fighting a man in front of him when he saw another nearby point his rifle at him. There was nothing he could do, and the bullet struck Hitch in the shoulder, knocking him down. The Zulu rushed up to finish him off, but Bromhead shot him with his revolver. Hitch's wound was a terrible one - his shoulder blade was shattered, and Surgeon Reynolds later extracted 39 pieces of bone from it - but Hitch must have been a tough man, for someone bound it up for him with the lining of a great-coat, and he thrust his arm through his waist-belt to support the dead weight. He swapped his rifle for Bromhead's revolver, and used it as long as he was able; then he handed out ammunition to his comrades until at last he passed out from loss of blood. He came to the next morning when the battle was over." No wonder Mr. Hitch was recommended for the Victoria Cross! 

Later in the book, a photograph of Private Hitch is presented with his arm still in a sling not long after the battle. This is reproduced in the Fibure below. Among other things, the caption in the book for the picture states, "His extraordinary courage earned him the VC."

MORE ABOUT PRIVATE HITCH

I picked up one other reference work that describes the Zulu War - Queen Victoria's Little Wars by Byron Farwell (©1972 and published by W.W. Norton, New York and London). In it, there is a very interesting one-paragraph description of Frederick Hitch and the aftermath of the war. It states, "Private Frederick Hitch, twenty-four, also won a Victoria Cross and survived his years of service to enjoy the wearing of it as a commissionaire. The bad luck of his regiment seemed to pursue Hitch and his medal, even to the grave. One day while Hitch was in his commissionaire's uniform and wearing his medals a thief snatched the Victoria cross from his chest. It was never seen again. King Edward VII eventually gave him another to replace it, but when Hitch died in 1913 this one, too, had disappeared. Fifteen years later it turned up in an auction room; his family bought it and it is now in the museum of his old regiment. Mounted on his tomb in Chiswick cemetery was a bronze replica of the Victoria Cross. In 1968 thieves stole that."

From his service records, we see that Frederick Hitch was age 20 years and 3 months when he enlisted service on March 7, 1877 with Sergeant Charles Thompson and assigned to the 24^th Foot. That places his birth in December 1856 indicated as in Edmonton Parish, London, County of Middlesex. His occupation was listed as a "bricklayer's laborer" and is described as about 5'-9" tall with fresh complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair. He was discharged on August 25, 1879. From an earlier reference, we see that he died in 1913 at age 56 and was buried at Chiswick cemetery.

To find out more about the fighting at Rorke's Drift, I invite the reader to get a copy of the book Rorke's Drift 1879 - Pinned Like Rats in a Hole. It is available at most of the larger bookstore chains in paperback for about $13.00 and is probably the best reference to familiarize one with this battle. Also, there is a fine movie dedicated to that campaign called Zulu. It was produced in 1963 and stars Michael Caine as Lt. Bromhead. In the movie, David Kernan plays Private Hitch. The movie, which is quite well produced and (I believe) was nominated for an Academy Award is available for rent at most of the larger film rental stores.

Do You Like This Newsletter?

Please send me your comments or suggestions to the following address:

Mike Hitch

12310 Backus Drive

Bowie, MD 20720

Telephone: (301) 805-9855

- Inscription on the walls of the National Archives