York. In the early months of the Revolution, Reuben Champion (1727-1777) moved his family to West Springfield from Saybrook, Connecticut in the hopes of keeping them safe. He joined the army and served as a surgeon before dying of fever at Fort Ticonderoga. The cemeteries of West Springfield contain the remains of many of the brave men who died fighting for their country. The Park Street Burial Ground holds tombstones for Reuben Champion, Captain Allen Jones, Colonel David Leonard (1740-1777) who died of smallpox while serving near Lake George and Captain Levi Ely who was killed in military action on the Mohawk River in 1780. Simeon Brooks is buried in the Ashleyville cemetery and the Chicopee Street Burial Grounds is the final resting spot for these West Springfield veterans: Abel Chapin, Joseph Griswold, Doctor Amos Steele and Caleb Stacy. The population of West Springfield received an unexpected boost in the fall of 1777, shortly after the battle of Saratoga. A group of prisoners from that battle, mostly Hessian mercenaries, were being escorted back to Boston. On October 29th, the troops arrived in West Springfield and were encamped on the Common. Many of the men were invited the homes of the townspeople. General von Riedesel, the commander of the Hessians, wrote in his journal that the townspeople were kind but inquisitive. Almost a dozen Hessian soldiers deserted the army and would later become citizens of West Springfield. Among them were: Daniel Hartunk, Thomas Ewing, Apollos Miller, John Isensee, Thomas Pollack, Valentine Worthy, Hendrick Salter, Fredrick Stackman and Godfrey Vanganeer. After the American Revolutionary War, the newborn country struggled to stay united. In 1780, a Constitutional Convention was called. West Springfield sent two of her citizens to represent her. Abraham Burbank and Major Benjamin Ely made the trip to Philadelphia. The Second Constitutional Convention was held in 1787. Ely, recent...
