The following information is from the Strong family papers at the Cincinnati Historical Society and Heitman's (1903) "Historical Register of the United States Army" and contributed to us by Mark Wagner.
STRONG, DAVID from Connecticut reportedly was one of the original Minutemen at the Battle of Lexington, the engagement which started the Revolutionary War. He was taken prisoner by the British at the Battle of the Cedars in Canada on May 19, 1776. He returned to the American Army and was promoted to Sergeant and Lieutenant in the Connecticut troops in 1777. He served in a number of engagements including Valley Forge in 1777 and 1778, being promoted to captain by the end of the Revolutionary War. Family records state that he was a relative of patriot Nathan Hale, who was hung by the British as a spy, as well as a personal friend of the Marquis de Lafayette. Strong remained in the army after the Revolutionary War, serving as a lieutenant-colonel under General Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers against the Indians in Ohio in 1795. In 1796 he was promoted to colonel and made commanding officer of the 2nd Infantry Regiment. In 1799 he was put in charge of establishing a very large U.S. Army Camp in the lower Ohio River Valley called Cantonment Wilkinson. He arrived with approximately 700 soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Regiment at present-day Grand Chain, Illinois, on January 1, 1801, and began establishing a camp of log huts similar to Valley Forge that eventually contained several hundred cabins. Strong died at the camp on August 20, 1801, after falling from his horse, possibly as the result of a stroke. He was buried in the post cemetery but his grave is now lost. The camp itself continued on until October, 1802, after which the Army abandoned it. SIU archaeologists relocated the site of Cantonment Wilkinson in 2003-2004 and conducted excavations at the site but were unable to find Colonel Strong's grave. The DAR erected a gravestone.
Extracted 19 Jun 2017 by Norma Hass from the Illinois Society Sons of the American Revolution website.
| Union | Johnson | |
| Alexander |
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Massac McCracken KY |
| Ballard KY |
