Redware Mug

Revolutionary War soldier Joshua Warren, who was born in Biddeford, present-day Maine, in 1758, owned this redware mug. Soldiers commonly carried mugs like this one in their knapsack and generally used it every day while on campaign. Warren enlisted in the 1st Massachusetts Regiment in 1775 and marched to Cambridge during the Siege of Boston. The following year the regiment participated in the failed invasion of Cananda and then marched south to Pennsylvania to fight in the Trenton and Princeton Campaign. Although Warren’s enlistment ended in January 1777, he re-enlisted for three months in August 1777 in Joseph Storer’s 3rd York County Militia Regiment, which supplied reinforcements to the Continental Army during the Saratoga Campaign. After his regiment disbanded following the surrender of Burgoyne’s Army, Warren enlisted once more in another York militia regiment in 1779. Both Warren and his mug survived the war. Warren died in Hollis, Maine, in 1849. The mug became a family heirloom that was passed down through several generations, until it was donated to the museum by Warren’s great-great-great-granddaughter in 2017.

Object Details

• Mug
  Probably Massachusetts
  1770-1775
  Earthenware
  Museum of the American Revolution, gift of Sue Davis, 2017.19.01