Henry Sherburne of Newport, Rhode Island began his military career at age 35 when appointed Major of the 3rd Rhode Island Regiment in May 1775. Serving with merit during the Siege of Boston, he became Major of the 15th Continental Regt. in January 1776 and commanded a detachment that fought with distinction near the Cedars on May 20th, before being overpowered and forced to surrender. Exchanged shortly thereafter, Sherburne rejoined his regiment on the retreat from Canada and had joined Washington's Main Army by fall 1776. Sherburne, "as brave a man as ever was made" as recalled by one of his men, "and a strict disciplinarian" would again signalize himself in action, leading the 15th in a successful bayonet charge against the Hessians at Trenton.