REED, , lames, soldier, born in Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in 1724; died in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, 13 February, 1807. He married in 1748 and settled in Brookfield, but subsequently removed to Lunenburg, Massachusetts He commanded a company in Col Joseph Blanchard's regiment in the campaign against the French and Indians under Sir William Johnson in 1755, was with General James Abercrombie at Ticonderoga in 1758, and served under General Jeffrey Amherst in 1759. In the early days of the Revolution his military experience, energy, and commanding address made him unusually successful in securing recruits for the patriot cause. In 1765 he had settled in the town of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, of which he was an original proprietor. In 1770 he was made lieutenant-colonel, and in May, 1775, was in command of the 2d New Hampshire regiment at Cambridge, and did good service at the battle of Bunker Hill, holding the rail-fence with John Stark, and protecting the retreat of the main body from the redoubt. Joining the army in Canada under General John Sullivan early in 1776, his regiment suffered severely from disease, and more than one third died during the campaign. Before arriving at Ticonderoga on the retreat, Colonel Reed was attacked by small-pox, and after a long illness rose from his bed incapacitated for further service. He had meanwhile been appointed brigadier-general on the recommendation of General Washington, and retained the commission in the hope that he might be able again to take the field, but he was compelled to return home, nearly blind and deaf', and accepted half-pay.--His son, SYVANUS, died in 1798, served throughout the war, was adjutant in General Sullivan's campaign of 1778, and afterward promoted colonel.