American Revolutionary War General. John Thomas, a physician in colonial America, served in colonial wars from 1746 to 1760 and in the American Revolutionary War for Independence from February 1775 until his death. Between 1744 and 1748, he served as a surgeon in King George's War and participated in three military expeditions to Nova Scotia. Between 1754 and 1763, he was a colonel in the French and Indian War, returning to Nova Scotia in 1759. Starting in 1755, he saw active service as a Surgeon in William Shirley's regiment. In 1760 he was placed in charge of a regiment during the fall of Montreal. Both wars involved the British battling the French forces, mainly in Canada. After the wars, he served in the local militia as well as practicing medicine. Thomas was a Kingston Town Selectman from 1763 to 1775 and Town Clerk from 1764 to 1766. He was appointed a general by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in February of 1775. In June of 1775 he was made a brigadier general in the Continental Army by Continental Congress. Under General George Washington's command, Thomas's troops occupied Dorchester Heights on the night of March 4, 1776, which led to the British evacuation in the Siege of Boston two weeks later. The Massachusetts state assembly named him a brigadier general after this. After being named a major general in the Continental Army in March of 1776, he was assigned to his command in Quebec, taking charge of the Canadian invasion. Finding his troops outnumbered, General Thomas led a retreat but died during a smallpox epidemic on the Richelieu River near Fort Chambly in Quebec on June 2, 1776. The British abandoned any further battles in Canada by June 18, 1776. He and the other soldiers were buried in unmarked graves, but an oak marker was erected to their memory stood from 1776 until it fell in a storm in the late 1800s. The oak slab was preserved by the Fort's caretaker, and in 1925 a stone marker was erected in its place. If he had lived, he may have had a larger impact on American history. Serving as his aide at his death was Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Sedgwick. To become a physician, Thomas studied medicine with Dr. Simon Tufts in Medford before beginning his own practice at first Marshfield and later in Kingston. After the French and Indian War, he was married to Hannah Thomas, the daughter of Nathanial Thomas and his second wife Hannah Robinson, and the couple had two sons and a daughter. The relationship between his and his wife's Thomas family is not well-documented. He was buried on the grounds of Fort Chambly in Quebec, and in 1925, a huge bolder with metal marker was placed at the site by the Daughters of the American Revolution. He has a cenotaph with his wife's grave, which is located in the family's plot in Kingston. Thomaston, Maine, was named in his honor. His portrait, which was pastels on paper mounted on wood, was painted in about 1775 by Benjamin Blyth.