JULY 4, 2026, MARKS THE 250-YEAR ANNIVERSARY of our young nation’s founding as the “United States” with the Second Continental Congress’s adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The timing roughly coincides with my recent admission as now a proud member of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.

To commemorate the semiquincentennial, celebrated filmmaker Ken Burns brings life to the American Revolution on PBS with the six-part television series The American Revolution: An Intimate History.

On October 27^th, I met in Tallahassee with Suzanne Smith, executive producer of the local PBS station WFSU. Suzanne interviewed me as the camera rolled with probing questions about my family’s ties to this legendary period in American history. As well, she sought to understand how the Westcotts and other early European settlers in Florida were influenced by connection to these patriots who fought for the Thirteen Colonies’ right to self-governance. Suzanne plans to release her production in early 2026. Keep an eye on my website where I will post her link as "Happenings" at https://www.christinebemmanuel.com/events.

My personal connection to this critical juncture stems from my five-times great-grandfathers John Westcott and Dr. John Thomas Hampton and cousin Nathaniel Sackett. Laying aside any prejudices and party disputes to gain our independence, these war heroes were resolute in the cause of America's freedom from British rule—yielding something of “an intimate history” for me. My family’s history as relayed in The Westcott Story brings into focus our roots, what brought us all together, and what our principles are founded on as a nation.

Nathaniel Sackett found himself in New York City when its patriotic citizens were electrified by the startling news of the Battle of Lexington—the first military engagement of the American Revolutionary War that broke out on April 19, 1775. Returning in haste to his hometown of Fishkill, New York, Nathaniel gathered several prominent citizens in whose patriotism and judgment he relied. Forty men responded to his call for action. The Provisional Congress of New York appointed Nathaniel as a delegate to a committee formed to detect and defeat conspiracies against the liberties of America. The Congress vested in them unlimited powers including the raising and arming of troops at state expense and the arrest, examination, and imprisonment of anyone suspected of disloyalty. Gradually, the committee’s responsibilities were delegated to Nathaniel until the close of the war. Without title or hope of reward, Nathaniel in his capacity as a civilian served for his country’s sake as chief of General George Washington’s secret service corps. He then served one term in the New York Legislature before retiring from public life. Nathaniel’s heroic deeds feature prominently in the television series Turn: Washington’s Spies, which aired from 2014 to 2017.

Five generations and 140 years separated John Westcott’s engagement from his two-times great-grandfather Richard Westcott the immigrant who arrived on America’s shores from England in 1636. Richard followed theologian Thomas Hooker from Salem, Massachusetts, to establish a settlement in Weathersfield, Connecticut. His son Daniel Westcott eventually made a home in Stamford, Connecticut, before settling his family and four generations of Westcotts along the Cohansey River in New Jersey. Daniel’s 1696 move proved fortuitous in the sense of New Jersey’s central location among the thirteen British colonies when the war for independence broke out some 80 years later. Situated between the Loyalist haven of New York and the fledgling nation's capital at Philadelphia, New Jersey saw heavy fighting in the war with more battles fought there than in any other state.

My five-times great-grandfather John Westcott broke from our family’s deep ties to New Jersey when he opted to pursue opportunity for his merchant business in Philadelphia. He relocated with his wife Sarah Diament and young family immediately following the birth of their son James Diament Westcott in 1775. The move was short-lived, however, as John was called back to his former home in Bridgeton, New Jersey, to fulfill his patriotic duty. At age 34, he responded to the first call on New Jersey for Continental troops for the Revolutionary War. The October 1775 Resolution recruited men aged 16 to 50 to enlist for one year of service. They were given $5.00 per month plus one felt hat and a pair of stockings and shoes, and they were directed to bring their own arms.

The command consisted of two artillery companies. John Westcott’s orders allied him with the Western Company of Artillery, initially as first lieutenant. Six months later, he was promoted to captain-lieutenant before rising to “captain of artillery.” Both artillery batteries took part in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Assunpink, and Monmouth. As spymaster Nathaniel Sackett gathered intelligence on British activities during the war, Captain Westcott aligned with Seeley’s brigade of West Jersey artillery. Here he was joined by the surgeon Dr. John Thomas Hampton—nine years John’s junior—whose daughter Ame Harris Hampton would later marry John’s son James Diament Westcott. Both men were present for the surprise attack on an encampment of Hessians fighting for the British once General George Washington’s army crossed the Delaware from Pennsylvania, reaching Trenton on Christmas day in 1776. The Battle of Trenton became a watershed moment in the war’s trajectory.

In the boat with General Washington, Captain Westcott crossed the Delaware to mount the surprise attack against the British. It was a dark, cold night and the river was running with flowing ice as a heavy snowfall and sleet storm broke. The soldiers making the crossing suffered with few layers of clothing, many without shoes. After landing in New Jersey, on their march toward Trenton, some of the men left traces of blood on the snow. Yet, bolstered by Washington’s rallying cry “Victory or Death!,” the Continental Army persevered and prevailed victorious.

The American effort galvanized the colonies and reversed the psychological dominance the British had achieved the preceding year. A week later, Washington, Westcott, and the others returned to Trenton to lure British forces south, then executed a daring night march to capture Princeton on January 3, 1777. With newfound independence following the war, John and Sarah Diament Westcott returned to Philadelphia to raise their young family.

Two generations later, on an enormous canvas, German-born Emanuel Leutze painted Washington Crossing the Delaware in 1851 to commemorate the monumental Battle of Trenton victory and more broadly, the American struggle for liberty and democracy. It may have been Leutze or another artist in his time depicting the same scene who chose John’s grandson, George Clinton Westcott—son of James Diament Westcott—as a model to portray his “captain of artillery” grandfather carrying the American flag in the original or a rendition of the iconic painting.

Observing the framework of the U.S. Constitution that was ratified in 1788, descendants of John Westcott and Dr. John Thomas Hampton across three generations—two in Florida—exerted influence as public servants in the post-war three-branch democratic republic through the Civil War and Reconstruction era.

James Diament Westcott became the bridge connecting his patriot father and father-in-law to the Westcotts who settled in Florida beginning in 1830. My four-times great-grandparents James and Ame Harris Hampton Westcott raised 15 children in Cumberland County, New Jersey, where James experimented in the newspaper publication business before locking in on politics. A staunch Jeffersonian, he engaged in the heated rivalry between the Federalists and Republicans during the single term of our second U.S. President, the Federalist John Adams whose tenure began in 1797. Enacted during Adams’s administration, the Alien and Sedition Acts fueled an uproar in James’s circle as it encroached on both the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press. As discord over the Alien & Sedition Acts increased, evidenced by a politically-motivated knife attack on James, he withdrew from journalism entirely.

In 1816, James was elected a member of the New Jersey State Assembly. He became a state senator four years later, then for many years he served as the presiding judge of the Country Court of Common Pleas. Reminiscent of his father’s rise in the military, James was elected Secretary of State by the New Jersey Legislature in the same year his namesake son, James Diament Westcott, Jr., was called to the Territory of Florida by then Territorial Governor Andrew Jackson in 1830. James Sr. served as New Jersey’s Secretary of State for ten years before contested congressional election results ended his career with proof of suppressed returns in two precincts that he had unknowingly certified.

The first in the lineage of the immigrant Richard Westcott to settle in a Southern territory to my knowledge, James Diament Westcott, Jr. acknowledged the patriotic devotion of his family who toiled for the honor of their native New Jersey and America. As an attorney, he served as Clerk of the Consular Bureau of the State Department in Washington, D.C. and later, he became Florida’s Territorial Secretary of State and Acting Governor as back-up to Governor William Pope Duval.

James Jr. appears on the wrong side of history as a staunch supporter of President Andrew Jackson, favoring the removal of Indians from the Territory and defending slavery. As a public servant, he became a Legislative Council member and U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of the Florida Territory before his reelection to the Legislative Council. He played a role in the framing of the Constitution of the state before his election as a Democrat to the United States Senate in the year the Territory gained statehood in 1845. Serving for one term, James Jr. was in office during the Mexican-American War when his brother, Army Captain George Clinton Westcott, served and ultimately lost his life at sea. [Earlier, another of James Jr.’s brothers—my three-times great-grandfather Hampton Westcott—died at sea from injuries suffered as a naval officer with the West Indies Piracy Anti-Piracy Operations.] Provoked by mischaracterizations of his stance as a proponent of the Mexican-American War, James Jr. opted to leave the state and politics altogether. He practiced law in New York City then self-exiled to Montreal, Canada, following the death of his son Leigh Reed Westcott during the Battle of Antietam in 1862. The deadliest day in American military history, over 23,000 casualties were suffered by both Union and Confederate forces when Tallahassee-born and raised Leigh Reed lost his life at about 18 years of age.

Admitted to West Point in 1823 at age 15, James Jr.’s brother John left the Academy prematurely with health issues before earning a medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania. James Jr. recruited John to Tallahassee to become his clerk in the office of the Secretary of State of the Territory in 1831. A man of many skills, John gained fame as a both a physician and surveyor. Settling with his family in Madison County, he mapped Florida’s Green Swamp against all odds as deputy surveyor. James Jr. then urged John and their brother George Clinton to aid the U.S. Army in the Second Seminole War. With his specialization in yellow fever and strategic training at West Point, John enlisted as a surgeon in 1840 as the viral infection ran rampant throughout the territory. He determined that swamps served as a perfect hiding spot for Seminole war camps, mapped key positions to build army forts, and saved his regiment from marching into a Seminole ambush on several occasions. When James Jr. served Florida in the U.S. Senate upon statehood in 1845, John became a Florida state representative. As a precursor to his one term in office, John formulated a novel plan to fund public education in Florida, believing that “knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

From 1853 to 1858, John controlled Florida maps as Surveyor General. Later, he tangled with Chief Billy Bowlegs leading to the Third Seminole War but did not engage in the conflict. John enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861 with his nephew James Diament Westcott III and defended Tampa as captain of the infantry regiment in the Battle of Fort Brooke. Relocating to St. Augustine when the Civil War ended, my many times great-uncle became a private surveyor. He returned to Tallahassee as a state legislator representing St. Johns County for one term in 1878. As president of the privately-run Florida Coast Line Canal and Transportation Company beginning in 1881, he received state authorization to dredge a series of canals to create an inland waterway that ultimately spanned the length of the Florida Atlantic coast linking Jacksonville to Miami.

The great-grandson of the patriots John Westcott and Dr. John Thomas Hampton of New Jersey followed the example of his namesake father James Diament Westcott, Jr. and uncle John with the positions he held in the Confederate States’ government of Florida. A practicing attorney, James Diament Westcott III became the assistant secretary of the Florida Senate in 1858, and later, the private secretary to Florida’s fourth governor Madison S. Perry. With his uncle John, James III entered the fray on the side of the Confederates during the Civil War. His infantry unit engaged in the conflict on Santa Rosa Island, then fought at Shiloh, Farmington, and Perryville. The Army promoted him to captain in the Subsistence Department before the war’s end, after which time he served in the Florida House of Representatives from Leon County while maintaining a private law practice.

Despite his Democratic party affiliation, James III attracted the interest of Republican Governor Harrison Reed. Within weeks of his appointment as Florida’s Attorney-General in 1868, Governor Reed appointed him to the Florida Supreme Court as its youngest jurist at just 29 years of age—a distinction he holds to this day. He served as one of three jurists of the state’s high court during the turbulent period of Reconstruction that spanned from 1865 to 1877. Profound challenges to American jurisprudence faced the Court as the justices weighed the balance of federal and state power, integration of formerly enslaved people into society, and the establishment and enforcement of civil rights for Black Americans. The rapidly evolving legal landscape demanded James III’s critical reasoning and decision-making skills as author of 267 opinions during his 17-year tenure before his retirement at age 46 in 1885.  

A lifelong bachelor who survived his parents and seven siblings, James III became an early and major benefactor of West Florida Seminary, which eventually morphed to become Florida State University. Upon his passing in 1887, James III left his considerable estate to his alma mater. Today, the University’s signature James Diament Westcott Memorial Building honors the Florida jurist as the oldest site of continuous higher education in Florida.

As a “Daughter of the American Revolution” and an alumna of the graduate program at Florida State University’s College of Business, I look upon the iconic Westcott administration building with immense pride. It exemplifies far more than the strength, skill, and character of a single man. The enduring legacy of James Diament Westcott III stems from the noble actions and moral integrity of his ancestors whose patriotism clearly gave him purpose.

John Westcott, Dr. John Harris Hampton, Nathanial Sackett, and all others who fought for our freedom in the American Revolutionary War sacrificed greatly.  Their efforts were not in vain. They lit a spark we see reflected across generations of Westcotts whose extraordinary public service honors our values as a free people and united nation.

Nearly 250 years ago, Supreme Commander George Washington entrusted Major General Henry Knox to lead the dangerous crossing of the Delaware River for the surprise attack on Trenton. As the Continental Army’s chief of artillery, Knox directed army officers—Captain of Artillery John Westcott among them—in the Union’s decisive victory. Henry Knox is also credited as a key supporter of the Order of Cincinnati, which takes its name from the ancient Roman hero Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus as an embodiment of civic virtue. Formed in 1783 by officers of the Continental Army as now our nation’s oldest patriotic organization, the Order of the Cincinnati perpetuates the memory of the American Revolution with this motto: “Dear to us, every one of them, in the memories of the past, in the hope of the future.”

Civic virtue is the common thread that binds the three successive generations in my family to our Revolutionary War heroes through the 19^th century. Virtuous participants in civic life, James Diament Westcott, his sons, and namesake grandson embodied respect, courage, and responsibility to promote the common good over their personal interests. They give us hope so long as we choose to remember their example.

I have never felt more strongly about America’s need to preserve and protect her enviable liberties that continue to propel us forward as innovators and problem solvers, now with 250 years invested since adoption of the Declaration of Independence. In deference to our precious forebears, may we ever strive to bridge divisiveness and reverse growing opportunity gaps in concert with Americans’ unalienable rights—among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for one and all. Our ancestors’ sacrifices relied on preservation of those rights. Succeeding generations will depend on them.

As fireworks explode into the night sky on July 4, 2026, I will look to the bright colors, patterns, and sounds to conjure images of my highly distinguished American ancestors as veterans and public servants with gratitude. Hope springs eternal so long as we never forget them for the national ideals they collectively upheld for us in spectacular fashion. 

© 2025 Christine Broderick Emmanuel

Contact:  Christy@ChristineBEmmanuel.com

Website: https://www.ChristineBEmmanuel.com