The sympathies of the first settlers of Croydon were early enlisted in the Revolutionary struggle. Soon after the Battle of Lexington, they sent Eleazer Leland and Abner Brigham to join the Provincial army; enrolled a company of twelve minute-men; raised eight pounds to purchase a town supply of ammunition, and chose Moses Whipple, Stephen Powers, Phineas Sanger, Abner Brigham and Joseph Hall a "committee of safety." In 1777 nine men from Croydon joined a company of militia, commanded by Captain Solomon Chase, of Cornish, and marched to Ticonderoga. Eight men joined the company of Captain Hardy, of Hanover, and united with the forces of General Stark, at Charlestown. Captain Moses Whipple, with a company composed partly of men from Cornish, "turned out" to stop the progress of Burgoyne. Croydon maintained its interest and contributed its full share of men and means until the close of the war.
The following is an imperfect list of those citizens who served in the Revolutionary War:
| Bazaleel Barton | Stephen Powers |
| Benjamin Barton | Urias Powers |
| Abner Brigham | David Powers |
| Cornel Chase | Samuel Powers |
| John Cooper, Jr. | David Putnam |
| Joel Cooper | Caleb Putnam |
| Sherman Cooper | Jacob Hall |
| Ezra Cooper | Benjamin Sherman |
| Benjamin Cutting | Ezekiel Rooks |
| John Druce | Daniel Rooks |
| Amos Dwinnell | David Stockwell |
| Enoch Emerson | Phineas Sanger |
| Timothy Fisher | John Sanger |
| Ezra Hall | Isaac Sanger |
| Daniel Emerson | Robert Spencer |
| Edward Hall, Jr. | Benjamin Swinnerton |
| Amos Hagar | Benjamin Thompson |
| Bazaleel Gleason | Greshorn Ward |
| Jonas Cutting | Aaron Warren |
| James How | Moses Warren |
| Abijah Hall | Moses Whipple |
| James Hall | Thomas Whipple |
| Joseph Hall | Aaron Whipple |
| Samuel R. Hall | Isaac Woolson |
| Eleazer Leland | Nathaniel Wheeler |
| Rufus King | Samuel Whipple |
| Rufus Kempton | Seth Wheeler |
| Phineas Newton |
The following is an incomplete list of the citizens of Croydon who served in the War of 1812.
| Major, Abijah Powers | Ensign, Amasa Hall |
| Private, Nathaniel Wheeler | Private, Samuel Powers |
| Private, Charles Cutting | Private, Elijah Darling |
| Private, Levi Winter | Private, Sibley Melendy |
| Private, Isaac Cooper | Private, Abijah Dunbar |
| Private, Tyler Walker |
The following is an imperfect list of those citizens who served in the Union Army during the Rebellion:
Chaplains Robert Stinson, Anthony C. Hardy; Captains John W. Putnam, E. Darwin Comings; Lieutenants Paine Durkee, Albert Miner, (wounded at Fair Oaks); Sergeants Oscar D. Allen, (wounded at Antietam, killed at Gettsyburg), Lloyd D. Forehand, (wounded at Fair Oaks), John Blanchard, (wounded), Hiram K. Darling, William D. Angell, (died in the service); Corporals George E. Frye, (killed at Chancellosville), Alvah K. Davis, Henry H. Haynes, Irving D. Tobie, Ephraim Plympton; Privates Alonzo Allen, (wounded at Fair Oaks), Thomas Ames, (died in service), George Angell Jr., Sanford T. Barton, (wounded at Fair Oaks), Henry Barton, (killed in battle), Frederick J. Burge, William Bushy, Charles Baggatt, Charles L. Bryant, Rufus W. Clark, Alonzo C. Crooker, John Cabner, James P. Darling, (wounded), Warren K. Darling, Walter P. Darling, George S. Davis, (died), Robert Dinsmore, Leroy Forehand, Stephen G. Ford, George H. Goodhue, Jeremiah Haynes, Charles C. Howard, (wounded), Franklin J. Hersey, (killed at Fair Oaks), Philip Harding, (killed at second battle of Bull Run), Edward Hall, Hiram C. Hall, Charles N. Harridon, Herman Jacobs, Ambrose Jerome, Charles K. Jackson, (died), John A. Johnson, W. Wallace Kidder, Thomas Mack, Abraham Nutting, Elias F. Powers, (died at Poolesville, MD., February 17, 1863), Charles S. Partridge, Theodore H. Payne, Nathan Peyton, Isaac P. Rawson, George H. Ross, Albert F. Robbins, John Riley, Henry H. Stockwell, (killed at Fair Oaks), John G. Stockwell, (died at Harper’s Ferry), Henry H. Squires, Charles L. Stockwell, (mortally wounded), George N. Smith, George Tasker, Austin L. Whipple, (died in service), Emile Warren, (died at Andersonville Prison).
A few of the above were substitutes, and not actual citizens of the town. Twenty-five of them enlisted in the early part of the war, and received but ten dollars bounty. They were all volunteers. The highest bounty paid by the town was one hundred dollars per year. No citizen of Croydon is known to have deserted from the army during the war. Many of them re-enlisted and served until the close of hostilities.
The following are a few of the many natives of Croydon who enlisted from other places during the war:
Chaplain Joseph Sargent, (died in the service); Surgeons Ira W. Bragg, (naval surgeon, died in the service), Sherman Cooper, David C. Powers, Marshall Perkins, Willard O. Hurd, Willard C. Kempton; Captain Walter Forehand; Liutenant Edward Dow; Shapr-Shooter Sergeant Walter P. Blanchard; Privates Leonard Barton, (mortally wounded in battle), Peter Barton, Hiram E.W. Barton, Edward W. Collins, (wounded at first Bull Run battle), David R. Eastman, Marshall P. Hurd, (killed at Antietam), Henry Humphrey, (died in the service), Orren Marsh, Simeon Partridge, Dexter Stewart, Stephen M. Thornton, John Thornton, George H. Thornton, (died in the service), Horace P. Hall.
Croydon has furnished to the militia of the State the following officers:
Maj.-Gen. N. Emery
Colonels
| Jarvis Adams | Calvin Kempton |
| Otis Cooper | Samuel Powers |
| Freeman Dunbar | Nathan Wheeler, Jr. |
| Daniel R. Hall | Moses Whipple |
Majors
| Abijah Powers | Lemuel P. Cooper |
| Peter Stow |
The Croydon Light Infantry, and subsequently the Rifle Company, with their tasty uniforms and equipments and fine drill, were for many years a source of pride to the town.