Ezra Green (1746-1847) was a surgeon aboard the Continental Ship-of-War “Ranger” when he penned a diary describing the voyage and conflicts met. The diary itself will shed light on other members of the crew, some who lost their lives in battle. Also included in the manuscript are two brief genealogies of early ancestors of Ezra, James Green of Charlestown and John Hayes of Dover.
When quite a lad I was, out of curiosity, rummaging over an upper chamber closet, where in promiscuous order were odd volumes, — schoolbooks, speeches, sermons, &c., — when this unpretentious pamphlet turned up in marbled paper-cover. All the particulars of it I had heard my father frequently recount, and hence did not at that early age appreciate its value, and so I gave it to my cousin James D. Green, who, after preserving it with scrupulous care for more than sixty years, has deposited it in the library of the New-England Historic, Genealogical Society, together with important authentic remarks relative to his and my father’s progenitors. There this Diary came under the eye of Commodore George Henry Preble, who requested my permission for its publication in the Historical and Genealogical Register, together with such facts as he might gather of my father’s public life during five years’ service as surgeon in the army and navy during the American revolution. To this request I gave my willing assent, promising as a sequel thereto a memoir of his private life. Walter C. Green.
Source
Green, Ezra. Diary of Ezra Green, M.D. : with historical notes and a biography. Boston : Self Published, 1875.