He is notable for being the target of the first shot fired by the British in the American Revolution west of the Hudson River.
Sammons, of Dutch extraction, was born in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York to Jacob Sampson and Catalyntje Bensen.
[1] In 1775, before the departure of Guy Johnson, nephew of Sir William Johnson, along with Loyalists and Native Americans to Canada, Sammons and other patriots formed a Committee of Safety for Tryon County to track movements of the British.
It is said that the first shot of the Revolution west of the Hudson River was fired at Sammons by Tory Sheriff of Johnstown Alexander White, after Sammons led a group of patriots to free neighbor John Fonda from the nearby jail.
[2] In 1780 Sammons, along with sons Jacob, Frederick and Thomas, were all taken prisoner as a result of the raid from Canada led by Sir John Johnson and over 500 British troops.