Hugh wonders why family lore states Nicholas Cunningham served 7 years with Washington, but he is not shown in rosters at Valley Forge. You don't give much to go on, but say further that of the Valley Forge lists, >>None were for a Nicholas and none were in the 2nd MA. John was in the 2d Artillery (MA).<< The 2nd Massachusetts Infantry, Continental should not be confused with the 2nd Continental Artillery. The latter was recruited from several states. The John Cunningham you mention was from Massachusetts, Henry Cunningham of the 2nd Artillery was from CT and William of the 2nd Artillery was from NY. If you have reason to believe that your Nicholas was in the 2nd MA Continental Regiment there could be many reasons he was not at Valley Forge. Have you looked in _Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War_? If he was in the 2nd MA Continental his history should be shown--perhaps he transferred to a different unit, perhaps (as was the case with other Regiments) the Regiment was divided into different duty posts and Nicholas' company was elsewhere. But there's no point guessing. Look it up! The above multi-volume work is in most major libraries. If you look in Rootsweb's Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, you may find someone willing to do lookups in this work (it's not something most folks have at home, so would involve a special trip to a library). Good hunting, Judy