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With the help of his brother Gilbert, then in the New York Assembly, Henry was given a commission as Major of the newly formed 3rd New York. As Gilbert explained in a letter to Henry describing the color of the uniform he was required to get, Gilbert had had to ride over several other family members also being sponsored for that post, so Gilbert was very clear to Henry that he expectd his brother to accept the new commission. It wasn't that Henry would have had any qualms about joining the military. The news of Bunker Hill had hit New York with a cannon's reverberation. The problem was that Henry's wife Sarah had just given birth to their first child. Like so many other men who believed in the cause of Revolution, Henry put his country over his family interests and put on the uniform.