In the spring of 1777 16-year-old Ezra Ross, a soldier in the Continental Army, fell ill en route to his home in Linebrook, a village in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Bathsheba nursed him back to health. On his travels to and from army service, he visited the Spooner home in July and December 1777. On the latter occasion he stayed into the new year, traveled with Joshua Spooner on business trips and had an affair with Bathsheba. She became pregnant mid-January and began urging Ross to kill her husband. In February 1778 Ross accompanied Joshua Spooner on an extended trip to Princeton, Massachusetts. He brought along a bottle of nitric acid, given to him by Bathsheba, which he planned to use to poison Spooner. Ross backed out of the plan and returned directly to his Linebrook home.