Georgia
Oglethorpe County
On this third day of September eighteen hundred & thirty two personally
appeared before the justices of the inferior court while sitting for ordinary purposes,
Thomas Landrum, a resident of the county & State aforesaid, aged nearly seventy two
years, who being first duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following
declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed on the 7th
June of the present year entitled an act supplementary to the act for the relief of
certain surviving officers & soldiers of the Revolution. That he entered the service
of the United States against England in the Revolutionary war under the following named
officers & served as hereinafter stated.
That he was born in Orange county Virginia on the 6th October 1759.
That the family bible containing the record of his age was destroyed in the time of the
war. That he lived in the same county when he was drafted on the 23rd February
1778 for the time of one years service which he performed in the continental army. That
sometime in March of the year last aforesaid he marched from Fredericksburg under the
command of Lieutenant Lipscomb & joined a company under the command of Captain Bailey
at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania. Captain Bailey’s company belonged to General
Woodford’s Brigade. The commander of the 7th Virginia regiment to which he
belonged was Colonel Heath a one eyed man & Major Wallace he thinks commanded the
battalion. About this time General Lafayette was surprised at his post near Philadelphia
& driven to Valley Forge & about this time also the spy Shanks was taken &
hanged. Shortly after this the most healthy part of the army moved out in tents to watch
the enemy. Some time in May a rejoicing took place in camp for what cause deponent does
not now recollect. In June the enemy was found to be in motion & our army pursued
& overtook him on the 28th at Monmouth where we had a considerable battle,
on the same night the enemy made his escape through the mismanagement of Lee. The rear of
the army was not up at the line of the battle & a detachment from the rear ranks was
ordered out to Princeton with the wounded. From Monmouth he marched by the way of
Princeton to White Plains where he joined the rest of the army ~ was permitted to halt a
short time at Princeton for the purpose of seeing his wounded fellow soldiers. About this
time Captain Bailey was broke of his commission (very unjustly as was thought) &
deponent’s company fell under the command of Captain Lipscomb, a brother of the above
mentioned Lieutenant of that name. Captain Lipscomb commanded but a short time before he
died & we were then put under the command of one Captain White. About this time
deponent joined Colonel Richard Parker who commanded a regiment of Light Infantry under
General Scott. Parker’s command lay near Cedar Point & there deponent joined a
rifle detachment commanded by Colonel Morgan who was watching the enemy about Fort
Independence. Morgan soon got to be General & we fell under the command of Colonel
Guss ~ several of us soon became dissatisfied with Guss & left him & returned to
White Plains to our former companies & we remained there deponent thinks until
September. The Grand Army then marched to West Point & when we got there we understood
the enemy had crossed North River & was doing considerable damage to our friends in
New Jersey. General Morgan directly crossed the river with his Brigade & we had not
long landed when we were alarmed by the enemy but had no engagement. We continued to march
up & down the river about Hackinsack & Newton & stopped at King’s Ferry
until the Grand Army came up. We then went into winter quarters at Middlebrook. The army
made it late before it came up. The clothing was sent to Middlebrook & many of the
soldiers had to march through deep snow barefoot. We had scarcely fixed our tents when
there fell a heavy snow & the Brigade of Colonels Newlanburg & Scott came down
& attacked us with snow balls. We were in no very good plight for sport & treated
it as an insult & had not the officers interfered we should have made a serious matter
of it & even as it was some of each brigade smartly wounded. There deponent remained
until February 1779 when he was discharged & marched home under the command of Captain
Robert Powell. The reason deponent cannot now show his discharge is this, his captain made
out his amount of rations & clothing due him upon the same piece of paper that
contained his discharge & when he drew his rations & clothing he gave up the paper
containing them all. Mr. Miller Bledsoe, an aged & respectable minister of the gospel
in this part of the country who was in a great part of the same service will probably
assist deponent in establishing this tour of twelve months continental service. Deponent
performed other service of which it is probable Mr. Bledsoe knows nothing any farther than
hearsay.
He performed a tour of three months service in the militia, commencing as well
as he can recollect in the month of May 1780 under the command of Captain Webb. The field
officers were changed so often he does not recollect much about them. He marched from home
to Richmond & there joined the main army under General LaFayette. The army marched
that same night from Richmond retreating from Cornwallis. Deponent did not however leave
Richmond till next morning. On their retreat they crosses Rappahannock just above
Fredericksburg & went on up into Fauquier county. There we heard that General Wayne
was coming on to our assistance. We turned back & crossed Rappahannock again at
Racoon-ford & waited for Wayne at Garnett’s ferry on Pamunky. As soon as he came
up we marched for Richmond crossing Pamunky at Brock’s Bridge. From here we went to
Dandridge’s old field where a duel took place between Lightfoot & Wheaton, one a
militiaman, the other a regular, which resulted in the death of the latter. From here we
marched & crossed James River at Jamestown where our advance & the British rear
had a considerable fight. We pursued the British down James River believing that their aim
was to go to Little York. Our time expired before we reached York & we returned &
were discharged at the Malvern Hills near Richmond.
In the Fall of 1781 deponent was drafted again for three months & went down
to Little York under the command of Captain Cave but when he got there the siege was near
its close & he did little else than assist in conducting some prisoners to Winchester
about eighty miles above Fredericksburg. He moved from Virginia to Oglethorpe county in
this State & arrived here in January 1803 & has lived here ever since. He hereby
relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present &
declares that his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any State in the Union.
Thomas (x) Landrum
Sworn to & subscribed the day & year first above written.
William H. Smith, Clerk
