Pension Application of John McClure: R6632
Transcribed and annotated by C. Leon Harris
State of Georgia}
Rabun County} SS
On this 3rd day of December in the year 1844 Personally appeared before the Inferior Court of said County John McClure a resident of the county and state above written aged 84 Eighty four 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 Provisions made by the act of Congress passed June 7th 1832
that he enlisted in the army of the United States on the 10th day of March 1776 for a Term of eighteen months with Major Patrick Lockhart who sent him from Botetourt County State of Virginia his place of residence heading a company of eighteen men to Long Island [NY] and there in September [two words illegible] joined the Army under Captain Frelinghuysen [possibly Frederick Frelinghuysen who later became Colonel] Major not recollected Col. Warner and Genls. [Charles] Lee Reed and Washington and served said time as orderly sergeant and was in the battle of Trenton December 26th 1776 also in the battle at Princeton January [3rd] 1777 and received a discharge from Capt. Frelinghuysen October 11th 1777 Then took the place of James McAdams (an enlisted soldier) in the State of Pennsylvania October 12th 1777 and served eleven months his McAdams’s remaining time under Capt. Bawler as orderly sergeant the Major not recollected Col. Warner & Genl [Horatio] Gates and was in the Battle at Still Water October 15th 1777 [sic: Battle of Stillwater in NY, 19 Sep 1777] also in the Battle at Monmouth June [28th] 1778 and received a discharge from Capt. Bawler September 12th 1778 then enlisted also in the State of Pennsylvania September 20th 1778 for a term of eighteen months under Captain Thomas Luck Major Quirk Col. not recollected and Genl Cadwallader [sic: John Cadwalader] and served said time as orderly sergeant and received a discharge from Major Quirk the last of March or first of April 1780 making an aggregate of three years and eleven months, service as an enlisted soldier in the Revolutionary War on the part of the United States marching through and performing said duty in the States of Virginia Maryland New York and Pennsylvania. He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a Pension or an annuity except the present and he declares that his name is not on the pension roll of any agency in any State he further declares that the reasons why he did not apply for a Pension sooner are that he was so unfortunate as to get his house burnt in 1792 at which time his discharges were burnt and he thought he could not reach a pension without his discharges.
Sworn to and subscribed the day and year aforesaid [signed] John McClure
State of Georgia}
Habersham County}
On this the 14th day of July in the year 1855, before me a Justice of the Peace in and for said County and State aforesaid personally came John McClure aged ninety five years on the 15 day of April last, and now a resident of the county and state aforesaid, who after being duly sworn according to law makes the following general supplemental declaration in order to aid his claim to a Revolutionary pension under the act of Congress passed June 7, 1832. In doing of which he intends to give a more explicit declaration of some of the facts set forth in his original declaration made December 3rd 1844, and the supplemental thereto made in March 1845 both now on file in the Pension Office together with such additional facts & statements in regard to his Revolutionary services, as his attention and recollection have been called to since the filing of his original papers.– He therefore states that he was the second son of his father John McClure by his second wife, and was raised in Boutetout County State of Virginia that at the age of sixteen years, being stout and well grown and large at that age, in the year 1776 (and from the impression fixed on his mind in the month set forth in his original declaration) he enlisted in the Regular army in said county for the term of eighteen months and was made after his enlistment an orderly sergeant and was sent as formerly related, and placed under the command of Captain Frelinghuison, and joined the main army, under the officers as related in his original declaration. That during this term of service he was at the Battle of Trenton, also the Battle of Princeton and went with a division of the Army he thinks commanded by General Lee to guard and convey the prisoners taken at Trenton to Philadelphia. That the division of the army to which he belonged went into winter quarters in January 1777 at Valey Forge [sic: Valley Forge PA]. That a great part of the succeeding Spring & Summer he spent under various commands in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, until in the month of August or early part of September of that year, the division of the army to which he belonged & himself were ordered and sent he believes under General [Anthony] Wayne into Connecticut to watch the movements of the enemy in that direction, but to what particular point they marched he cannot now recollect. That while there his said term of service expired, and he was discharged by Captain Frelinghuison– he believes in the month of October 1777. And he believes he received his pay from the United States paymaster name not recollected– while he was in Connecticut– He then returned to a place near the line of New York & Pennsylvania – the name of the place not recollected– and immediately substituted himself for an enlisted soldier by the name of McAdams, under command of Captain Bawler by his consent and was an orderly sergeant in said company, and served out the ballance of his– McAdams’ term of service in said company – which was about eleven months, during which term he was on various services in New York and Pennsylvania, and was at the Battle of Still Water, under the command of the officers named in his original declaration and was discharged as therein related, thus ending his second term of service. In the early part of the fall of 1778 he again enlisted under a Captain Luck for the term of eighteen months under the command of the Field officers mentioned in his original declaration. The regiment to which he then belonged was from Virginia as he believes, though in Pennsylvania, as he believes at the time of his enlistment. The army to which he was then attached was in active service and passed through sections of Pennsylvania New Jersey New York and finally into Connecticut, where he was again discharged at the expiration of his last term of service in the Spring of the year 1780, by Major Quirk, and again received his pay while in Connecticut as he believes, but he cannot recollect the name of the place where he was discharged nor can he remember the name of the officer from whom he received his pay. This ended his third & last term of service. He then remained in Connecticut at will, about eight months, then went to Armstrongs Station in Kentucky, remained about two years, then returned to Russell County, Virginia, where he remained until the year 1790, four years of this period he served as an Indian Spy. In February – as he believes – of 1790, he married – and in December following moved to the State of South Carolina, and settled in what was then Pendleton District & said State. In 1792 his house caught fire, when he was absent from home, and was consumed with all his books & papers, amongst which were his three discharges above mentioned, and a Journal of his own keeping in which was Memoranda of all his marches and movements, and important events & transactions of all his terms of Revolutionary service — The loss of these papers may have caused some decrepitency in his recollection, for from fact of keeping a Journal he did not fix dates & events as acurately in his mind as he otherwise would have done. Still he believes the relations given of his services are substantially correct so far as facts are concerned. as to the dates of those events being mentioned positively– they are so stated from impressions fixed upon his memory as the only data to guide him in his relations of gone by times– As to officers named and the various divisions of the army with which he acted, he did not always know at the time definitely to which of the states they belonged personally, as the particular regular or continental lines of the different states was not with him a matter of inquiry at the time, his object being only to perform his duty under any officer that acted as his commander.
That when the law for the benefit of which he now asks was passed, he was stout and felt independent and able to gain his own subsistence and was also told that as he had lost his discharges he could not get a pension if he did apply. he therefore concluded to make no application, until about the year 1844 he becoming very infirm from age, and being dependent he was prevailed upon by his friends to make application for a pension.
He would further state as a matter of personal identity that he commanded as Lieutenant Colonel the Regiment of South Carolina Militia stationed at Sisters Ferry [sic: possibly Two Sisters Ferry on the Savannah River] in the war of 1812. That in the year 1829, he moved from S.C. to Rabun County Georgia within a few miles of his present residence.
[signed] John McClure
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled
[word illegible] Petitioner Margaret McClure resident of the State of Georgia, Most respectfully represents that her husband John McClure late of said State served in the Revolutionary War from the State of Virginia in the States of Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania in the Continental army as a noncommissioned officer and that he served two terms which embraced nearly the whole Period of the war and was under Captain Quirk, Col. Frelinghuisen. Your Petitioner further represents that her husband has applied for a Pension under act of Congress passed June 7th 1832, and that her claim has been suspended a number of times for the alledged cause that she has not sufficiently identified himself with the service connectisted[?] with his name in the Auditor’s Office for the State of Pennsylvania.
Your memorialist feels convinced that there exists on the suspended files of the Pension Office sufficient evidence to allow the issuing of a Pension Certificate under the act aforesaid and for further proof and information your memorialist respectfully refers your honorable body to the said papers.
You humble Petitioner therefore prays that an act may be passed granting him the Pension, as the widow & heir of the said John McClure, which was due to him at his death which took place May 24th 1856, under the said act of June 7, 1832. I am respectfully your humble Petitioner
Signed in the Presence of Margaret McClure
A. J. McClure Martin C. Fuller JP