Pension Application of James and Patte Harris: W8892
Transcribed and annotated by C. Leon Harris
State of Kentucky} Declaration
Floyd County} SS}
On this 17 day of June 1833 personally appeared before the Justices of the county court of Floyd, James Harris a resident of Kentucky in the county of Floyd aged Eighty one years, who being first duly sworn according to law, doth make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed June 7th 1833 [sic: 1832]–
That he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers and served as herein stated, to wit– that he volunteered under Colo May, Maijor Baites, Captain William Johns on the 2nd day of September 1777 for nine months as private in the malitia service in the County of Buckingham in the state of Virginia the troops under our Col was directed to march to Williamsburg Virginia and was there keept by orders during the winter in that place, and indeed without marching any distance from Williamsburg, or having any engagement with the enemy till all the Buckingham volenteers’s time expired on the 2d day of June 1778. This applicant received his discharge, and returned to Buckingham Co Va– In the month of April (having lost the date of his entrance he cannot be positive as to the day) 1779 this applicant again entered the service, being drafted, in Buckingham County Virginia as a private, for “three months” under Colo May; the Maijor’s name was Weston of this he is not positive, but his Captain was by the name of William Anderson. This applicant was marched directly to Albermarle [Albemarle] barracks and staid in the barracks till his term of service expired in August 1779– received his discharge and returned home.– In the month of February the 6th day thereof 1781, this applicant volenteered in Buckingham for “six months” again as a private in the malitia service in the state of Virginia to go against Gen Arnold in Virginia his Captain was by the name of Charles Paterson Lieutenant Charles Burkes, and Colo William Flemming, having arrived in the neighborhood where the british was at Portsmouth Virginia, his Gen was by the name of Steuben, the troops had several encounters with Gen Phillips and Arnold scouts, but one of some importance in the dismal swamp with the British, the Americans took several prisioneers, our troops took a position close to Portsmouth, about one mile, from there the troops marched to James River and toward Richmond, from there to Petersburg. There the Americans was defeated in attempting to keep the British out of the town, he was now he thinks commanded by the French General Layfayette [Lafayette], and Tarleton [see note below] defeated us at point fork [Point of Fork at present Columbia VA] and took several baggage waggons and some bacon from us. We continued under him till July (about harvest) and rec my discharge, and all of us returned home– this applicant was amediately drafted on the 24th day of July 1781 not withstanding he had just served six months and was compelled to go, in Buckingham Co. Virginia under Colo Jones. Captain Silas Watkins and Brigadier Gen Lawson of the malitia, as a private for “three months” and was again commanded by Gen Steuben and Gen’l Layfayette and continued with him till the seize of Little York [Siege of Yorktown]– he was in the battle at the seize, received his discharge a few days after Cornwallius [Cornwallis] surrendered, and was however marched to Winchester barracks, and having served out his tour of “three months” he received his discharge at the same from a man by the name of Jackson he lived at the time of his first engagement in Buckingham County Virginia where he was born, and having lived there for many years after the Revolutionary War he removed to this county (Floyd) – he was personally acquainted with Gen Steuben, Gen Layfayette he has seen Gen Washington (saw him at the seize) Gen Smallwood, Gen Guess [Gist], Gen Nelson, Gen Wayne I knew Col Gaskins and Gen Mulenburg [Muhlenberg] and Kosiusko [Kosciusko], Gen Greene, and Col. Williams, Col May, Colo Flemming, Maijor Bates, Col Jones, Capt Anderson, and many more that has slipted this applicants recollection his discharges he does not know what has become of them– he has no documentary evidence to establish his claim unless his name is found at Richmond Virginia or Williamsburg. he was enrolled and received pay and clothing both, he refers the War department and Mr. Edwards to General Alex Lackey John Gearhart. the Revd William Sailsberry a clergyman his neighbours who can testify to the character of this applicant as a man of veracity and their belief as well as the general belief of the citizens of the neighbourhood and of the county of this applicants being a Revolutionary soldier and having served as before herein stated–
he hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present and declares that his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any state–
sworn to and subscribed the day and year aforesaid [signed] James Harris
We William Sailsberry a clergyman residing in the county of Floyd and State of Kentucky and Samuel Harris residing in the same hereby certify that we are well acquainted with James Harris who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration that we believe him to be eighty one years of age; that he is reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resides to have been a Soldier of the Revolution, and that we concur in that opinion. Sworn to and subscribed
[signed] William Sailsberry Samuel Harris
Questions
Where and in what year were you born–
Ans– I was born in Buckingham County in the state of Virginia on the [blank space] day of [blank space] 1752
~~~Have you any record of your age and if so where is it?
Ans– I have not got it now but once had and I do not know where it is –
~~~Where were you living when called into service, where have you lived since the Revolutionary War, and where do you now live–
Ans– I was living in Virginia Buckingham County and I lived many years after the war and removed to the this state, where I now live
~~~How were you called into service; were you drafted did you volenteer, or were you a substitute, and if a substitute for whom–
Ans I volenteered for nine months the first time, the second time I was drafted for three months, the third time I volenteered for six months the fourth time I was drafted for three months– being twice a volunteer and twice a drafted man–
~~~State the names of some of the regular officers who were with the troops where you served such Continental and Malitia Regiments s you can recollect and the general circumstances of your service–
Ans Gen Layfayette, Gen Nelson, Gen Washington, Colo Williams, Gen Steuben, Gen Guess, Gen Smallwood, Gen Wayne, and Col Kosiusko, Maijor Bates, Col May. I volenteered in Buckingham for nine months and went Williamsburg and there staid till my time was up on the 2d June 1778 under Captain Anderson and Col May– I was then drafted for three months, he got a discharge from Anderson and came home–
shortly after in the first of the year 1781 I again volenteered for six months under Charles Paterson as Captain– Colo Fleming was our Col, and marched down the country to Portsmouth and had a battle with the british in the dismal swamp and marched to Petersburg and Richmond and tried to keep the british from coming into Petersburg but was outnumbered. Several of our bagage waggons, and our provisions all got taken. he states he was drafted for three months more and was sent out under Colo Jones and was at the seize of York where Cornwallius was taken by General Washington–
~~~Did you ever receive a discharge from the service and if so by whom was it given and what has become of it?
Ans. I rec’d four discharges one by Capt Anderson, the other by Capt John and the other by Captain Paterson and the other at the barracks by a Mr. Jackson–
7 State the names of persons to whom you are known in your present neighbourhood and who can testify as to your character for veracity and their belief of your services as a soldier of the revolution.
___Ans Gen Lacky John Gearheart John Holberten Esq. Col John H. Haywood, John Turner the Reverend William Sailsberry.
NOTES:
“he entered the service of the United States... on the 2nd day of September 1777”: After the Royal Governor Lord Dunmore was forced out of Virginia late in 1775, there was little military activity in Virginia for several years. Virginia served more as a supplier of materiel and soldiers than as a battleground. Harris served his first tour of duty during this calm period.
“In the month of April... 1779 This applicant again entered the service”: In the spring of 1779 British naval forces captured Portsmouth and some other towns and plantations. Harris was evidently drafted in response to this invasion. His being sent to Albemarle rather than to engage the enemy was typical of Governor Thomas Jefferson’s strategy of trying to keep the war at a distance from Virginia.
“In the month of February the 6th day thereof 1781, this applicant volenteered”: At the end of 1780 the infamous Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, formerly a general in the Patriot Army, was given command of a large detachment of British soldiers who invaded Virginia. Arnold sailed up the James River and on 5 Jan 1781 he captured Richmond unopposed. Arnold’s troops then went to Westham several miles upriver, where they destroyed a cannon foundry, munitions, and public records that had been sent there for safe-keeping. Harris’s re-enlistment for a third tour of two months may have been a response to this invasion.
“having arrived in the neighborhood where the british was at Portsmouth Virginia”: As Arnold was returning down the James River, General Friederich von Steuben, commander of Patriot forces in Virginia, was proceeding south to join General Nathanael Greene, who had just taken command of the remnants of the southern Patriot Army after their disastrous defeat at Camden, South Carolina. Steuben, a Prussian Baron, had been drillmaster at Valley Forge and is credited with shaping the Continental Army into an effective force. He hoped to be able to do the same for Greene’s demoralized veterans and new recruits. At the James River, however, Steuben’s troops were routed by Arnold. Arnold then encamped at Portsmouth for the rest of the winter, and in the spring of 1781 he was reinforced with 2000 British troops under Major General William Phillips. As a militiaman, Harris was technically not under the command of Steuben, but the distinction between militia and Continental soldiers was often blurred. In June of 1781 Richard Henry Lee stated in a letter that half the Virginia Militia was to be drafted into the Continental army under General Lafayette.
“our troops took a position close to Portsmouth, about one mile”: After learning of the British reinforcements at Portsmouth, General Washington dispatched General Lafayette to Virginia in command of three Continental regiments and more than a thousand French soldiers. Lafayette did not arrive in time, however, and Steuben’s troops were unable to prevent the British from destroying Petersburg and all the shipping in the river.
“Tarleton defeated us at point fork”: In March 1781 the southern army of Britain under Major General Charles, Lord Cornwallis, had defeated the Patriot southern army under General Nathanael Greene at Guilford Court House, about six miles north of present Greensboro NC. Cornwallis’s victory was a costly one, however, and he was forced to go to Wilmington NC to recover. Greene took the southern army back into South Carolina to remove the British from outposts there. By April Cornwallis resumed his march northward with the aim of taking Virginia. With Cornwallis was Colonel Banastre Tarleton, famous for the lightening attacks of his mounted troops and for his ruthlessness. (Tarleton was the model for the arch-villain in the fictional and inaccurate film The Patriot.) Tarleton sped ahead to outflank Lafayette’s arriving troops and pin them against the main body of Cornwallis’s army, but Lafayette escaped to the interior. Tarleton then turned to Charlottesville, where the government was meeting, and in early June of 1781 he captured several legislators and almost captured the author of the Declaration of Independence at Monticello. In the meantime, Steuben continued to march south in blind obedience to his written orders to join Greene in the Carolinas, even though it was obvious that the enemy was now in Virginia. (Steuben was perceived as abandoning Virginia. Benjamin Harrison, then Speaker of the House of Delegates, remarked that Steuben was “a good officer on the Parade but the worst in every other respect in the American Army.”) Steuben had stored munitions and supplies at Point of Fork where the Fluvanna and Rivanna Rivers join at the head of the James. (Coincidentally this was across the James River from Cumberland County where James Harris was born.) In early June 1781 von Steuben with about 500 Continental soldiers and 400 militia heard that the British were nearby, so they took most of the stores to the south side of James River. On the 4th, Lieutenant Colonel John Simcoe and about 500 mounted troops arrived on the opposite bank, and by giving the appearance of a much larger force they scared off the Patriots with a single shot of cannon. Steuben, already in disfavor, thereafter became an object of ridicule by both civilians and soldiers. Harris’s declaration is incorrect in stating that the victory was Tarleton’s, since he had not yet arrived to reinforce Simcoe.
“this applicant was amediately drafted on the 24th day of July 1781.”: Lafayette, with numerous reinforcements, including drafted militiamen, began to harass Cornwallis’s rear without risking a full-scale engagement. Cornwallis therefore retreated from Richmond and took a defensive stance at Yorktown, where he would have access to reinforcements and supplies by sea. While crossing the James River toward Portsmouth, Cornwallis was attacked by General Anthony Wayne, but without serious consequence. Cornwallis’s plan proved fatal to the British as 7,000 French, 5,700 Continental, and 3,100 militia soldiers closed in and laid siege to the British, and the French fleet arrived in time to prevent evacuation by water. Cornwallis surrendered his army of 7,500 to General Washington on 19 October 1781. Many of the British prisoners were sent to Winchester, and Harris was apparently assigned as a guard during the march.
State of Kentucky
Sct
Floyd County
On this the 26th day of August 1739, Personally appeared Before me, James Harris a Justice of the Peace in deed for the County of Floyd and State aforesaid Patte Harris a resident of Floyd County and State aforesaid aged Eighty four years who being first duly sworn according to law, doth make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefits of the provisions made by an act of Congress passed July 4th 1838. That she is the widow of James Harris deceased, late a resident on the Roll of the State Agency. She further declares that she was lawfully married by publication three times at a Church unto the said James Harris in the County of Buckingham and State of Virginia on the tenth day of May Seventeen hundred and Seventy five (1775) by the Rev William Peasly a Church Minister. She further declares She knows of no recorded evidence of her marriage nor of the ages of her Children, nor does she know of any person now living that was at her wedding. She further declares that her husband the aforesaid James Harris died on the third day of October Eighteen hundred and thirty six (1836) and that she has remained a widow eversince to the present period.
Patte herXmark Harris
The deposition of Samuel Harris a resident of Floyd County and State of Kentucky taken the 26th day of August 1839 to be used as evidence in favor of the application of Mrs. Patte Harris for a pension, Deponent being forty five years old in July last Deposeth and Saith that he is the Son and tenth Child of James Harris deceased and Patte Harris his surviving widow. That he knows his Father the aforesaid James Harris was a pensioner on the roll of the Kentucky Agency at the time of his death and that the said James Harris died on the third day of October Eighteen hundred and thirty Six. That his Mother the aforesaid Patty Harris has remained a widow ever since the death of her Husband the said James Harris. Deponent further Saith that his oldest Sister the Daughter of the Said James & Patte Harris is now Sixty five years old the next oldest Child Sally is now Sixty three years old, the next Oldest is Fanny is now Sixty-One years Old. The balanse of the Children of the said James & Patte Harris came on in rotation of about two years between each child untill they had Eleven Children. This the deponent has understood from his Father & Mother from his earliest recollections and the deponent has know doubt the said James Harris and Patte his now widow was lawfully married for the Deponent has never heard the legality of their marriage doubted by any persons what ever.
[signed] Samuel Harris
State of Kentucky
Sct
Floyd County
The foregoing declaration and deposition was this day severally Sworn to and subscribed by Patte Harris and Samuel Harris before me the undersigned Justice of the peace in and for the County of Floyd and State aforesaid And I certify the said Patte Harris and James Harris are persons of good moral character and persons of truth veracity And I certify that Patte Harris in consequence of old age and bodily infirmity is unable to attend Court.
Given from under my hand this 26 day August 1839
James Harris JPFC
[Certification by Clerk of Court]
The deposition of William Burnet a resident of Floyd County Ky. taken the 27 day of August 1839 to be used as evidence in favor of the application of Mrs. Patte Harris for a pension
Deponent being 76 years old deposeth and saith that 35 years since in the county of Patrick, Va his then residence he became acquainted with James Harris deceased late a resident of Floyd County Ky and a pensioner and his surviveing widow who is now the applicant. On the deponents first acquaintance the said James & Patte had several Children the oldest if now living the deponent would suppose to be 65 years old the rest of the Children seemed to come in regular rotation [two words smudged] two years between the age of each child. The said [smudged] Patte Harris [smudged]. The deponents first acquaintance and has eversince bore as good a character for morality and virtue as any other person of his knowledge and he feels certain the said Spouse[?] Patte Harris was lawfully married for if they had not been he would shurely heard it spoken of as there were many persons in the neighborhood who had been acquainted with the said James and Patte from the time of their marriage. But the deponent never heard the legality of their marriage doubted by any person whatever. And further saith not.
William his mark Burnet
State of Kentucky}
Floyd County Sct}
The deposition of William Burnet was this day sworn to and subscribed by him before me the undersigned Justice of the peace in and for the said County of Floyd and State aforesaid And I certify the said Burnet is a man of good moral character and a person of truth and veracity. Given from under my hand this of August 1839
John B Burnett JPFC
NOTES:
James Harris: Son of James and Patte Harris, born 1785.
Samuel Harris: July 1794 - 4 Jan 1850. His mother, “Patey Harris” aged 85 was with him in the 1840 Floyd County KY census.
Rev William Peasly: Rev. William Peasley moved to Buckingham County after 1764.
William Burnet: William Burnett, born about 1763, was married to the daughter of Henry Thompson and Lucy Harris, sister of James Harris.