Oglethorpe County GaArchives Richard Gregory
Revolutionary War Pension Application
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Richard Gregory
Revolutionary Pension Application

Georgia
Oglethorpe County

On this 3rd day of September eighteen hundred & thirty two, personally
appeared in open court before the Justices of the Inferior Court of said
county & State while sitting for ordinary purposes, Richard Gregory, a
resident of the same place, aged seventy four on the 14th November next, 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 of June in 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 American service against Great Britain in the year 1776,
under such officers & served in such manner as is hereinafter stated.

That he was born in Gloucester County Virginia on the 14th day of November
1758 according to the family record, from whence, & from his parents, he has
derived his information. That after a lapse of between 50 & 60 years it is
impossible for him to remember one half of the different tours of military
service performed by him or the length of their duration in either case.
That he performed many, very many, he well remembers, they were generally
short, say from one to six weeks. Our county of Gloucester being peculiarly
situated, bounded on the E. by the Chesapeake, on the S & SW by York River &
on the N. by Piankatank, besides four other rivers which intersected the
county, all navigable & all subject to the intrusion of the enemy, the
county militia was almost constantly on duty, & at all times in readiness.
Deponent's services during the years '77, '78 & '79 were confined
exclusively to his native county in guarding the mouths of the different
rivers, above mentioned, against the depredations of refugees & Tories, with
whom the Chesapeake abounded. For 7 or 8 months in the year 1780 he served
as a volunteer horseman in a troop commanded by Capt. Dixon. The services
before mentioned were performed under the command of Capt. Mordecai Cooke.
As a volunteer horseman he furnished his own horse & arms, & paid every
expense out of his own pocket. Sir John Peyton was the Col. Commandant of
the Militia of the county of Gloucester during the whole of the
Revolutionary war. From the Fall of 1780 till the capture of Cornwallis in
Yorktown, the command of a militia company devolved on him as its first
Lieutenant, the Captain (Robt. Cary) being unable to perform efficient
service in consequence of a deficiency in one his legs. He recollects
distinctly that on the first day of August '81 the orders from the Colonel
were addressed to the deponent in person, requiring him to march to a place
called Hubard's Fields, where the whole militia of the county were assembled
in order to guard against the predatory incurtions of Tarleton as this
deponent understood. Here we were visited by General Lafayette. At this time
he was in constant & active services under the command sometimes of Col.
John Page of Rosewell, Col. John Taylor of Caroline County at another time,
& perhaps some other officers not remembered by him, till after the capture
of Cornwallis. The whole of the militia and especially that part of the
county where he lived (about ? miles from New Point Comfort) constantly
acted as minutemen, always ready to ---- to any place when so ordered by the
colonel of the county so that in fact this might be considered continual
service during the whole of the Revolutionary war. This deponent does not
know of any man living who can testify accurately concerning these services.
A certain John Owen, living in Greene County in this State, who was under
his command in part of '80 & the whole of '81 was acquainted with this part
of deponent's services, but he (Owen) is said & believed to be incapable of
testifying on account of mental derangement. He believes he may safely
appeal to any of his neighbors to establish his character for veracity, &
will venture to name the following, the Honourable William H. Crawford, the
Honourable George R. Gilmer, Maj. John J. Moore, John Moore, esq. of
Lexington, & the reverend Benjamin Blanton, a venerable Minister of the
Methodist Church, all of Oglethorpe County, & as deponent lived several
years in Greene County, he will without hesitation refer his character for
truth to Col. Thomas F. Foster of Greensboro, an acting delegate in Congress
of the State. This deponent next moved to this State in 1800 & has lived in
Oglethorpe & Greene & now in Oglethorpe. He hereby relinquishes every claim
whatever to a pension or annuity except the present & declares his name is
not on the pension roll of the agency of any State in the Union, and never
did receive a cent for all his services.

Richard Gregory

Sworn to & subscribed the day & year first above written.

William H. Smith, Clerk

We, Benjamin Blanton clergyman residing in the county of Oglethorpe & Joseph
J. Moore residing in the same place; hereby certify that we are well
acquainted with Richd. Gregory who has subscribed & sworn to the above
declaration, that we believe him to be of the age therein stated, that he is
reputed & believed in the neighborhood where he resides to have been a
soldier of the Revolution, & that we concur in that opinion.

Benj. Blanton, MP
Joseph J. Moore

Sworn to & subscribed, the day & year aforesaid.

William H. Smith, Clerk

And the said court do hereby declare their opinion, after the investigation
of the matter, & after putting the interrogations prescribed by the War
Department, that the above named applicant was a Revolutionary soldier &
served as he states. And the court further certifies that it appears to them
that Benjamin Blanton, who has signed the proceeding certificate, a
clergyman resident in Oglethorpe county, & that Joseph J. Moore, who has
also signed the same, is of like residence & is a credible person, & that
their statement is entitled to credit.

P. W. Hutcheson, JIC
John Banks, JIC
Edwd. Cox, JIC

I, William H. Smith, clerk of the court of ordinary, do hereby certify that
the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said court in the
matter of the application of Richard Gregory for a pension. In testimony
whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal of office this third day of
September 1832.
William H. Smith, Clerk

========================

Amended Declaration of Richard Gregory

Georgia
Oglethorpe County

Personally appeared before the undersigned, a Justice of the Peace in & for
said county & State, Richard Gregory who being duly sworn, deposes & says
that by reason of old age & the consequent loss of memory, he cannot swear
positively as to the precise length of his services, but according to the
best of his recollection he served not less than the periods mentioned below
& in the following grades, For eighteen weeks he served as a private under
the command of Capt. Mordecai Cooke, three tours of six weeks each, in the
year 1777. The whole eighteen weeks service were endured in Gloucester
County Virginia, the nature of the service was guarding the country from the
depredations of refugees & Tories who infested the Chesapeake bay & Ware &
Piankatank rivers. His memory fails him as to the precise periods of the
year when these tours were respectively commenced & ended; they were
performed in fact as a militiaman. He also performed several short tours of
the same kind of duty in the years 1778 & 1779, but his recollection is too
vague & indistinct as to their duration to state any further concerning
them. In 1780 he served at least seven months under Capt. Dixon as a
volunteer horseman. His services with horse were generally performed in
Gloucester County Va., but once he recollects in particular part of the
company including himself were out upon dispatches to a place near Bottoms
Bridge about ten miles from Richmond. From thence we continued to
Williamsburg about the time that Philips & Arnold retreated from Virginia to
New York. Between the Fall of 1780 & the first of August 1781, he performed
several tours of duty of a week each at Gloucester Ct. house with the whole
of the militia of the county. Two of which he distinctly recollects from
circumstances that occurred during these two weeks, the command of the
company of fortsman devolved on him as 1st Lieutenant & he continued to
command for two months & nineteen days more during the expeditions to
Hubbard's fields described in his original declaration. After the capture of
Cornwallis he returned his commission in to Sir John Peyton as the custom
was. It is now impossible to establish the fact that he acted under a
commission for two reasons - because Sir John Peyton & all his company are
dead or removed he knows not where, & if there was a record of commission
kept in the county the office was burnt some years ago & all the
records ------, as deponent ascertained when he revisited Gloucester County
Virginia in the Spring of 1826. So he distinctly recollects fourteen months
& nineteen days, besides a great deal more time which he cannot specify, for
which ----- he claims a pension.

Richard Gregory

Sworn to & subscribed before me this 12th day of April 1833.

Henry Jordan, JP

Submitted by Jeanne Arguelles
ejarguelles@msn.com