REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION APPLICATION - ROBERT PARIS --------------------------------------------------------------------- Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives: Submitted by: Sharon Pierpont (sap67209@aol.com) Date: Friday, July 12, 2002 7:58 AM Subject: REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION APPLICATION - ROBERT PARIS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- **************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by non-commercial entities as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format or presentation by other organizations or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or his legal representative and then contact the listed USGENWEB archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net. ***************************************************************************** THIS IS THE ACTUAL APPLICATION FOR PENSION - - - Revolutionary War (Not responsible for spelling and/or grammar.) ROBERT PARIS VIRGINIA S 31,287 Shelby County, Kentucky. December 1, 1833, age 83. States that he was a resident of Montgomery County, Virginia when he entered the service as a private volunteer soldier in September 1774, as well as he remembers, and was attached to the company of Captain Campbell; that he rendezvoused with his company at the house of Captain Campbell in Montgomery County, Virginia, that the tour was for 3 months under command of Col Lewis who designed an expedition against the Indian settlements on the Kohawa River. They having committed some depredations upon the frontier settlements and having engaged in open hostilities; that he marched with the rest of said men from their place of rendezvous upon said expedition and upon their march on the waters of New River. He, this declarant, received a severe injury in his right leg by a fall and could in consequence threof proceed with the troops no further but was compelled to remain behind and await the return of the party that they had afterwards as he was informed a skirmish with the Indians on the Kohawa River when said Lewis the commander was killed: that the detachment at last returned and with its assistance he was enabled to return: that he continued afterwards with his company until the expiration of his tour but was unable to perform any active military duty during it's continuance after he received the aforesaid injury - - -says that in March 1775 again entered the service as a volunteer for 3 months in a company of Captain Thompson, that he still resided in the said County of Montgomery: that he rendezvoused with the company to New River and was stationed at a small fort or station near a place called Long Island, for the purpose of guarding and defending the frontiers from the Indians who were exceedingly troublesome: that while he was at said point he was engaged upon various scouting parties directed against the Indians and was indeed actively employed in that kind of warfare against them during the main and principal part of his term of service and when his tour had expired having fully and faithfully served out the same, he was discharged and returned to his home. Says that on July 24, 1775, he entered upon an expedition to Kentucky under Daniel Boone: that there were only ten effective men in company and they left the said County of Montgomery on the said day and marched through the country and finally landed at Boonesboro on the Kentucky River at which place there was at that time a small fort, that he continued at said place guarding it except when absent on scouting and spying parties, which was frequently the case for about the period of four months and then returned to his home in Montgomery County, Virginia. Says that his services upon this trip or expedition were those of a volunteer. States that early in the spring of the year 1776, he thinks in March or April of that year the Indians again became very troublesome upon the frontier comprising the section of country where he lived - - his residence still being in Montgomery County, Virginia, and that he volunteered against them and accordingly returned to the service and was engaged almost constantly during the residue of the spring of said year and the following Summer and Fall in scouting parties against them, which were largely headed by Captain Campbell and also a spy, says he served 5 months that his services were almost constant, the situation of the frontier and disposition of the Indians required unremitting attention. Further states that in 1777 in the spring, the situation on the settlements in his quarters of the country was no better than it was in the year proceeding: that the Indians were still hostile and frequently committed depredation upon them, sometimes stealing their horses and every once in awhile butchering some of the inhabitants, that in consequence thereof, the service of the able bodied men were in almost constant requisition from the later part of the winter to the first part of the spring until the later part of the fall of that year comprising a period of nearly or quite nine months and that he, this declarant, being young man intermission during the whole of said period in spying and scouting parties against them. - - He is sure that he is within the bounds of truth when he says that he was engaged in less than six months in active and actual service against them as a spy and upon scouting parties during the spring - summer and fall of the said year 1777, says Captain Campbell was an active Indian fighter and commanded the scouting parties upon several occasions in which this declarant was engaged. Says further that a brother of his (this declarant) was also a captain and that his said brother was also very active exertions to protect the settlements and that he was often the leader of parties in which the declarant was one, he states that during the winter season the Indians commonly gave them little or no interruption, that it was only in the open season of the year generally that they were to be dreaded and guarded against. Says that in 1778 he was engaged as in the proceeding year in endeavoring to protect the country from depredations of the Indians. That he was also much engaged that year to wit: 1778 in active service against the Indians as a spy and scout, that his services were performed in the spring, summer and fall of the year: that he is confident that he could not have performed less than four months active service as such during said year: that his said services as a spy and scout or ranger against the Indians during the said year 1778 were performed under Captain Campbell and Captain Paris. That in the month of May 1779 as well as he now remembers he again entered the service of the U.S. as a private volunteer soldier under Captain Campbell upon a tour of 3 months: that the company met at the house of Campbell and he was marched by him to the vicinity of New River where the Indians had been committing some depredations: that he continued in the service against the Indians endeavoring to repel and punish their depredations, during the whole of his said tour and when the same was fully ended, he returned home to Montgomery County, Virginia where he still resided. States that early in the spring of the year 1780 he moved from Montgomery County, VA. to Green County, N.C. which now composes part of the State of Tennessee: That his said company rendezvoused at the muster guard and came under command of Col William Campbell, who had also under his command various other militia companies: that they were marched from their said places of rendezvous up the country and in a few days were joined by other men under command of Col Sevier and Col Shelby and Col Cleveland: that they then marched in pursuit of the British and Tories under the command of Col or General Ferguson and finally came up with him at King's Mountain where a severe engagement took place in which Ferguson men and many of the men were killed and a good many prisoners taken: that he continued in service after this action until the expiration of his said tour of duty and was then discharged and returned to his home in said Green County, N.C. - - -Says that in 1781, in June he again entered service as a private volunteer soldier in a troop of Cavalry, under Captain Richardson upon a tour of 3 months, that his company rendezvoused at a place called Knox on Hoston and there came under command of Col Martin and were marched against the Indians at what was then called the lower Chickamunga towns, that they destroyed their huts and corn and upon the route 3 of the Americans killed and five wounded, that after destroying their corn they were marched back again and the Indians fled on at a distance and a few days after the return of the party Indians commenced a series of depredations upon the settlements and by means there of kept this declarant constantly engaged in active service during the whole period of his said tour and when the same was fully and completely ended he was discharged and returned home. - - -States that during the year 1782 and 1783, he was frequently engaged in parties against the Indians under the command of Captain Richardson and Sawyer, that he also acted a part of each one of those years as an Indian spy, he thinks not less than two months in each year, and he thinks he did not serve on the parties named above less than two months, as a spy and two months upon scouting parties, in 1782 and in similar service in 1783, amounting in all, for both said years to 8 months. - - -States that it has been his fortune from his first arrival at manhood until 1793 to be a resident in the frontier settlements and amongst those who were exposed to the incursions of the Indians: that his own safety and that of his family and his neighbors required of him the most active exertion during a great part of the time. - - -Said he was born in Botetourt County, Virginia October 3, 1750, he remained in Green County, N.C. until 1793 when called into the service from the early part of the year 1780 until the conclusion of the war in 1793, I moved from that county and state to Madison County, Kentucky, now Gerrard County, Kentucky and about ten years afterwards moved to where I now live, in Shelby County, KY. - - I recollect that Col Shelby was with us upon the tour against the British and Tories and upon that tour the battle of King's Mountain was fought. - - Robert received his pension, $80.00, 4 January 1834 at age 84)