Guilford-Orange County NcArchives Military Records.....Clark, Thomas Revwar - Pension ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Nancy Poquette npoq@hotmail.com June 18, 2006, 1:46 pm Constructed History Of Captain Thomas Clark SAMUEL GANN, Sr-“That he was living in Guilford County, N. Carolina at the time of the Revolutionary War, and entered the service of the Unites States as a private soldier, the year not now recollected (but it was to go against the British who were in South and North Carolina (under LORD CORNWALLIS, LORD RAWDON and TARLETON) for a term of three or six months, he is not certain which, under the following named officers (viz.), Capt. THOMAS COOK, Lt. JOHN COOK, and Ensign THOMAS CRAWLEY [another pension app, John Paisley’s, has called this officer THOMAS CLARK, and in Crawley’s own pension application he does not speak of being a captain, nor do his terms of service coincide with the service presented below.].” “Joined the regiment under the following field officers at Guilford Courthouse: DAVIE was Colonel, Cmt. DE BRISBOURN, Lieutenant Colonel, and WHITE was our Major. Were marched on to Salisbury in Rowan County, where we first under the command of Brigadier General DAVIDSON. This officer was killed in a short time after this by the British, not far from the Catawba River. From Rowan, we marched on, to the County of Mecklenburg, where we met with the British at Charlotte Courthouse and had a battle with them. The enemy were too strong for us and our troops were defeated [per Heitman, September 26, 1780], after which we had a great many skirmishes with the British and Tories.” “Sometime after this, we had an engagement with the Tories at Waxhaw Creek, S.C. DAVIE and BRISBANE conducted that expedition, which proved successful. We defeated them [per Heitman, May 29, 1780-occurred before the Battle of Charlotte] and took forty-seven horse, saddles and bridles. In a short time afterwards, our term of service having expired, were marched to Salisbury and discharged. I was drafted again in a short time after reaching home. But the _______ of my crops required that I should stay at home and take care of it, or lose it. I hired a substitute in my place.” “But in a very short time thereafter, another draft ed___, and I stood my tour, and went into service for a term of three months. Fortunately for me, I fell under the same officers [Capt. THOMAS COOK, Lt. JOHN COOK, Ens. THOMAS ‘CLARK’]. JAMES HILTON-“During his four years service as a minute man in the Light Horse, for he served in no other capacity than a Light Horseman, he was under the following named officers: Captain MCADOW, Captain MOORE and Captain CLARK. “He then joined Captain MOORE’s company of Light Horse or mounted men, and served with him in actual service about the same length of time, then MOORE was promoted in some way, and Captain CLARK took command of us, and he served with him until the end of the war. He is fully convinced that he was with CLARK in actual service upwards of five months.” “We had a skirmish in Randolph County when we took five or six prisoners and some arms, and several killed [This may have occurred under Capt. Thomas Clark.] We had a fight with Tories at the Soapstone Mountains [possibly under Captain Thomas Clark] when we dispersed them, and a skirmish with [___] at a place called Tory Town [possibly under Captain Thomas Clark].” “Cousin JOHN PEASLEY [PAISLEY]-“He states that some months after he returned home from this tour, there was a company of what was then called ‘New Levees,’ raising in the County of Guilford, North Carolina, where this applicant resided, in which company he volunteered for the term of nine months, under the command of ALEXANDER MARTIN, Maj. JOHN NELSON, and Captain DAVID COWAN. He states that all those who would serve nine months as above stated, once ______a discharge for the same would be exempted from serving any other tour for the sum of three years. He states that he volunteered as aforesaid and rendezvoused at Guilford Courthouse in said county and was marched as [far] north as Moore’s Creek in the state of North Carolina near the Virginia line. Then he states the troops were furloughed until a further call, with orders to hold themselves in readiness to march immediately when called.” “He states that he remained home about six months on said furlough when he, with others were called on to march to South Carolina. He states that the troops again assembled at Guilford Courthouse under the same officers as before stated, with the exception of Colonel [ALEX] MARTIN and Lt. CLARK. Colonel ARCHIBALD LYTLE took the command in the room of the said Col. MARTIN, and Lt. CLARK in the room of Lt. _____ [name not given] whose name he does not now recollect. He states they were marched through North Carolina and South Carolina, to a small village on Savannah River in South Carolina called Purysburg, where he joined Headquarters or the militia of South Carolina under the command of Gen. SUMTER; where there was a company of light infantry called for to march up the Savannah River, on the South Carolina side to prevent the British from crossing over the said river into North Carolina; and he states he was marched up said river as high as opposite Augusta where the British camped for about the space of two weeks. When they (the British) left that place and marched back down the said river again. Then he states that the American troops crossed the river at that place.” “ARCHIBALD LYTLE being his colonel and JOHN NELSON being Major and Lt. MCCALLEY (the Captain not being recollected, Captain DAVID COWAN having resigned previous to his march up river [Perhaps Lt. CLARK was promoted to captain when DAVID COWAN resigned]) took the command of his regiment in Augusta. And marched down the river after the British had crossed on a bridge and after crossing, had burned it down, and marched up said creek recrossed and attacked the American army troops in the fork between said [Briar] Creek and Savannah River, where there was a battle fought between the Americans and English in which the Americans were defeated [per Heitman, March 3, 1779]. The Americans recrossed said river at Matthews Bluff and joined General LINCOLN’s command cover? of regulars at or near said bluff.” “He states that he was then placed under the command of Captain WILLIAM GOODMAN and Colonel MALMEDY, a French officer, Colonel LYTLE was continued under General LINCOLN. Major DIXON took the command in place of Major JOHN NELSON, and his former Lt. THOMAS CLARK was also continued. He was then marched in various directions under the command of said officers until the army was halted at a small creek called Edisto, near Stono.” “Then the American army to which he belonged under the command of General LINCOLN attacked the British in their entrenchments at Stono, which battle lasted near two hours, a close engagement [per Heitman, June 20, 1779]. He states that he was then a sergeant [to] Captain GOODMAN, which afforded him an opportunity of ascertaining the number of killed and wounded. He states that in said engagement the Americans lost 64 killed and 96 wounded. The American army retreated in order to draw the British out of their entrenchment, but they being reinforced, the American army did not make a second attack. The British then left their entrenchment the next day after the battle, and the Americans buried their dead (He does not recollect whether the British were commanded by General HOWE or CLINTON); from which place he was marched to Ashley River near Charleston, South Carolina, where he remained some time.” Additional Comments: Constructed History is my term for a soldier who did not file for a pension himself, but about whom there is enough evidence from other soldiers to form an equivalent to a pension application. Most of the testimony comes from other men mentioning the officer or non-comm. officer, but in some cases, the actual soldier himself testified on behalf of other men, thus revealing his own history. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/guilford/military/revwar/pensions/clark304gmt.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/ File size: 8.5 Kb