Guilford County NcArchives Military Records.....Gipson, William 
RevWar - Pension 
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Nancy Poquette npoq@hotmail.com June 16, 2006, 2:20 am

Pension Application Of William Gipson, Natl Archives Microseries M804, Roll 1078, 
Application #S17437.
WILLIAM GIPSON, a resident of Boone County, Indiana:
	“In June or July in the year 1777, he volunteered and entered the 
company of Captain JAMES ARMSTRONG in Rowan County, North Carolina. Besides 
Captain JAMES ARMSTRONG, his company was officered as follows: one SHARP was 
lieutenant, one IRVIN was ensign, and this applicant was first sergeant; the 
company belonged to Colonel WILLIAM ARMSTRONG’s regiment. His company 
volunteered to go down into the lower counties of North Carolina in order to 
drive out and disperse the Tories collecting under one ELI BRANSON. His company 
rendezvoused at Salisbury Courthouse, otherwise known as Rowan Courthouse, two 
days, when they marched. No other company went with them, but General FRANCIS 
LOCKE and the said Colonel WILLIAM ARMSTRONG went in company with them.”
“This applicant, with the company. marched from Rowan Courthouse to Randolph 
Courthouse, thence to Hillsboro, thence to Chatham County, thence up Deep River 
to the Sand Hills. At the latter place the company took several Scots Tories 
and there hung one of them, thence proceeded up Deep River into Moore County, 
where they met with Colonel PHILIP ALSTON’s regiment and marched with his 
regiment about fifteen miles to the Colonel ALSTON’s plantation. He recollects 
there was one Captain JOHN CARRALL and one Major IRVIN belonging to ALSTON’s 
regiment. At ALSTON’s plantation they left his regiment, and applicant’s 
company proceeded low down on the Big Pee Dee River, about the swamps on that 
river, where his company dispersed a collection of Tories.”
	“He then, with his company, marched up that river to the Grassy 
Islands, where the company halted, and his captain took out about thirty men, 
among which number this applicant was one, and went to the lower end of 
Randolph County to take or disperse one HUGH MCPHERSON and his associates, 
Tories, who were there collected and forming into a band to commit 
depradations.”
“This force of thirty men ranged through the lower part of Randolph and 
Rockingham Counties and went to a Quaker Meetinghouse in the latter county, 
where they took one CAMPBELL, a lieutenant in MCPHERSON’s company, and from 
thence immediately started to meet the balance of his company left in command 
of Colonel ARMSTRONG (General LOCKE having returned home when the company were 
at Randolph County on their march out), and they proceeded on their journey 
about four days, when at night some disaffected persons in their detachment, as 
it was supposed, turned CAMPBELL loose, and he made his escape.”
“The company then proceeded and joined Colonel ARMSTRONG in the lower end of 
Rowan County, on the Yadkin River, and then proceeded home, where he arrived 
about the last of November or first of December to the best of his 
recollection, making a campaign of about six months, the term for which he 
volunteered. During his absence, his mother, a widow woman, was tied up and 
whipped by the Tories, her house burned, and property all destroyed.”
	“This applicant would now set forth his second tour of duty as a 
soldier of the Revolution. In the month of March or April, but the precise 
month not now recollected, in the year 1778, General LOCKE ordered Colonel 
ARMSTRONG with the same company, or detachment, to march to the upper parts of 
South Carolina, on the waters of the Pee Dee River, to disperse certain Tories 
then in that neighborhood collected. This applicant, with his company under the 
same colonel, captain, and other company officers (except he declined serving 
as sergeant), in pursuance of the general’s order, in the year and one of the 
months as above stated, met at General LOCKE’s, the above place of destination 
being about sixty or seventy miles from Rowan Courthouse.”
‘That he thinks sometime in the month of May, but is not certain, he and his 
companions in arms on some small branch of the Pee Dee or Yadkin engaged with a 
number of Tories, and in the engagement Colonel ARMSTRONG received a shot in 
the hips which penetrated through and through. In this engagement, there were 
three of his company wounded and several killed, to the best of his 
recollection. The Tories were driven and a number killed and wounded. They were 
commanded, to the best [of] his recollection, by one BRYAN, and [he] is certain 
the Tory company were a squadron of BRYAN’s men. Colonel ARMSTRONG was taken 
home, where he shortly thereafter, to the best of his recollection, died with 
his wounds above described, and after the engagement above related, this 
applicant and his company in about three weeks returned home nearly direct from 
a little town in South Carolina called Charlotte.”
“The company marched to General LOCKE’s in Rowan County, and there, this 
applicant received a discharge from the general including his first term of 
service of six months and the last tour of duty, three months, which was 
certified in the same discharge. The last campaign he thinks, terminated in the 
months of July or August and made nine months which he had then served his 
country in the cause of independence. But the discharge showing these two terms 
of service, this applicant regrets to say, were not esteemed as valuable as the 
prosperity of his country and the gratitude of the present generation have 
since made it, and he in a short time afterwards lost or mislaid the same and 
has no knowledge at this time of its existence.”
	“Sometime in the winter of 1779, this applicant’s family having 
suffered greatly by the disaffected party called Tories, his home and patrimony 
having been almost entirely destroyed in consequence of the attachment of 
himself and his brother to the cause of independence, he joined a very small 
party of Whigs who had been more or less harassed and inspired by the 
disaffected, which party were headed by one RISDEL MOORE (Colonel), Captain 
JOHN HALEY, Lieutenant ELIJAH CHARLES, Ensign ELISHA CHARLES, and others of 
Guilford County, North Carolina. This party ranged through Guilford, Randolph, 
and Surrey Counties.”
	“That sometime in the summer of 1779, at one WILLIAM BRAZELTON’s in 
Guilford County, he and his party were in the house, when suddenly two armed 
men stood at the door. They, seeing the party within, immediately wheeled, and 
Colonel MOORE knocked down one of the men, who proved to be the notorious HUGH 
MCPHERSON, a Tory. His party soon took the other one, who proved to be one 
CAMPBELL and brother to the CAMPBELL taken prisoner and made his escape during 
the first campaign above related. His party took both of these Tories to 
Guilford Courthouse, about fifteen miles from the place of capturing them. 
There, a court-martial was held, composed of the officers of his party, and 
MCPHERSON was condemned and shot in the presence of this applicant. And 
CAMPBELL was condemned to be spicketed, that is, he was placed with one foot 
upon a sharp pin drove in a block, and was turned round by one THOMAS ARCHER, 
to the best of his recollection, until the pin run through his foot. Then he 
was turned loose.”
“This applicant cannot forbear to relate that as cruel as this punishment might 
seem to be to those who never witnessed the unrelenting cruelties of the Tories 
of that day, yet he viewed the punishment of those two men with no little 
satisfaction, as they were then supposed to belong to the identical band who 
inhumanly inflicted corporal punishment upon his helpless parent, who had 
committed no other offense than that of earnestly exhorting her sons to be true 
to the cause of American liberty. So notorious was the conduct of this 
applicant and his party towards the Tories of that neighborhood, that they were 
compelled to range the country, not daring to return home to stay anytime or 
separate until about Christmas 1779, where he stayed for the most part of his 
time until about October or November 1780.”
	“In the months of October or November 1780, there was to the best of 
the applicant’s recollection, a call for a regiment of men in the counties of 
Guilford, Randolph, and MOORE, and Colonel PHILIP ALSTON and Captain CARRALL 
wrote from Moore County, where they resided, to Guilford County, where he 
resided, requesting him to join their regiment to go to the southward. And this 
applicant, upon receiving this letter, went without delay to Colonel ALSTON’s, 
and in about two weeks after his arrival the regiment was made up, and on or 
about the first of November, 1780, the regiment marched, as it was then said, 
to join General GREENE’s army. They crossed the Pee Dee at the Grassy Islands, 
thence towards Columbia, South Carolina, and within a short distance of that 
place, had a slight brush with the enemy. Thence they marched towards Camden, 
crossed the Wateree River above Camden, thence towards the Congaree, where his 
regiment joined General PICKENS’ regiment, who took command, crossed this 
stream below Columbia, South Carolina, thence they marched towards Savannah, 
crossed Briar Creek, and within a few miles of the crossing of that creek they 
joined the main army commanded by General GREENE, thence down to the mouth of 
Briar Creek, where the American army halted and the British army came up and 
gave battle [per Heitman, March 3, 1779]. This applicant was [in the] 
engagement. He was close by Colonel ALSTON when he hoisted a white handkerchief 
upon the hilt of his sword as a signal of his surrender, and this applicant, 
with twenty or thirty of his regiment, including Colonel ALSTON, were taken 
prisoners, and a great number, but how many he does not recollect, were taken 
prisoners from other regiments.”
	“The prisoners in a few days were marched towards Savannah, and this 
applicant with the rest were there confined in an old ship called “the old 
Roebuck” which was placed at a considerable distance out in the bay. He thinks 
about five hundred prisoners were in the ship, including what were in before 
with the number captured at the mouth of Briar Creek. This applicant well 
remembers the severity of this imprisonment. He and his fellow sufferers were 
daily tempted to enlist into the king’s army by gold and promise. A great many 
listed, and many died with disease.”
	“After he had endured for better than a month his imprisonment, Colonel 
ALSTON proposed to him and several others, particular and personal friends, to 
make their escape from the ship by throwing certain scantling out of the 
portholes. This project was accordingly, about ten or eleven o’clock that 
night, put in execution by the colonel by throwing a few pieces of scantling 
out as proposed. The colonel got out, and this applicant alone followed him, 
the others not venturing the hazardous enterprise.”
“This applicant, placing himself upon a piece of scantling, followed his brave 
colonel, and together with him, as a good Providence would have it, this 
applicant was after some little effort and the aid of the tide, which was then 
favorable, carried to land safe. He and the colonel entered a swamp, and where 
they wandered that night. At daylight they were directed by the sound of an ax 
to a Negro man who was boating wood, or rather towing it out with a canoe. The 
colonel soon made an agreement with the Negro to set him and this applicant 
upon a certain point, not now recollected, and the colonel was to carry the 
Negro to the British and set him free as a reward for his services, and they 
were accordingly taken to the place.”
“They then left the canoe in the care of the Negro, promising him to return 
soon and fulfill the agreement. That day, after the Negro landed them, they 
lazed about plantations, then being in the enemy’s country, until night, when 
the colonel left the applicant and went to a house where he procured a piece of 
meat and returned. They attempted, dark as it was, to travel on towards the 
upper part of South Carolina.”
“After several days, they arrived at one HUGHES’, an acquaintance of the 
colonel. He furnished the colonel with a Negro, a horse, money, and clothes, 
and with this applicant, proceeded to the Waxhaws settlement to the widow 
Jackson’s, mother of the now venerable president of the United States, to the 
best of this applicant’s present belief. At the widow Jackson’s they stayed two 
days. There at the hands of the old lady, they both received a suit of clothes, 
and the colonel was furnished also by her with a horse to ride home.”
	“They arrived at the colonel’s residence in Moore County late in the 
winter of 1780. There, the colonel gave this applicant a discharge, and he 
thinks the last of February, 1781, making about four months. This discharge he 
also shortly after lost. He returned home to Guilford County and there stayed a 
few days, but such was the notoriety of his sentiments and feelings and 
attachment to the cause of liberty among the Tories that he did not feel safe 
to continue there but for a few days.”
	“And about the first of March, 1781, with one Captain THOMAS HAMILTON 
with about fourteen or fifteen others, volunteered to go and meet the main army 
under General GREENE, then retreating before the British. They met the main 
army at Charlotte, North Carolina. Their little squad kept along near the main 
army for several days, until they arrived at Salisbury, and continued on in the 
same manner until they arrived at the Moravian towns, and thence through 
Guilford County, crossed the Haw River at the High Rock Ford, thence to Halifax 
Old Town in the state of Virginia, where GREENE’s army was reinforced. And the 
British retreated, and the American army following, recrossed the Haw River at 
the same place where the British burned their wagons, but this applicant’s 
party arrived on the ground before they were entirely burned.”
“Next morning, Captain HAMILTON of this applicant’s party had a little 
engagement with the flanks of the British, and this applicant had his horse 
shot from under him, lost his pistols, sword and cap, and made his escape back 
to the main army. Captain HAMILTON procured a horse and equipment for this 
applicant, and he was again mounted; thence they proceeded to Guilford 
Courthouse and the British to Deep River Meeting House, and at these two places 
the two armies lay preparing for battle several days.”
	“The fourteenth of March, to the best of his recollection, Captain 
HAMILTON advised his party to join Colonel LYTLE’s company, and the party 
accordingly fell in upon the wing of LYTLE’s regiment. And on the fifteenth he 
was engaged in the Battle at Guilford Courthouse. With army, retreated to 
Troublesome Ironworks on the waters of [Troublesome] River, where they 
rendezvoused for one day with the main army, when, with Captain HAMILTON’s 
squad, they again returned to near Guilford Courthouse and there discovered the 
British to be upon the move.”
“They returned back to the main army but found them just ready to proceed after 
the British. His party continued to follow the main army, Camped with it (if 
not out at night) for several days, when GREENE turned again for South 
Carolina. HAMILTON, with his party, left the main army and went down into North 
Carolina, to one Colonel CRUMP’s, who commanded a regiment of militia, where 
this applicant with HAMILTON’s party stayed some days, perhaps a week.”
	“Then they crossed the Pee Dee in South Carolina, joined a party 
commanded by one MARION, with whom they stayed about two weeks, caught one 
Tory, who was left with MARION to deal with. Then HAMILTON’s party went again 
to General GREENE’s army, laying between the Wateree and Congaree. When they 
came to the army, they were preparing to march to the Eutaw Springs [Per 
Heitman, Battle of Eutaw Springs, September 8, 1781], where the British army 
then lay.”
“The day after they arrived, the army moved towards the Springs. HAMILTON’s 
party continued to flank the main army until the day before the engagement at 
the Springs, when they attached themselves to [Colonel] WASHINGTON’s corp of 
horse and entered the engagement with the corps. The horse broke through the 
brush breastworks enclosing the springs. WASHINGTON was taken prisoner, and 
they retreated back about five miles upon the same road upon which they had 
marched to the engagement.”
“There the party under HAMILTON again left the main army and went back towards 
the Springs to take observations of the enemy, whom they found retreating, and 
they returned again towards GREENE’s army, and found him advancing towards the 
Springs. They proceeded, with the Americans harassing the British until the 
latter took shelter in Charleston.”
“GREENE marched them up to what was called “the Four Holes” to winter, and a 
short time after this, going into winter quarters, the army had cause to 
celebrate and rejoice at the fall of LORD CORNWALLIS, and soon after this 
memorable event, this applicant took sick, went about four miles from the main 
army, and lay at a private house all winter sick, and in the meantime his party 
under HAMILTON returned to North Carolina.”
	“In March or April he went into camp, where he found that HAMILTON had 
left a discharge with one Colonel [blank] of the regular army and a 
recommendation or paper certifying the good conduct of this applicant, both of 
which this applicant lost or mislaid in a very few years. He returned home the 
summer of 1782 on foot, having the winter before, lost his horse."

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