Guilford County NcArchives Military Records.....McCuiston, Thomas 
Revwar - Pension 
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Nancy Poquette npoq@hotmail.com June 17, 2006, 2:36 am

Pension Application Of Thomas McCuistin, Natl Archives Microseries M804, Roll 1674, Application #S8885
THOMAS MCCUISTON, a resident of Guilford County, NC, aged 70 years:
	“That he entered the service of the United States in the first of the 
year 1781. That General GREENE on his retreat from South Carolina in the first 
of the year 1781 on to Virginia, passed through Guilford, and from the general 
disturbance of the county and the disaffection of the citizens in part of 
Guilford County, this affiant joined General GREENE’s army in its retreat and 
went on as far as Charlotte Courthouse, Virginia, where he remained for a short 
time and left the army and returned home to Guilford County.”
	“On the return of the army of General GREENE to North Carolina, this 
affiant volunteered and joined the army, when he was ordered to take charge of 
a wagon pressed into service belonging to ____ CRAWFORD of Mecklenburg County, 
NC. and was principally engaged attending the foraging parties in hauling 
provisions in to the army. That he was thus engaged at the time the two armies 
met at Guilford Old Courthouse.”
“That he had been dispatched with his wagon from the army a day or two before 
the battle, while it was lying between Haw River and Troublesome Creek for the 
purpose of getting meal at Brashear’s Mill on Troublesome Creek, and on his 
return ascertained that the army had moved towards the courthouse at a place 
called the [Holt’s] Race-Paths.”
“That on the next morning when the firing commenced near to Quaker Meeting 
House, a general consternation took place, all cooking preparations were 
dispensed with, and after the firing seemed to approach nearer, the wagon-
master as he was called, enquired if any person knew the road to Troublesome 
Ironworks, when this affiant answered that he did. When all the baggage and 
provision wagons were ordered to repair to that place, that he rendezvoused at 
that place with the army where General GREENE expected to be again attacked by 
the British horse, and made preparations in that purpose.”
“While the army there lay stationed at the Ironworks, this declarant together 
with two armed soldiers as a guard, was being engaged in collecting provisions 
from the more fertile country over upon Dan River, where the country had not 
been foraged by the army. DAVID ALLISON was the commissary who pressed 
provisions and was the cause of this declarant getting many a hearty scald from 
the stingy and prudent matrons of that section of country. That after General 
GREENE had rested his troops and procured a sufficient supply at the Ironworks, 
and learning that CORNWALLIS had turned to march towards Hillsboro, then the 
capitol of North Carolina, he immediately marched his army towards the south.”
“A few days before he reached Ramsay’s Mills on Deep River, this declarant was 
released from service by his father, who came down from the neighborhood of the 
battleground and he told General GREENE that on the Friday evening before the 
battle, LORD CORNWALLIS had marched up to his house conducted by a parcel of 
Tories, some of whom now live in the neighborhood, and expelled his family out 
of the house and kitchen, and gave to this declarant’s mother and the smaller 
children, a lean-to which stood in the yard and stationed his army on the 
plantation, who burned up nearly all the fencing and left his plantation wholly 
unfit for a crop, and his family without the necessary means of subsistence, 
and his furniture was taken away or destroyed. Upon this representation, 
General GREENE granted the request and suffered the declarant to return home 
with his father. This declarant states that he was in actual service five weeks 
in this campaign in the manner above stated.”
“The declarant further states that upon his return home from General GREENE’s 
army which was the last of March or first of April, he aided his father in 
putting his plantation in repair and joined some time in the last of April, a 
company of volunteer light horse, which had been formed by the neighborhood at 
an early period of the war, commanded by Captain GILLESPIE and Colonel PAISLEY, 
which company were generally kept in readiness to suppress the Tories in the 
lower part of Guilford and in Orange and also frequently under the necessity of 
crossing Deep River and passing over into Randolph and Moore Counties, a 
section of country lying between the waters of the Cape Fear River and Pee Dee, 
much infected by Toryism during the whole war. That he was engaged in serving 
in this company at various times and was in actual service three months.”
“That sometime between the 15th and last of August, there was a call made for 
forces to march from the upcountry to suppress a strong band of Tories who had 
gathered between the Cape Fear River and the South Carolina line. When this 
declarant joined his company under the command of Captain GILLESPIE and marched 
on either to the lower end of Montgomery or Moore County, where they joined two 
companies of Lighthorse, one from Rowan and the other Mecklenburg County. That 
upon the union of the three companies, Colonel SMITH of Mecklenburg took 
command of the horse and General BUTLER had command of the infantry, who were 
dispatched for the same purpose.”
“Colonel SMITH marched on his cavalry and left the infantry behind. That they 
went to a place called the Raft Swamps, where they found about three hundred 
Tories assembled near the edge of the swamp, when orders were given by Colonel 
SMITH to charge and spare not. Upon the charge, the Tories took flight and 
sought refuge in the swamp, leaving their horses and little provisions behind. 
All were killed who could be come at, some sought refuge by a narrow causeway 
which led through the swamp and in the hurry of flight, many were thrown from 
the passage with their horses into the mud and water where the horses were left 
floundering in mud and their riders shared the fate of war.”
“That after this defeat, Colonel SMITH marched his troops through the low 
country in the vicinity of Wilmington and scoured pretty much all the 
disaffected sections of the lower counties, passed through Elizabethtown and 
upon the completion of the object of the campaign, Colonel SMITH dismissed each 
of his respective troops and Captain GILLESPIE marched his company home to 
Guilford and dismissed them in November. That he served in this campaign two 
months and one half. It was in this tour that he learned of the capture of 
CORNWALLIS. That the intelligence reached his company while at Elizabethtown.”
“After the return home in November from the eastern part of the state, this 
declarant was frequently called upon to join his company under Captain 
GILLESPIE to suppress the Tories in the south of Guilford and Randolph 
Counties. That he served in this character six weeks at different periods which 
continued until the British evacuated Charleston, when the spirit of Toryism 
seemed forever to have closed itself in ____ in this state. That he served in 
his different campaigns eight months.”
	“This declarant further states that WILLIAM RYAN whose affidavit is 
hereto attached was with him the greater part of the service herein set forth. 
That he knows of one or two other old men who could testify to the same, but 
who are too aged to attend court without inconvenience…”
	“…That he never received a written discharge as General GREENE in the 
first instance gave him up to his father, and Captain GILLESPIE and Colonel 
PAISLEY were not in the habit of giving written discharges.”

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