PENSION: William Snyder; Germantown, Columbia co., NY submitted by Donald E. Lampson (dlampson @ earthlink.net) ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE: All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** (Declaration of November 21, 1832 of William Snyder) State of New York} }Ss.: Columbia County } On the 21st Day of November 1832 personally appeared in open court before the Justice Court of the City of Hudson now sitting, William Snyder, a resident of the Town of Germantown in the County of Columbia aforesaid and State of New York, aged seventy three years last June, 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, June seventh 1832. That he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers and served as herein written - That when the war of the Revolution broke out he resided in the Town of Germantown where deponent was born in the month of June 1759, and where he has resided ever since he was born. He knows the year in which he was born and his age from the record kept by his father in a large family bible. Deponent has often seen this bible, & the record in it has been destroyed. Deponent cannot recollect the year in consequence of his age & loss of memory, but he believes it was in the year 1775 on the first of September of that year. Deponent entered into the Company of Captain Allen as a Private Soldier for one month and marched from Germantown with the Company to Fishkill and there helped build the Barracks. Deponent remained there serving with the Company for one month , and then, the first of October 1775 deponent was discharged together with the whole Company and returned to Germantown. Did not take any written discharge. Deponent further says that in the month of July 1776 he entered the Company commanded by Captain Diel Rockefeller as a private soldier for one month in the Regiment commanded by Col. Livingston. Jacob Hagadorn was the Lieutenant & Hendrick Will was the Ensign in the Company of Captain Diel Rockefeller. Deponent marched with this Company from Germantown to Schenectady & from there up into Saratoga County ******** through the woods to the town of Saratoga, and quartered in the barracks and remained there in service for one month . There was no fighting while deponent was there and the Company of Captain Rockefeller was discharged in the month of August and deponent was discharged with them & returned home to Germantown. And deponent further says that the first of August 1777 deponent again entered into the Company of Captain Diel Rockefeller as a private soldier. Jacob Hagadorn was the Lieutenant and Hendrick Will was the Ensign in the Regiment commanded by Col. Livingston. And deponent marched from Germantown in the County of Columbia aforesaid and went with the Company to Fort Edward. Deponent cannot remember who the general officers were at Fort Edward. The Company of Capt. Rockefeller did not remain at this Fort, but a short time was obliged to *****. Went to Fort M Allen(?) & from there to Saratoga and from there to Stillwater where we remained until we were discharged, which was between the 20th & 25th of October 1777, and after the surrender of Burgoyne. Deponent was at Stillwater when the battle with Burgoyne commenced & marched from Stillwater to join the American troops engaged in the battle and joined them and remained until after Burgoyne surrendered, and shortly after that deponent and the Company of Capt. Rockefeller was discharged. Deponent was in service this tour two months and a half. And deponent further says that the first of October 1779 he entered as a private soldier in the Company commanded Captain Teal (Diel - the spelling of the name appears in various forms, but it is the same Captain) and marched with said Company from Germantown to Fishkill and Remained there in service for three months under Captain Rockefeller, and on the first of January 1780 deponent was discharged and returned home to Germantown. Deponent recollects that in the Spring of 1776 he marched in Captain Tiel (Diel) Rockefeller's Company from Germantown to Greenbush on the East side of the North River and directly opposite to Albany, and Remained there in service for two weeks and was then discharged with said Company and returned home to Germantown. Deponent further says that he was out during the war after Tories in the County for at least two weeks, making in the whole of his service during the Revolutionary war Eight Months and a half. Deponent has no documentary evidence of his service. He never took any written discharged and he knows of no persons whose testimony he can procure who can testify to his services except John Salpaugh and as to his character John Roody & Simon Rockefeller will state by affidavits. Deponent hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present and declares that his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any State. his /s/ William X Snyder mark Sworn & subscribed the day & year aforementioned /s/ John D. Parker, Clk. (Clerk of the Court) (Certifications of character for veracity by Reverend John Roody and Simon Rockefeller omitted.) (NOTE: While it is clear that William Snyder and his witness John Salpaugh were at the Battles of Saratoga, this file reflects not only the confusion and loss of memory produced by advancing age, but also the confusion produced by the practice of calling out the militia in overlapping partial drafts. Comptroller states in his Introduction to New York in the Revolution as Colony and State: "The Militia was called out when wanted; kept as long as wanted, and the soldiers then sent to their homes. Sometimes a regiment or part of a regiment would be called out a half a dozen times in the course of a year, and again it might not be needed in the entire year. Officers and men seem to have served in different organizations almost indiscriminately. At one call, they were in one regiment or company, and at another call, in another regiment or company. It is, therefore, very difficult to keep trace of them on the different pay-rolls ***." (Emphasis supplied.) However, numerous statements indicate that the 10th Albany Militia Regiment was with the Continental Army of the Northern Department in the Fall of 1777 in opposing Burgoyne's invasion as an organized Regiment under the command first of 2nd Major Samuel Ten Broeck from at least August, and then 1st Major Henry Livingston (later Lt. Col.) from mid September until after the surrender of Burgoyne. Quite a number of the pension files of the veterans of this Regiment state that every Company of the Regiment was present at Saratoga. The pension files show a continuous presence of the Regiment, at least in detachments but possibly as a regiment at partial strength, from early Spring until after the surrender of Burgoyne. Major Samuel Ten Broeck indicate that he commanded the Regiment when it was called out in the early Spring of 1777 and they went to Fort Edward. After a short time there they were discharged. I have no idea what the structure of the Regiment was during the periods that Majors Ten Broeck and Livingston were not in the field commanding it. In addition to the men actually serving with the companies with the Regiment other members of it were detached and serving elsewhere either to the north of Burgoyne or with the Army's train. However that appears to have been a small percentage of the men of the Regiment in the field at the time. Snyder does not mention returning home and then returning to the Army prior to the Battles Saratoga in September 1777. However, William Snyder's name is in the Rockefeller pay roll of September 15-19, 1777 for the men marching back from Germantown, joining the Army in the early hours of the day of the First Battle of Saratoga. Snyder does indicate that he was with the militia that joined the troops that were "engaged" with the enemy when the "battle with Burgoyne commenced", i.e. The first Battle of Saratoga on September 19, 1777. Adam Clum of Rockefeller's Company also states in his pension Declaration that he was in the First Battle with Burgoyne. That clearly places at least a part of the Rockefeller Company as actually engaged in the First Battle of Saratoga on September 19, 1777. To what extent the Regiment, as a part of Gen. Abraham Ten Broeck's organized Albany Militia Brigade, was engage at the Second Battle on October 7, 1777, is not entirely clear to me at the present. Various histories tell us that appearance of Ten Broeck's Brigade marching onto the field caused the British line to break. They were already retreating under the attack of Poor's Continental Brigade. Some in their pension applications indicate that they were engaged while others indicate that they got to the field of battle as the British were retreating. I do have one pension file indicating that at least some of the men then followed General Arnold in the further charges that he led against the British. As for some of the men going home for harvest while others remained with the Army, it is interesting to note that Snyder's witness John Salpaugh's name is not in the Rockefeller payroll for the return march of September 15-19, 1777. It is probable that Saulpaugh was one of the men who joined the Army in August and did not return home for the harvest. In some pension files of the men in this Regiment it clearly stated some stayed with the Army while others were sent home for the harvest. It may be that Snyder's recollection was sufficiently imperfect by 1832 that he had adopted the experience of those who joined the Army in August and remained, while actually he was among those who joined the Army earlier in the Summer rather than in August, went home for the harvest, and then returned to the Army in September. From this file and other files, it appears that the two groups of Rockefeller's Company were together under Captain Rockefeller early on September 19, 1777, and were engaged in the battle that day (the First Battle of Saratoga. --- Note by transcriber, D. E. Lampson, September 1, 2000.) _____________________________________________________________ (Sworn statement of John Salpaugh of November 21, 1832 in pension file of William Snyder.) State of New York} Columbia County }Ss.: City of Hudson } John Salpaugh of the town of Germantown in said county of Columbia and State of New York aforesaid, aged seventy seven years, being first duly sworn according to law in open court before the Justices of the Justices Court in & for the City of Hudson, deposeth and saith that he is seventy seven years of age, and further says that he is has been intimately acquainted with William Snyder as long as he can remember. He says that he lived in Germantown when the Revolution broke out. He was born there & has ever since resided there. In the month of September 1775 deponent and William Snyder, who has sworn to the above declaration, were both in the Company of Captain Allen and marched in his Company from Germantown aforesaid to Fishkill and remained there in service for one month and was there in the month of October of the same year, discharged at Fishkill. That in the month of July 1776 deponent & said William Snyder Entered into the Company of Captain Tiel (Diel) Rockefeller and went to Schenectdy & from there to Saratoga, and deponent knows that said Snyder was out on this tour one month. Deponent was also in the same Company commanded by Capt. Rockefeller with said William Snyder when he went to Fort Edward. That we marched from Germantown in said Company in the month of August 1777. That said William Snyder was out on this tour two months and a half as he has stated in his above declaration. Deponent further says that he was in the service with said Snyder at Fishkill in the year 1779, that he knows that said Snyder was there in service of the United States for three months as he stated in his declaration above. Deponent further says that he was with said William Snyder at Greenbush in the Service of the United States under Teal (Diel) Rockefeller for two weeks as he has stated in his declaration. Deponent further says says that he knows of said William Snyder having been out in pursuit of the Tories in the County of Columbia & Dutchess for several times during the Revolution, but how long he cannot say. Deponent further says that he knows of said William Snyder having been in the service of the United States during the Revolutionary War for Eight months exclusive of the time in which he was in service after the Tories. His /s/ John X Salpaugh Mark Sworn before said Court in Open court this 21 November 1832 /s/ John D. Parker, Clk. (Clerk) (Certifications & opinion of Court omitted.) (NOTE: For a different version of John Salpaugh's service see his pension file.) _____________________________________________________________ WILLIAM SNYDER'S STATEMENT IN CAPT. DIEL ROCKEFELLER'S PENSION FILE: State of New York} Columbia County } SS. I William Snyder of Germantown in the said County being sworn say I am a Revolutionary Pensioner of the United States under Act of 7th June 1832. I am 83 years old. In the War of the Revolution I served under Captain Diel Rockefeller. I was out of the County after tours many times in the War of the Revolution, & I remember at one time we took some tours to Rhinebeck in Dutchess County in this State & I do remember we were out at one time several days. I was the only Wm. Snyder in Capt. Diel Rockefeller's Company. In this service of the Revolution I was under said Rockefeller when Burgoyne was coming down & when he came down & returned home in October after Burgoyne's Surrender. I refer to my former Statement as containing, I believe a true statement of the facts therein contained. John Saulbaugh & Peter Shaver were my (-?-) . I went once to Fishkill under Captain Diel Rockefeller. Sworn & Subscribed before Me this 7th August 1841. Marked by said Wm. Snyder to me Known to be of good character & entitled to Credit. /s/ John Harvey, Justice of the Peace (Note: The tours to Rhinebeck in Dutchess County probably were during the "disturbances" in May 1777. See: Capt Rockefeller's fragmentary payroll in the Nat. Archives & The Memoirs of William Smith. Wm. Snyder is in that payroll for that period.)