MARLBORO CO., SOUTH CAROLINA - REV WAR - ODOM, Willis ************************************************ SCGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/sc/scfiles.htm Contributed to the SCGenWeb Archives by: Nancy Poquette May 27, 2006 ************************************************ Pension Application Of Willis Odom, Natl Archives Microseries M804, Roll 1838, Application #S16993 Graves County, Kentucky, 16th January 1834, Willis Odom, aged 71 years: “He states that he was born in the Cheraws District in the state of South Carolina, in the month of May, 1762…He states that he was raised in the said district of Cheraws…at which place he first entered the service of the United States in the month of April 1778 as a private volunteer militia man and joined a company of volunteers under Captain James Hicks, with whom he marched down the country towards the seacoast until they reached the neighborhood of the Waccamaw Bay when this declarant, with the whole company returned to Cheraws and the declarant and the whole company were simply dismissed from the service by Captain Hicks. He states that Captain Hicks was the commanding officer on the expedition in the month of April 1778. He would remark that this volunteer ____ was caused by an alarm that a portion of what was called the Tory population was about to rise.” “He states that he was next drafted to serve as a private militia man for the period of one month and that he entered the service of the United States in that capacity under Captain ___ Evans in the said District of Cheraws, state aforesaid in the month of October 1778. He was stationed under Captain Evans on the Peedee River at a place called Cheraw Hills, under whom and at which place he remained in the service of the United States one month at the end of which period this declarant and the whole company were verbally discharged by Captain Evans.” “By way of illustration, he would state that Cheraw Hills was a landing and place of traffic on the Peedee River at which place a wealthy Scotch merchant whose name was John Mitchell resided, who was at that time ___ suspected of being a Tory and that he had from there laid in a large quantity of salt and extremely scarce, and Captain Evans with his company were went there to take the salt for the benefit of the country where they remained guarding the same one month as above stated, at the end of which period the salt was distributed to the neighboring inhabitants and a moderate compensation given to the Scotchman. He states that Captain Evans was the commanding officer upon this occasion and that no others but his company was employed.” “This declarant states that after he was discharged by Captain Evans, he went to live with his brother in Edgefield District, state of South Carolina, where he again entered the service of the United States as a volunteer private, mounted militia man under Captain Francis Sinkfield. He engaged with Captain Sinkfield for the term of 3 months and entered in the month of December 1779. Captain John Carter raised a volunteer mounted company in Edgefield District at the same time with Captain Sinkfield and their two companies occasionally acted in concert, but they were under the command of no superior officer.” “These companies being mounted, each soldier finding his own horse, clothing and arms, their services were wholly of a partizan character. The British had the possession of the lower part of Georgia, by which means, and the assistance of the Tories, they were enabled to keep the states of Georgia and South Carolina in a continual state of alarm and to protect the country from the combined depredations of the British and Tories and their equally civilized allies, the Indians, that the volunteer partizan companies of Captains Sinkfield and Carter were called into active service. This declarant states that he served under Captain Sinkfield three months in the capacity above stated, at the end of which period he was verbally discharged by Captain Sinkfield.” “In the month of March 1780, he would state that whilst under Captain Sinkfield he was on continual active service on horseback going from place to place to overawe the Tories, sometimes on the Georgia frontier, sometimes at the Forks of the Saluda and twice on the ___. This declarant now states that about this period, his father moved from Cheraws District, South Carolina to Bladen County, North Carolina, and that when he was discharged by Captain Sinkfield, this declarant followed his father there and it was at that place, to wit, in Bladen County, North Carolina that he was drafted for a three months tour of duty. He states that he entered the service this time in the said county of Bladen and state of North Carolina as a private drafted militia man under Captain Peter Robinson, that he joined a regiment of drafted militia men under Colonel Thomas Robinson. This declarant states that he was stationed the whole of this tour at Wilmington, North Carolina, to wit under Captain Peter Robinson, Col. Thomas Robinson. He states that he served three months this tour at Wilmington…at the end of which time he was discharged…” “To present his services in one view, he would remark that he served three weeks under Captain James Hicks, one month under Captain Evans, three months under Captain Francis Sinkfield, and three months under Captain Peter Robinson and Colonel Thomas Robinson, making in the whole, seven months and three weeks…”