Davidson County TN Archives Military Records.....Brown, Morgan 
Revwar - Pension 
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Nancy Poquette npoq@hotmail.com June 16, 2006, 3:09 am

Pension Application Of Morgan Brown, Natl Archives Microseries M804, Roll 373, Application #S3063
Davison County, Tennessee, September 19, 1832, Morgan Brown, aged 75 years:

	“That he entered by voluntary enlistment as a sergeant in the third 

regiment of South Carolina commanded by Colonel William Thompson, and in the 

company of Captain Samuel Wise, Benjamin Hicks, Lieutenant. The officers in 

said regiment so far as now recollected were James Mason, major; and Eli 

Kershaw, John Donaldson, Francis Boykin, T. Taylor, B____, Prinhoff and others, 

captains. This was a regiment of mounted men who found their own horses, arms 

and clothing, and were paid twelve dollars and about one third per month. The 

pay of a sergeant was fifteen dollars and a third per month. At the time of 

entering the service, he resided with his parents in Anson County in the state 

of North Carolina.”



“That he continued in this regiment from the first day of May until the 

fifteenth of December 1776, and that during said service, he marched from 

Cheraws in the state of South Carolina to Camden in the same state, thence to 

the Ten-Mile House near Charleston. Thence to several of the sea islands on the 

coast of South Carolina, and finally to Sullivan’s Island and awaited the 

arrival of the British fleet, commanded by Sir Peter Parker in June 1776, and 

was engaged in the battle which took place on the island about the 26th or 28th 

of that month.” [Per Heitman, 28th and 29th June, 1776.]



“That after the battle of Sullivan’s Island, he was removed with the regiment 

to Charleston, where the Declaration of Independence, which had then arrived, 

was read and proclaimed to the troops and the people. Immediately after this 

scene, he was marched off with a detachment of the said regiment to Savannah in 

Georgia, from thence to Augusta in the same state, then to Granby in South 

Carolina, thence to Camden and from thence to Cheraws, the residence of Captain 

Wise. Here, the company were dismissed for a few weeks, the greater part of 

them living in that neighborhood.”



“But he returned to his father’s house in Anson County, North Carolina, where 

he received a letter from Colonel Thomas Wade, then a member of the legislature 

of the state, accompanied by a commission appointing him a first lieutenant in 

the 9th regiment of North Carolina. He therefore returned to the former 

regiment no more, but informed Colonel Thompson by letter of his appointment, 

and received his answer expressing his highest approbation.”



“The officers principally known to him during his service were Colonel 

Christopher Gadsden, Colonel William Moultrie who commanded in the fort of that 

name on the island; Colonel Isaac Hayes, Colonel Charles Coatsworth Pinckney, 

Major Peter Horry, Major Mott, Captain Francis Marion, afterwards General 

Marion, Captain Potts, Captain Francis Prince, and others, the most of whom 

were promoted in the army, and with whom he was acquainted at several periods 

of the war, and many years service in public life, but believes there is none 

of them now living. He further states that he has no written documents to show 

at this time, for this service, but he offers the testimony of two respectable 

soldiers now living who served in the same regiment with him during the time of 

his service., and to so far as he knows, there is not one of the officers of 

the regiment now living.”



	“That as soon as he received his commission in the 9th regiment of 

North Carolina, which was sometime in the latter part of December 1776, he set 

out recruiting men for the service, and on the 24th of March following, he 

marched with about thirty recruits on his way to Halifax in North Carolina, the 

place of rendezvous, and when he arrived sometime in the fore part of April and 

joined his regiment. The field officers of this regiment were Colonel ___ 

Williams, his given name not recollected, and it is believed he never joined 

his regiment during the ensuing campaign. Lieutenant Colonel Luttrell, who it 

is believed marched no further than Richmond in Virginia. Major William Polk, 

now General William Polk of Raleigh in the state of North Carolina. This 

gentleman marched with the regiment and commanded it during the campaign of 

1777.”



“The captain of the company to which he was appointed was Joseph John Wade, but 

as several of the companies were not full, a valuation and division of the 

officers took place apportioned to the men recruited, who were now to march to 

the northward, and the others were left to recruit, and as well as he now 

recollects, in this arrangement he was allotted to the company of Captain 

Richard D. Cook, but some changes in those arrangements took place in course of 

the service.”



	“From Halifax, he marched with the line of North Carolina to Petersburg 

in Virginia, from thence to Richmond, then to Fredericksburg, and then to 

Georgetown on the Potomac in the state of Maryland, where the troops were 

inoculated for the small pox and when recovered, by Baltimore to Philadelphia. 

Here the troops drew pay, arms and clothing, and after being reviewed by 

Congress and celebrating the first anniversary of Independence on the 4th of 

July 1777, they were marched to Billingsport in the state of New Jersey, then 

again to Philadelphia. From this place they were transported in shallops [a two-

masted ship with lugsails, or a small open boat propelled by oars or sails and 

used chiefly in shallow waters] to Trenton, where they marched until past the 

middle of August, then marched to Philadelphia again, and from thence to 

Wilmington in the state of Delaware.”



“And from this place, by various marches and maneuvers to Chad’s Ford on the 

Brandywine [Pennsylvania], when on the 11th of September [per Heitman, 

September 11, 1777], he was engaged in the battle which was fought there by the 

American army commanded by General Washington with the British army commanded 

by Lord Howe, and retreated to the town of Chester on the Delaware Bay that 

night. That immediately after he was sent with a detachment to reinforce the 

guard of 250 British and German prisoners to Bethlehem on the Lehi. This 

expedition took up his time until the evening of the day before the battle of 

Germantown, when he was immediately ordered to take command of an ensign and 

thirty men, have the tents struck, and convey the baggage and the sick and 

invalids of the briggard to Penebecker [or Pennypacker, as it is called by 

Rankin in The North Carolina Continentals] Mills that night and wait there for 

orders. Next day, the battle was fought and our retreating army reached the 

place to which the baggage had been ordered. The day following, we visited our 

wounded General Nash, and on the evening of the next day, we attended his 

funeral. From this place, the army moved to Flatfield Township, from whence it 

was understood they would go into winter quarters at the Valley Forge.”



“Having now been engaged in the service of the United States during two severe 

campaigns, the greater part of the time in long and laborious marches with hard 

and harassing duty, and the loss of men in the late battles, and by sickness, 

leaving a number of supernumerary officers, together with the greatly impaired 

state of his own health induced him to resign. For this purpose he waited upon 

the commander-in-chief, General Washington, and stated to him his situation and 

intention, which, being approved, he directed one of his aides to write a 

discharge and certificate of his services, which to to the best of his 

recollection, bore the date of October 1777.”



“That on or about the 20th of July, 1780, at the special instance and request 

of the Baron DeKalb, then commanding the southern army, he entered the service 

of the United States again, with the commission and appointment of assistant 

commissary of purchases to the southern department. That immediately on his 

appointment, he repaired to Guilford County in the state of North Carolina, 

where he used every exertion in his power to purchase and provide supplies for 

the army. That he having collected a quantity beef, flour and brandy, was about 

to send them as directed to a place called Anderson’s Crossroads on the way to 

Camden in South Carolina, when the news reached him of General Gates’ defeat.”



“The next day the general himself arrived at Guilford Courthouse and shortly 

afterwards, General Smallwood with the Maryland line. Much of the supplies now 

collected were delivered to these troops, but a continued succession of small 

parties coming in with no issuing commissaries or quartermasters rendered it 

absolutely necessary for him to issue small quantities of provisions to these 

exhausted sufferers. This inconvenient and laborious duty was represented to 

the commander in chief and also to the commissary general of issues, who 

instead of sending a commissary of issues to the place, sent him a commission 

of assistant commissary of issues, saying that he could not find a proper 

person to send that would undertake the duty, therefore with much labor and all 

the diligence in his power, he performed the duty of both offices from the date 

of the said appointment until he left the station, being ordered to the Cheraws 

in South Carolina where General Greene had taken winter quarters at Hick’s 

Creek.”



“That on the first of January, 1781, General Greene issued a commission 

appointing him superintendent of transportation. The duties of this office were 

important and laborious. They did not only consist in transporting provisions 

to the army now encamped near the river, but in collecting all the boats and 

watercraft within twenty miles above and below, and to keep them secure from 

marauding parties of the British and Tories who abounded in that part of the 

country. And also to assist Colonel Kosciuszko, the engineer general of that 

department, in building boats intended to be moved with the army on wheels. For 

this purpose, he was allowed the command of fifty men from the militia besides 

workmen for the boatyard. That in these last named offices he served as 

assistant commissary of purchases, five months and eleven days at sixty dollars 

per month, as commissary of issues he served three months and sixteen days at 

forty dollars per month, and as superintendent of transportation he served 

three months at sixty dollars per month. That the authenticity of these 

appointments and acknowledgement of the services rendered were admitted and 

allowed at the treasury of South Carolina after the war, on presentment of the 

accounts, which with the proofs and vouchers were received and allowed by the 

continental commissioner of accounts, and it is presumed remain filed in his 

office, as will more fully appear by an exemplification form the Treasury under 

the seal of the state herewith shown.”



Interrogations by the court:



1st. Where, and in what year were you born?

Answer-“I was born in Anson County, North Carolina of the 13th day of January 

1758.”



2nd. Have you any record of your age, and if so, where is it?

Answer-“My age is recorded in a large family Bible now in my possession, with 

the names of my ancestors from their first landing in America in the month of 

March 1633.”



3rd. Where were you living when called into service; where have you lived since 

the Revolutionary War; and where do you now live?

Answer-“When I entered the service I lived with my Father in the county where I 

was born. Before the end of the war, I settled in South Carolina, and continued 

there until the year 1795. From that date until the year 1807, I lived in the 

state of Tennessee. From 1807 to the year 1820, I lived in the state of 

Kentucky. And from that time until the present, I have lived in Tennessee and 

am now living in Davidson County, 3 miles north of Nashville.”



4th. How were you called into service; were you drafted or did you volunteer or 

were you a substitute?

Answer-“I entered the service first by voluntary enlistment as a sergeant. 

Afterwards by promotion to a lieutenancy in the line, and then by commission as 

assistant commissary of purchases to the southern army, assistant commissary of 

issues to the same, and superintendent of transportation.”



5th. State the names of some of your regular officers who served with the 

troops where you served; such continental and militia regiments as you can 

recollect, and the general circumstances of your service.

Answer-“The principal officers of those regiments with whom he was most 

acquainted in the campaign of 1776 were Colonel William Moultrie who commanded 

the fort of that name on Sullivan’s Island, afterwards, General Moultrie. 

Colonel Christopher Gadsden, Charles Coatsworth Pinckney, Isaac Huger, Captain 

Francis Marion. These all rose to the rank and command of generals, afterwards. 

Majors Peter Horry and Motts, and Captain Francis Prince, Captain Polk. These 

are the chief now recollected besides those of the regiment in which he served 

and who are heretofore named in this declaration. The third regiment arrived in 

the vicinity of Charleston and was stationed on Sullivan’s Island, where they 

had no opportunity of acquaintance with the troops from other states who were 

stationed on the mainland.”



	“In the campaign of 1777, the principal officers who marched to the 

northward when he did were General Francis Nash, Colonel Thomas Polk, Colonel 

Alexander Martin, Colonel [James] Hogan, Colonel Archibald Lytle, Colonel 

[Robert] Mebane, Majors William Polk, [John] Walker, Harris, [John] Nelson and 

Ramsey. Captains Smith, Richard D. Cook, Clement Hall, W. Blount, Robert Hayes, 

[Joshua] Hadley, Anthony ?Crutcher? and [Thomas] McCrory. Lieutenants Anthony 

Sharp, THOMAS CLARK, John Long, ___ Campbell and ___ Stewart and many others 

whose names are now forgotten in the long space of fifty-five years.”



6th. Did you ever receive a commission and if so, by whom was it signed, and 

what became of it?

Answer-When he entered the service in the line of North Carolina, he received 

the commission of first lieutenant in the 9th regiment, signed by Richard 

Caswell, then governor of North Carolina, bearing dates to the best of his 

recollection, the 15th day of December 1776. The letter accompanying bearing 

that date induces him to believe so. That afterwards, at Philadelphia, he 

received another commission of the same date and ‘twas signed by John Hancock, 

president of Congress. That during his time of service at Guilford, he made his 

principal residence at the house of Mr. Francis McNary, a gentleman who lived 

near the courthouse, and where, when he was called to Cheraw, he left a number 

of his valuable papers and letters, then thinking he should return in some 

short time, and which papers as he is informed and believes, were destroyed by 

the British in time of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, Mr. McNary’s house 

being within the range of the battleground, and was entered and rifled in time 

of the action. That the said commission, with some others and the discharge and 

certificate issued by order of General Washington, as herein before mentioned, 

was among them.”



7th. State the names of persons to whom you are known in your present 

neighborhood, and who can testify as to your character for veracity and their 

belief of your service as a soldier in the Revolution.

Answer-“In the county where I now live, I have been known to General Andrew 

Jackson, the President, near forty years; to the Honorable John McNary, Judge 

of the District of Tennessee, upwards of fifty-two years; John Overton and 

Thomas Crutcher, Esq, near forty years, etc.”

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