WILSON COUNTY, TN - MILITARY - Samuel Bryson, Revolutionary War Pension Affidavit ----¤¤¤---- Samuel Bryson Certificate 22027, issued September 27, 1833, rate $30. Per annum, commenced March 4, 1831, based on 9 months of service by Act of June 7, 1832, West Tennessee Agency. Declaration In order to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress, passed June 7, 1832 Sate of Tennessee} Wilson County} On this 10th day of May in the year of our Lord 1833 personally appeared before me Jehu McMinn one of the acting Justices of the peace for said county and a member of the county court of the same, it being a court of record, Samuel Bryson a resident of said county states aged about seventy nine years, who being first duly sworn according to law hath on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain benefit of the Act of Congress passed June 7, 1832. That he entered the service of the United States under the following names officers & served as herein stated. He was a citizen of Rowan County North Carolina when the war commenced, to which he had moved from Lancaster County Pennsylvania when in his 15th year of age. He first entered the service as a malitia man under a draft & went out into what was called the "Snow Campaign" which was so denominated on account of the unusual depth & quantity of the snow which fell at that time. But owing to the imperfection of his memory this age he cannot state the month or year this tour was performed. He thinks Dixon was his Colonel & John Work was his captain & they were under the command of General Rutherford but he does not remember who were the other officers. They ___ over the Cataba,-South Fork,-Lawson's Fork & a number of other streams into the State of Georgia. They were marching upon a band of Tories under the command of Col Fletcher who had become formidable in that quarter. Before they had got to the place the "Liberty troops" had come upon Fletcher's band & conquered them & came meeting us with Fletcher the tore in strings? He distinctly recollects that Fletcher was well guarded & was riding a horse with his feet tied securely under his belly. He was a stout chunky man. They were taking him on to the city of Charleston. We then turned back & marched home & were regularly discharged in writing for the three months tour. They had a ___ bad time of it as the weather was excefrively? cold & inclement. General Rutherford was with us we saw him every day & knew him well. The next summer, he thinks,there was a call for men to guard the Cataba to prevent the Tories from coming over & marauding the settlement & he volunteered for three months & went out under the command of Capt Joseph McMillen, there was but one company, the other company officers are not remembered. They continued to guard the river up & down for three months during the term of service for which he volunteered. He resided about fourteen miles from the station in the midst of the Tories & was contained? at times & dreaded for fear they would destroy his family & ____. Once or twice during the time he got liberty of going home to see whether they had done him any injury but always returned the same day to his post. This duty was performed under a call from General Rutherford. He served out his time and received a written discharge which is long since lost. Soon after he returned from this engagement Col. Davidson who lived near him, came to his house & told him that his (Davidson's) son & his wife & child had just been killed by the indians & he wanted some person to go with an express to Gen'l Rutherford's camp about 70 miles off & he proposed to give him a discharge for a 3 months tour if he would go on that duty. It was a very dangerous undertaking as he would have to ___ through two Tory settlements one about seven & the other about five miles across. He however agreed to go & very early the next morning called upon Col Davidson & got the ___ papers & went all speed & ___ through the thickest of the vile Tories & reached Rutherford's camp about sundown. He remembered these two days & was sent with a guard as one of them to convey some Tory prisoners to Salisbury jail. They guarded them on four miles beyond Salisbury to ___ about two hundred more prisoners who had been taken by Col Washington at the battle of the Cow-pens & the said prisoners were all then sent on to Virginia. He then returned home & got a discharge for a three month tour from Gen'l Rutherford. He was out on this occasion to the best of recollection ten days at least. He was soon after that drafted as a "minute man" for three months. Colo Brevard was his commanding officer the other officers are not remembered. He was often, nay, almost constantly out on scout, so that he could not return to attend to hid regular ordinary business . Sometimes they would go out on a special service & be out only one,two or three weeks according to the exiquecy? & nature of the service. Frequently they would go home one day or night to have to start the next. At the expiration of his time he received a written discharge for three months which is long since lost. Just before the battle at Ramsower's Mills while out watching to see what way the enemy would come where the spies took him & one of his brothers prisoners & carried them on under guard to the battle ground. Soon after the battle commenced he made his escape & after much risk & difficulty got home. So this applicant has ____ discharges for twelve months and has been in actual service nine months & ten days. It seems to him but just as he agreed with the officers to go on the express through great danger for a three month discharge that his arrangement should be considered binding on the government. But this is a question which he refers to the justice of the department. If it be thought proper to allow him only for the time he was in actual service under a regular engagement by draft or voluntary then he will be entitled to pay for nine months & ten days-the time he was a prisoner is not included. Owing the old age & his frailty of hi smemory he is not able to state the dates & times that he served , nor more particulars about the same than he stated. He has no documentary evidence of his services, nor does he know of any living witness by whom he can prove his services. He always served as a private- never had any command. After the war he moved to Pendleton County in the state of South Carolina where he remained six or seven years when he moved to Buncombe Cty. N. Carolina where he lived eight years- he then moved to Wilson County Tennessee where he now resides. He has no record of his age but from his memory he knows that he is in his seventy ninth year. He would state that he is known to a large number of respectable neighbors & he believes they would all testify to his character for veracity among them he would name the following, George Bogle,Wm. C. Odom,_____ Odom, John Bryson, _____ Cooper,____ Davenport,___Alexander,_____ Summers & He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present & declares that his name is not on the Pension Roll of the agency of any state. Sworn to & subscribed before me ----Samuel Bryson this 10th day of May 1833 Att: Jehu McMinn Acting Justice of the peace for Wilson County We James Thomas clergyman, residing in the County of Wilson and Thomas Leech residing in the same, hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Samuel Bryson, who has subscribed & sworn to the above declaration; that we believe him to be in his seventy ninth year of age; that he is reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resides, to have been a soldier of the revolution & that we concur in that opinion. Sworn to & subscribed the day & year aforesaid. James Thomas & Thomas Leech Att: Jehu McMinn JP ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Pat Spradley patspradley@yahoo.com ___________________________________________________________________