Charlotte County, VA - Revolutionary Pension Record of Jacob St. John ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net ************************************************************************ State of Virginia, Charlotte County Submitted by Dennis Elder On the 3rd day of September one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, personally appeared before the County Court of Charlotte, Jacob St. John, a resident of the said County of Charlotte and State of Virginia, aged Seventy-four years, who being first duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the act of Congress passed June 7, 1832, that he entered the service of the United States in the Revolutionary War and served as herein after stated - he served under three separate engagements. 1st in what was called the minute service(1), he enlisted under Capt. Thomas Collier in the County of Charlotte, where he then resided and where he has resided ever since, with the exception of a few years that he resided in the County of P. Edward, an adjoining county, and marched to Petersburg in Virginia, and remained there about a week. From there in company with several other companies we marched to Cobham on the James River, nearly opposite to old James Town, here we remained but a short time & marched to Gwynn's Island on the Chesapeake Bay under the command of Col. Haynes Morgan of Halifax County, Virginia (2), where there was stationed a considerable body of militia watching the movement of the British fleet then lying in the bay under the Command of Governor Dunmore(3) at Gwynn's Island, we remained two or 3 months and marched from there to a place called Cherry Point on the Potomac River, there was no other Company at this place except Capt. Collier & the Company from Halifax County under the Command of Capt. Thomas Rogers. They remained here not more than a week or ten days and marched back home in the County of Charlotte without being discharged. We remained at home about 2 or 3 weeks and were called out to march against the Indians and were furnished with rifles. Capt. Collier being sick, we marched under the Command of Lieutenant Douglass Wathon to the big Island upon the Holston River called the long Island.(4) The Company from Halifax County under Capt. Rogers & the Company from Lunenburg County under he thinks Capt. Bates marched with us. He doesn't recollect what time in the year this was, but he recollects that the weather was warm, and they remained at the Island until about four weeks before Xmas. While there they were under the Command of Col. Haynes Morgan. We were not discharged until we got back to the County of Charlotte. They were then discharged by Capt. Collier. His discharge he has lost. In this service he thinks he was engaged about seven months. 2d. He was discharged from the minute service in the winter, and the next Spring, the 1st day of March, the year he does not recollect, he enlisted under Lieutenant Clayton, a recruiting officer, for one year in what was called the regular service and marched to Williamsburg from port under the command of Capt. John Pope whose Company was stationed at Williamsburg & remained there the whole twelve months for which he had enlisted, Col. Haynes Morgan had command the greater part of the time. Col. Smith, however, took command just before we were discharged, and signed our discharge. The said St. John has also lost this discharge. 3d. After he was discharged from the regular service he remained at home between two and three years sick, as soon as he got well he joined a volunteer company in the County of Charlotte under the Command of Capt. William Morton (afterward Col. Morton) and marched to a small distance by Dan River in the County of Halifax.(5) Capt. Morton then gave up his Company, trained a Company of riflemen. His Company was then divided between Capt. Thompson of Halifax County and Capt. Jno Daniel of the Same County. The said St. John was attached to the Company of Capt. Thompson and marched under his Command to Guildford Court House North Carolina.(6) He was in the battle at that place, Genl Green was the Commanding Officer.(7) Two days after the battle he was considered too feeble to continue with the army & was allowed to return home which he did. He volunteered for six weeks, and served something longer. He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or an anuity expect the present and the declares that his name is not on the pension roll of any agency in any State. Sworn to and Subscribed the day & year aforesaid Jacob St. John + his mark Notes: 1. Charlotte County soldiers were part of the 2nd Battalion of Minutemen. "This battalion was active at Gwynn's Island in July 1776 and also took part in a short expedition against the Cherokees in the summer and fall of 1776. Captains Dixon, Dillard, Perkins, Lewis and Thompson were ordered to march against the Indians." From A Guide to Virginia Military Organizations in the American Revolution, 1774-1787, compiled by E.M. Sanchez-Saavedra, Virginia State Library, 1978. 2. James Haley of Lunenburg County also served under 2nd Col. Haynes Morgan. The minutemen marched first to North Carolina to confront a group of Tories, but were ordered back to Virginia. "They then marched to Petersburg, then to Cobham on James River, then to Williamsburg, and thence to Gwin's Island to oppose the British and Governor Dunmore who had robbed the magazine and gone to the British on Guin's Island. They drove the British and Dunmore from the island and caught thirty seven head of horses and two tenders. One of these tenders had a match left in her by the British, that blew up the barge and killed two of our men." Pension application of James Haley, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Applications, Vol. 49, p. 61. 3. John Murray, the fourth Earl of Dunmore, became governor of Virginia in 1771. On April 21, 1775, Dunmore enraged the Virginia patriots by moving the public gunpowder in Williamsburg to a British ship. Within six weeks, Dunmore himself fled Williamsburg for the safety of a British warship. After initial success arousing loyalist sympathy in the Norfolk and Portsmouth area, Dunmore's fortunes declined. In late May 1776, he moved his base of operations to Gwynn's Island on the Chesapeake Bay. From The Revolution in Virginia, by H. J. Eckenrode, Hamden, Conn., Archon Books, 1964. 4. Incited by the British, the Cherokees raided frontier settlements in the summer 1776. Jesse Gwin, another soldier, gives this account of the expedition. "The whole of the troops under Col. Lewis marched through Botetourt County, crossed New River at English's Ferry and went to Fort Chiswell near the river. From there they marched to the Island of Holston River and near there they joined the regiments under Col. Christia from Virginia and Col. Williams from North Carolina. Col. Christia was made commander in chief. They marched across French Broad River through the wilderness, waded many water courses and arrived at the Indian towns on the south side of the Tennessee River. The Indians having fled they took possession of their towns where they were stationed form some time. An Indian chief, King Conistoty, came in and proposed to enter into a treaty of peace but could not bring in as many of his chiefs as were necessary to do so. By this time their provisions became scarce. They left the towns and marched back through the wilderness 115 miles to the Island of Holston where they remained until Dec. 1776." Pension application of Jesse Gwin, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Applications, Vol. 48, p. 82. 5. In spring 1781, Colonial Gen. Nathaniel Greene prepared to battle Lord Cornwallis at Guilford C.H. "His pressing calls for reinforcements brought out the militia from North Western Carolina, and from all the contiguous counties of Virginia, and the southern sections of the Great Valley. Captain William Morton, of Charlotte, in two days raised a company of his neighbours to join the Army of Greene on the Dan." From Sketches of Virginia, by William Henry Foote, originally published in 1850, reprinted by John Knox Press, Richmond, 1966, p. 402-3. 6. In his memoirs, Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee says Greene was camped at Troublesome Creek when he received supplies and reinforcements, including militia collected by Brigadier General Edward Stevens at Halifax Court House. The Virginia militia were divided between the commands of Stevens and Brigadier General Robert Lawson. From The American Revolution in the South, by Henry Lee, reprinted by Arno Press Inc., New York, 1969, p. 269. Originally published in 1812 as Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department. 7. Gen. Greene arranged his troops at Guilford C.H. in three lines across the road to Salisbury. In the first line, on both sides of the roads, were North Carolina militiamen, with their flanks protected by cavalry and riflemen. Up a slope 300 yards and in the woods, the Virginia militia under Stevens and Lawson formed the second line. Four hundred yards to the rear of the militia were four regiments of Virginia and Maryland regulars. Militia were infamous for breaking and running in the face of a bayonet charge. One of the Virginia militia commanders, Stevens, had seen his troops throw down their weapons and flee at Camden, S.C. With that embarrassment in mind, he stationed 40 riflemen 20 paces behind his brigade, with orders to shoot any man who ran. At about 1:30 p.m., the British advanced toward the militia in the first line, waiting until they were almost in point-blank range before returning fire, then charging with bayonets. Most of the North Carolinians fled. The British infantry pushed up the slope and engaged the Virginia militia in the woods. Fighting at close range, the Virginians inflicted heavy casualties before they too were driven from the field by British bayonets. The tired and bloodied British then emerged into an opening to face Continential regulars. In the ensuring melee, Gen. Cornwallis at one point ordered canister fire through his own troops to prevent a rout. Greene eventually withdrew, leaving the British in possession of the field. But the victory was too costly for Cornwallis, who lost a quarter of his force and had little choice but to abandon the Carolinas. Greene wrote of the Virginia militia: "The Virginia militia gave the enemy a warm reception, and kept up a heavy fire for a long time; but being beat back, the action became almost general everywhere." From The Road to Guilford Courthouse, by John Buchanan, John Wiley & Sons Inc, New York, 1997, p. 372-383, 597.