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" This paper was recast by Mr. Owen and published in The New York Genealogico! and Biographical Record, vol. xxxiii, July, 1902, pp. 129-134, with a full page likeness.
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"The Revolutionary War ended, with widened experience and aspiration he set about preparing himself for an enlarged sphere of usefulness. For awhile he was a student in Yale College, but he did not graduate. In 1787 his alma mater conferred upon him the degree of master of arts in recognition, doubtless, of his ex- panding reputation. In Litchfield resided Reynold Marvin, who before the war had been King's attorney, but who had relinquished his official station to throw himself with the cause of the colo- nists. Determining to embrace the profession of the law, Mr. Kirby entered the office of Mr. Marvin, and under his instruction he was soon admitted to the bar. It was at this time, having en- tered upon the practice, that he married Ruth Marvin, the daugh- ter of his patron and teacher. From this time forth until his re- moval to the Southwest, although interested in many other mat- ters, he practiced his profession in Litchfield. A fact is now to be noted which is of unusual interest. In 1789 he compiled and published the Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Superior Court of the State of Connecticut, from the year 1785, to May, 1788, which has the unique distinction of being the first volume of law reports published in America. His work indicates rare legal abil- ity, and is still authority in the courts. Mr. Kirby the same year took the initiative in another matter of great moment. He wrote the pledge and organized the first society, having for its object the promotion of temperance, ever formed in America.
"With a view to bringing about a better condition in the Mis- sissippi Territory, Congress by act of March 27, IS04, provided 'That there shall be appointed an additional judge for the Missis- sippi Territory, who shall reside at or near the Tombigbee settle- ment, and who shall possess and exercise, within the district of Washington,
the jurisdiction heretofore possessed and ' exercised by the Superior Court of the said Territory,' etc., which jurisdiction was made exclusive, with right of appeal, however, to the Superior Court at Natchez.
"Under this act President Thomas Jefferson, on April 6, 1804, appointed Ephraim Kirby as 'the additional judge.' His com- mission is as follows, the copy being supplied from the records of the secretary of state at Washington :
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THOMAS JEFFERSON,
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
To all who shall see these Presents, Greeting :
KNow Yr, That reposing special Trust and confidence in the Wisdom, Uprightness and Learning of Ephraim Kirby, of Con- necticut, and in pursuance of an Act of the Congress of the United States, passed on the twenty-seventh day of March, 1804, entitled "An Act for the appointment of an additional Judge for the Mississippi Territory, and for other purposes," I do appoint him the additional Judge for the said Territory to reside at or near the Tombigbee settlement; and do authorize and empower him to execute and fulfill the duties of that Office according to law, and to Have and to Hold the said Office with all the powers, privileges and emoluments to the same of right appertaining dur- ing his good behaviour, and to the end of the next Session of the Senate of the United States, and no longer.
In Testimony Whereof, I have caused these letters to be made Patent, and the Seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed.
GIVEN under my Hand at the City of Washington, the Sixth
[SEAL. ] day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and four, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the Twenty Eighth.
TH. JEFFERSON.
By the President :
JAMES MADISON, Secretary of State.
"At best Judge Kirby could not have held more than one term of court, for he died on Oct. 20, 1804, at Fort Stoddert. As the U. S. government maintained a cantonment there, with a body of sol- diers, his remains were interred with all the honors of war and other demonstrations of respect. His body was laid away in the little cemetery to await the last judgment. Mt. Vernon, as is known, is now in the hands of the Alabama Insane Hospitals. One of the trustees of this institution, Col. Sam'l Will John, on being told by the writer, some months ago, of his discoveries as to Judge Kirby, made local inquiry at Mt. Vernon in reference to the mat- ter. In response a communication was received by him from Thomas Rogers, of Mt. Vernon, from which the following perti- nent extract is made :
" 'I arrived in Mt. Vernon Jan. 14, 1850. When I came here I visited Fort Stoddert. I found the remains of chimneys, which were built of sand rock ; they have since been removed by negroes.
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I also found broken delf, and the neck of champagne bottles. In the cemetery, a little north of Fort Stoddert, on the lake, I found a red cedar board, at the head of a grave, with the name nicely cut, "Ephraim Kirby, died Oct. 4th, [20] 1804." * * This board was the only one left to show where the cemetery was. I afterwards visited the place, and found that the board had been destroyed by forest fires.' And so it is that there is now no monit- ment to mark the grave; and indeed the exact location of the grave will be hard to identify.
"In conclusion I think it may with all propriety be claimed that Alabama has a part in the splendid heritage left by this distin- guished man. Certainly there is in his life much to emulate. Strong of mind and will, patriotic in all crises, far-seeing and con- structive in his mental operations, he towers above scores of his public contemporaries, as does the mountain peak above the hill. He was essentially a pioneer-the first to edit a published volume of official decisions and reports, the founder of the first organized temperance movement in America, and the first Superior Court judge in what is now Alabama. An old lawyer of Litchfield pays this warm tribute to his worth: 'Colonel Kirby was a man of the highest moral as well as physical courage, devoted in his feel- ings and aspirations, warm, generous, and constant in his attach- ments, and of indomitable energy. He was withal gentle and win- ning in his manners, kindly in his disposition, and naturally of an ardent and cheerful temperament, though the last few years of his life were saddened by heavy pecuniary misfortunes. As a lawyer he was remarkable for frankness and downright honesty to his clients, striving to prevent litigation and effecting compromises. He enjoyed the friendship of many of the sages of the Revolu- tion.' "
DAVID LINDSAY.
"No matter whence they came, Dear is their lifeless clay -- Whether unknown or known to fame, Their cause and country were the same."
-Father Ryan.
This soldier lies buried at Elliottsville, Shelby county. This fact was furnished by D. B. Oden, of Childersburg, Ala., and the writer has been unable to learn anything more.
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CHARLES LITTLETON. "Though the patriot's form to earth be given He lives in deeds which ever point to Heaven."
This soldier was from Maryland or Virginia. He rests in a lit- tle country graveyard, fifteen miles from Florence, in Lauderdale county, Alabama. This graveyard is nearly a mile from Bethel Grove Methodist church; the church being on Middle Cypress creek. He drew a pension and his grave is marked by a stone which bears this inscription :
CHARLES LITTLETON. Revolutionary Soldier. Died March 29th, 1848, at 3 o'clock P. M. Aged about 103 or 105 years.
A descendant gives information that Charles Littleton was the son of Solomon Littleton, an Englishman, who owned land at or near Washington City, and is said to have built the first house on the site of Washington. He joined the rebellious colonists and, in revenge, the English captured him and placed him in a smallpox hospital at Ninety-Six, South Carolina, and thus took his life.
THOMAS LOFTON. "He sleeps. No pompous pile marks where; No lines his deeds describe."
This soldier came from Pendleton district, South Carolina, to Alabama. The young people of his neighborhood knew him as "Grandsire Lofton" and loved him for his kind and genial dispo- sition ; some are still living who remember his interesting stories of the Revolution. He was a member of the Presbyterian church. He is buried at Bethesda church near Benevola; no stone marks the last resting place of "Grandsire Lofton."
JAMES MCCRORY. "O Spirit of that carly day So pure and strong and true Be with us in the narrow way Our faithful fathers knew."
James McCrory is buried in a cemetery at "Old Bethany Church" ( Primitive Baptist), near the town of Vienna in Pickens county. The following inscription is on his tombstone:
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In Memory of JAMES M'CRORY. Died Nov. 24th, 1840, aged 82 years, 6 mo. and 9 days. Deceased was a soldier of the Revolution and was at the battles of Germantown, Brandywine and Guilford Courthouse, and was one of Washington's life- guard at Valley Forge and served his coun- try faithfully during the war. Peace to the soldier's dust.
He is remembered as a worthy man and upright citizen. His descendants have not been located. In the U. S. Census of Pen- sioners for 1840 he is described as living with Robert McCrory, probably a son.
The following account of him is copied from the Tuscaloosa Flag of the Union, December, 1840:
James McCrory was born May 15, 1758, at Larga, on the river Bann, in the county Antrim, Ireland. He sailed from Belfast in 1775 when he was 17 years old and landed at Baltimore July Ist, in the same year. In 1776 he settled in Guilford county, N. C., and enlisted in the Continental army in the same year. He was at the battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777, under General Washington at the battle of Germantown, and wintered at Valley Forge in 1777-78. Subsequently he fought under General Greene at Guilford Court House, March 15, 1781, was in the battle of Eutaw Springs, and in the battle of Stono. He was with General Gates at his defeat at Camden and with General Morgan in the glorious victory at the Cowpens. For courage, good service and meritorious conduct he was promoted to the rank of ensign in the Life Guard of General Washington, and while acting in this ca- pacity, he was taken prisoner and confined on board a prison ship for six months. He came to Alabama while it was yet a territory, and made his home at Tuscaloosa for the last twenty-five years of his life. This true patriot died November 24, 1840, at the age of eighty-two.
There is a list of North Carolina Continental troops published in the N. C. Historical and Genealogical Register, on p. 424 of which we find the name of James MeCrory, ensign in the Ninth regiment, under Col. John P. Williams, May 2, 1777. Thomas McCrory was a captain in the same regiment. The services of James McCrory are also stated in the proceedings of the 27th Con-
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gress, 2d Session, in the Senate, February 4th, 1842, report of the Committee on Rosal, harry Claims :
"James McCrory was a sergeant in Capt. Cook's company of the 9th regiment, enlisted on the 15th day of April, 1776, for the term of three years; on the 2d of May. 1777, he was promoted to the rank of ensign. In January, 1726, the nine regiments which com- posed the line, being reduced to three, the supernumerary officers were sent home, of which he was one. He then joined the nine months' men and marched to the south and was at the battle of Stono, the 30th of June, 1779, and was at Gates' defeat in August, 1780, and was taken prisoner on the 24th of February, 1781, by Tarleton's dragoons and was kept prisoner four months at Wil- mington and then paroled; and in November, 1782, he took pris- oner Colonel Bryant, a British officer, and gave him up to a reg- ular officer of the American army."
In spite of this array of gallant services the committee reported adversely because of some technicality; but as the old hero had then been dead two years he was probably not very deeply af- fected or disappointed by the decision.
DAVID MURRAY. "They gave us freedom to be free We give them immortality."
This Revolutionary soldier is buried in Talladega county. The tombstone bears the following inscription :
To the memory of DAVID MURRAY, a Revolutionary soldier, who departed this life 8th day November, 1840, in the 80th year of his age.
David Murray was born in 1760; served in the Revolutionary War, and came from Prince Edward county, Virginia, just after the war and settled in Wilkes county, Georgia. He left several children, among others JIon. Thomas W. Murray, the oldest son, who was born in Lincoln county, Ga., in 1790, and became a man of distinction, being a candidate for Congress when he died. Mur- ray county, Georgia, is named in honor of him .-- White's Statis- tics of Georgia.
It is shown by the records in Washington, D. C., that one David
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Murray served as a private in Captain Satterlee's company, Col- onel Moses Hazen's regiment, Continental troops, Revolutionary War. He enlisted December 30, 1776; was taken prisoner Au- gust 27, -, and returned to his company Angust 4, 1779. His name last appears as that of a private on a roll, not dated, "of Per- sons in the Congress' Own Regt. commanded by Col. Moses Ha- zen, Brig. Genl. by Brevet in the service of the U. S., 1783," with remarks: "When commissioned or enlisted, 30 Dec., 1776; How Long to serve, War, I year; Discharged by Commander-in- Chief at close of war, 17 June, 1783."
HARRISON NICHOLSON.
"The soldier's warfare all is done Life's wandering marches o'er."
The grave of this soldier is in the cemetery in Tuskegee. This is the inscription upon his monument :
In memory of HARRISON NICHOLSON A Revolutionary Soldier, Who was born on the 12th day of March, A. D. 1760, and departed this life on the 28th day of June, 1841, Aged SI years, 3 months, and 16 days.
The descendants of Harrison Nicholson do not know where lie was born or what State claimed him as a soldier during the Revo- lution. He came from Georgia, near Milledgeville, to Macon county, Ala. He married Lucinda Long Dec. 30, 1783. He died in Macon county at the home of his grandson, James Monroe Nicholson. According to the recollection of his granddaughter, Mrs. E. A. Wilkinson, he had only three sons :
(1) Britton Nicholson lived to mature years, but never mar- ried.
(2) Nathaniel Nicholson married and raised a family ; he lived in Georgia in the vicinity of Milledgeville on his plantation.
(3) James Nicholson, born March 18, 1785, married Mary M. Stone, October 7th, 1813; children: 1. Mathew H. Nicholson, born Jan. 7th, 1815, married Miss H. E. Savory, December 9th,
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IS39, in Mexico, lived there for several years, then moved to Texas, California and to Central America, where he died. His children are now living around Chapel Hill, Texas ; 2. Washing- ton B. Nicholson, born June 28, 1818, married in Macon county, Alabama, to Miss Wafer, later moved to Claiborne Parish, Lou- isiana, died there in 1901. His family now live around Baton Rouge; he was the father of Col. James Nicholson, former presi- dent of the University of Louisiana at Baton Rouge; 3. Elizabeth Ann Nicholson, born October 25, 1829, married B. R. Taylor, De- cember, 1836; he died leaving one child, Mrs. E. A. Hall, of Au- taugaville. She married a second time J. B. Wilkinson, January 12, 1843, by this marriage were born nine children; 4. Lucinda Long Nicholson, born January 23, 1823, married Leonidas How- ard and lived at Mulberry, Autauga county, Alabama; there were two living sons and one daughter by this marriage; 5. James Monroe Nicholson, born December 12, 1825, married Rebecca Slaton, children died, second marriage no children, third marriage in Texas, where he is still living near Chapel Hill; 6. Absalom H. Nicholson, born August 30, 1837, never married, was phy- sician, moved to Louisiana, but died in Macon county, Alabama, 1855; and 7. John Wesley Nicholson, born October 2, 1829, died unmarried in 1851, near Autaugaville, had just graduated from Emory College, Georgia.
THOMAS OLIVER. "Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er."
The writer has been told that the grave of this soldier may be seen near one of the public roads about six miles from Montgom- ery. His tombstone relates that he was in the War of the Revo- lution from Culpeper county, Virginia; he was at King's Moun- tain and Yorktown. He died in 182 -- in Montgomery county, Alabama. Nothing more has been learned of his history or family.
WILLIAM PULLEN.
"Few, few were they whose swords of old Won the fair land in which we dwell, But we are many, we who hold The grim resolve to guard it well."
The grave of William Pullen is in Jefferson county, in the sub- urbs of Birmingham, in an okl family burying ground about fifty
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yards from the Avondale car line between 34th and 35th streets. For many years this old graveyard was as isolated and secluded as if situated in the heart of a lonely forest, but, in the last year or two, houses have been built up thickly around it and are encroach- ing upon its boundaries. The grave of the soldier lies at the foot of a large oak tree; it is a rough mound of brown stones with a fiat tablet topping them which bears this inscription :
Sacred to the Memory of WILLIAM PULLEN A Soldier of the Revolution, Who died April 4th, 1845, Aged 87 years.
His wife lies at his feet but the lettering of the tablet at her grave is illegible, only the words "Wife of William Pullen."
Descendants of William Pullen declare that he died at the age of ninety-six and that he was born in the year 1749. But as his name is found in the Census of Pensioners for 1840 and he is re- corded as being eighty-two years of age at that date, and this agrees perfectly with what appears to be the age on the tombstone, . the writer has accepted the latter as correct. William Pullen then was born in Virginia in 1758, on the Appomattox river near Pe- tersburg. He entered the Revolutionary War from Virginia and was in service for seven years. Soon after the Revolution he moved to South Carolina and in 1820 he came to Alabama and settled near Birmingham. He was the first man buried with mili- tary honors in Jefferson county.
He left six children :
(1) Clarissa, who married Jesse Hickman, and they were the parents of W. P. Hickman, formerly county commissioner for Jefferson county.
(2) Sarah, who married James Rowan, and they were the par- ents of Peyton Rowan, of Jacksonville, Ala.
(3) William, married Nancy Brooks.
(4) Martha, married Joseph Hickman.
(5) Mary, married Samuel Rowan.
(6) Elizabeth, married Richard Tankersley.
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It is shown in the records at Washington, D. C., in the Record and Pension Office, "that one William Pullen served as a private in Captain George Lambert's company of Continental regulars of the 14th battalion, 14th Virginia regiment of foot, commanded by Colonel Charles Lewis, Revolutionary War. He enlisted January I, 1777, to serve three years, and his name last appears as that of a private on a roll dated Camp near Morristown, December 9, 1779, of Captain Overton's company, 10th Virginia regiment, commanded by Col. William Davies. The records show that the 14th Virginia regiment became the 10th Virginia regiment about November, 177S, and that about May, 1779, the Ist and Ioth Vir- ginia regiments were incorporated and designated the Ist and Ioth Virginia regiment."
JAMES ROBERTSON.
The following tribute to "Horseshoe Robinson" is extracted from a poem, entitled "The Day of Freedom," by Alexander B. Meek, and delivered as an oration at Tuscaloosa on the 4th of July, 183S:
"Valorously He bore himself, and with his youthful arms Chivalrous deeds performed, which in a land Of legendary lore had placed his name, Embalmed in song, beside the hallowed ones Of Douglass and of Percy; not unsung Entirely his fame. Romance has wreathed With flowering fingers, and with wizard art That hangs the votive chaplet on the heart, His story, mid ber fictions, and hath given His name and deeds to after times. When last This trophied anniversary came round And called Columbia's patriot children out To greet its advent, the old man was here, Serenely smiling as the autumn sun
Just dripping down the golden west to seek His evening couch. Few months agone I saw Him in his quiet home, with all around Its wishes could demand-and by his side The loved companion of his youthful years- This singing maiden of his boyhood's time; She who had cheered him with her smiles when clouds Were o'er his country's prospects; who had trod In sun and shade, life's devious path with him, And whom kind Ileaven had still preserved to bless, With all the fullness of maternal wealth, The mellowing afternoon of his decline.
Where are they now ?- the old man and his wife? Alas! the broadening sun sets in the night, The ripening shock falls on the reaper's arm;
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The lingering guest must leave the hall at last;
The music ceases when the feast is done;
The old man and his wife are gone. From carth,
Have passed in peace to heaven; and summer's flowers, Beneath the light of this triumphant day,
Luxurious sweets are shedding o'er
The unsculptured grave of 'Horseshoe Robinson.'"
' The grave of James Robertson is in Tuscaloosa county on the banks of the Black Warrior river near Sanders' ferry, in the old family burying-ground. He was the famous "Horseshoe Robin- son" of Revolutionary fame in South Carolina, and the hero of the novel of that name written by John Pendleton Kennedy in 1835. The name "Horseshoe" was given because of a bend in a creek in his plantation in South Carolina shaped like a horseshoe.
The following inscription is taken from his tombstone:
MAJOR JAMES ROBERTSON. A native of S. C. died April 26, 1838, aged 79 years, and was buried here. Well known as Horseshoe Robinson, he earned a just fame in the war for independence, in
which he was eminent in courage, patriotism
and suffering. He lived fifty-six years with his worthy partner, useful and respected, and died in hopes of a blessed immortality. His children erect this monument as a tribute justly due a good husband, father, neighbor, patriot and soldier.
James Robertson was born in 1759; and his epitaph states that he was a native of South Carolina. He was married in 1782 and "lived fifty-six years with his worthy partner;" she died in Jan- uary, 1838, and he died April 26, 1838. The name of his wife was Sarah Morris - -; tradition says her maiden name was Hay- den ; they left several children, one daughter was living in Missis- sippi a few years ago. James Robertson was a famous scout dur- ing the Revolution and a terror to the Tories. After the war he settled in Pendleton district and was living there when Kennedy met him in ISIS. In the preface to Kennedy's novel of Horse- shoc Robinson he gives an account of the circumstances which led him to write the story.
He says that in the winter of 1818-19 he had occasion to visit the western section of South Carolina. He went from Augusta
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to Ridgefield, then to Abbeville and thence to Pendleton, in the old district of Ninety-six, just at the foot of the mountains. His course was still westward until he came to the Seneca river, a tributary of the Savannah. He describes how he happened to spend the night at the home of Col. T-, who lived thirty miles from Pendleton. Horseshoe Robinson came there that night. "What a man I saw! Tall, broad, brawny and erect. His homely dress, his free stride, his face radiant with kindness, the natural gracefulness of his motions, all afforded a ready index to his char- acter. It was evident he was a man to confide in."
The old soldier was drawn out to relate some stories of the war. He told how he got away from Charleston after the sur- render, and how he took five Scotchmen prisoners, and these two famous passages are faith''Ily preserved in the narrative.
"It was first published in 1835. Horseshoe Robinson was then a very old man. He had removed to Alabama and lived, I am told, near Tuscaloosa. I commissioned a friend to send him a copy of the book. The report brought me was that the old man had listened very attentively to the reading of it and took great interest in it.
"'What do you say to all this?' was the question addressed to him, after the reading was finished. His reply is a voucher, which I desire to preserve : 'It is all true and right-in its right place- excepting about them women, which I disremember. That mought be true, too; but my memory is treacherous-I disremember.'"
It is a pleasure to know that this fine old hero was a real per- sonage, and although his exploits may have been colored in a measure by the pen of the romancer, there still remains a rich stock of adventures, which were undoubtedly true, and the picture of a nature frank, brave, true and yet full of modesty.
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