USA > North Carolina > The state records of North Carolina, vol. XXII, pt. 1 > Part 13
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Indians had skulked about our camp and a few of our men when they caught them out single they killed but we had no battle with them.
And from the time I received the orders to raise the Militia until we returned home-the orders to raise the militia came to me about the middle of June, 1776, and we did not return until about the last of October or first of November, 1776, being abont four months in w.rvice in all.
After our return we had some little relaxation until express was sent me from our court house that the tories in the south end of the County, now called Randolph County, were in a state of insurrection with one William Fields as their head Colonel and wished to go to the British at Wihnington. I repaired to the Court House directly and ordered ont Daniel Gilaspie our Captain of Light Horse company and took Fields their leader and brother and three or four more of their leaders and brought them prisoners to the Court House and our gaol not being sufficient I sent them in waggons to Hillsborough gaol and previously I had ordered all their guns to be taken from them and all they could find among the disaffected and bring them to the Court House and I gave them to the honest Whig party that had none, The time I spent at the Court House to order the suppression of the Tories in our County could not be less than six weeks off and on and I returned home to Dan river, where I then lived. This is from recol- lection as I said before as I kept no written journal.
Iu 1781, about the first of January or the last of December, 1780, I was ordered and commanded by General Greene to raise and call upon the Guilford Militia en masse and to equip themselves as the military laws directed and for me to come and join in his camp under the regular service and not depart withont leave; but guns were want- ing by a muuber of the men and I had to have recourse to impress and borrow as many as I could get and I could only raise about 200 to go with me to camp and they, hearing that the British were march- ing towards us in Guilford, it struck such a terror on them that some of that number deserted before the battle at old Martinsville., How- ever I marched and joined General Greene with what I had and we retreated before the British until we came to Roanoke and crossed the river at Boyd's Ferry and came to Halifax Court IT. in Virginia and eneamped. Twoorthree weeks the British had followed us in sight of the river and sometimes their front on our rears but no skirmishes took place at that time and they returned again to Guilford County
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where they harrassed and phindered the inhabitants as they pleased. General Greene having encamped in Halifax, Virginia, perhaps more than three weeks recrossed the Roanoke river and marched back in Caswell County and thence to part of Guilford, maneuvering about until he could collect all the militia of the different counties of the State and also from Virginia to meet the enemy for battle. I came and marched with General Greene to the high Rock Ford on Haw river and encamp there on the east side of it. The British were maneuvering on the west side of the county and General Greene after halting there about three weeks thought he had collected all the forces from Virginia and the lower counties of the State and resolved to move towards the British to give them battle as he did. He came to Guilford old Court House where he made a halt and hearing that the British were moving towards him he drew up his men in three lines about 100 yards behind each other and waited the advance of the British. I was posted in the front line with scarce a complete Cap- tain's company commanded by Captain Forbis, a brave undaunted fellow. We were posted behind a fence and I told the men to sit down until the British who were advancing came near enough to shoot. When they came in about 200 yards I saw a British officer with a drawn sword driving up his men. I asked Capt. Forbis if he could take him down. He said he could for he had a good riffe and asked me if he should shoot then. I told him to let him in 30 yards and then take him down which he did. It was a Captain of the British army and at that instant General Greene sent his Aid-de-camp for me to go to him and I went and asked him his commands. He told mne as the battle had begun and as I had not a complete regiment he wished me to go with Major Hunter to the Court House in case of a defeat to rally the men which we did and collected about 500 and was marching them to the battle ground when I met General Stephens of Virginia Corps retreating.
I asked if the retreat wasby General Greene's orders and he told me it was. I then retreated with him and ordered the men to repair to Troublesome iron works to refit as General Greene had ordered me, which we obeyed. The British then took possession of the Court ITonse and after a few days they moved up towards Wihnington. General Greene hearing of their movements started aftr them but the militia of our County being so disheartened I could not bring any
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to join him again. This was in 1781. The time I spent then from the time I received orders was abont two months.
In 1778 or 1779, I forget which, a party of Tories commanded by their leader one Bryan on the Yadkin river rose in a body in Surry County and started to join the British at Wilmington and being in- formed of it by express I ordered out Captain Gilaspie with his light borse company and I went with them got on their track, pursued them as far as Uwharrie Creek and found they had got out of our reach, returned back again. The time we spent then until we returned home was about six weeks, that is one month and fifteen days.
We had then some relaxation till the year 1781 of better than two months when about the first of July I was ordered by General Ruther- ford of Rowan County to raise a part of my regiment and to join him on his way to Wilmington to try to dislodge a British Major Craig stationed there. I raised about 200 militia men and marched and joined him at the Raft swamp and hearing a number of Tories had taken refuge in it General Rutherford took about one-half of the anuy and myself the other and he entered the north end of it and I the south end. We made our way with much difficulty through bogs and morasses and some of the men and horsemen got mired but got out again. But we found no Tories or any body else save several camps which we supposed had been made by them. Thence we pro- ceeded towards Wilmington but halted at a small stockade Fort Fos- ter ( ?) about 20 miles from Wilmington off the South East branch of Cape Fear river near Frederick Jones's on the south side of the river near a bridge over it and our army encamped on the north side and while we contemplated to storm the said Fort we were saved the trouble and danger without fighting by their vacating it which we supposed was ordered by their Major Craig posted at Wilmington. At this time we heard of the capture of the British General Cornwallis being taken prisoner by General Washington at Yorktown near the month of James river. We marched then to the town of Wilmington which we found was vacated by the British Major Craig and sup- posed it was by the orders of his British General (I think his name was Clinton) to leave the State and come to him and we thought it very good luck that by their vacating the town we were released from the danger of fighting. So we were ordered home again and the time we spent on this campaign was from about the first of July until we got home again the 25th of November of the same year, 1781, about four months.
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The whole time that I was in actual service was 16 months and 11 days-this from my best recollection of memory for I kept no written journal.
JAS. MARTIN, Senr.
This 17th day of Oet., 1832.
Sworn to and subscribed in open court the year and day aforesaid. TIIOS. ARMSTRONG, CIk.
Died 31st Oct., 1834.
SALATIIIEL MARTIN.
HIe having deceased May 6th, 1827, a date prior to the passage of a pension law. under which he would have been entitled, there is no other statement on file of his military service than that of his widow furnished with her application for a pension. ITis widow Mary was residing in February 1845 in Claiborne County, Tenn., aged 81 years and stated that her husband was a Captain in the N. C. Militia in Col. Armstrong's Regiment and served 18 months. He was in the battle of King's Mountain (October 7th, 1780) and Guilford ( March 15th, 1781) but could not state whether he was in the service prior to 1780, nor does she recollect the name of the Colonel he was under at King's Mountain or if in other battles than the two she has specified. Ile marched from Surry C. II. to join Gen. Greene a few days prior to the battle of Guilford and he did not return home for better than a year afterwards, having accompanied General Greene in his march to the south. She was married to Salathiel Martin April 23rd, 1782, in Surry County.
Miss Providence Critchfield of Claiborne County, Tenn., aged 76 years, testified in February 1845 that she had known Salathiel and Mary Martin for 70 years and became acquainted with both in Surry County, N. C., and that he was a Captain in the Militia in the Revo- lutionary War. He served two tours. One she thinks was for six months (over the six is written nine) ) and the other twelve months. The last campaign happened when Cornwallis came into N. C. lle was at the battle of Guilford and went South with General Greene, but what other battles he was in she did not know. Ile was gone about a year.
Daniel Martin of White County, Tenn., aged 81 years, testified
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that he was well acquainted with Capt. Salathiel Martin who served as Captain in the Revolutionary War, but was not in the immediate neighborhood when he entered the service, although he was in the neighborhood a very short time after the close of the war, and after the close of his tours of service, and lived with the said Capt. Mar- tin for some time thereafter, and often heard him speak of his serv- ing as' Captain. He has heard many of the men who served under Capt. Martin, and while staying with him just after the close of the war, say that they were in the service with him, and always saluted him as their Captain. Such was the case with all the people in the neighborhood and that he was a good partizan officer, being a man of great personal strength, very tall, being considered a head and shoul- ders taller than any other officer, at the time. After the war, all persons conceded to him the honor of being one of the best officers that served in North Carolina. The witness was confident of his ac- tive service, from the testimony of persons living in the vicinity where Captain Martin resided, but could not state the precise periods of it. Hle thinks he must have served during a greater portion of the Revo- lutionary War. He was well acquainted with his wife Mary before her marriage to Salathiel Martin, which took place before his own marriage which was in 1784.
The Secretary of North Carolina certified that Salathiel Martin was a Captain of Dragoons.
JOHN MONTGOMERY.
He stated in August, 1832, that he was residing in Guilford Co., N. C., and he was born in Lancaster Co., Penn. In 1767 he moved with his father to Guilford Co., N. C., where since living. He stated in August, 1832, that he was 69 years old.
In the latter part of 1780 he volunteered with Capt. Bell who marched up the Yadkin River after a band of Tories, but as they had been ronted by the Militia from Surry County, he returned home, -absent more than one week. Shortly after, he volunteered under Capt. MeReak in Maj. Blair's command, going up Abbott's Creek, in Stokes Co., after Tories who were dispersed. Absent two weeks in December, 1780. Immediately following, he marched as a Volun- teer under Capt. Forbis, Cols. Paisly aud Martin, to join General Greene (who was retreating from before the British), in Caswell Co.,
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thence with him to Halifax, C. H., Va., where information was re- ceived of the ravages of the Tories in the neighborhood of Capt. Forbis, who obtained permission to return home with his Company (after six weeks absence). When they reached Guilford, the Tories had fled the County, and Capt. Forbis resolved to join the army again, but before leaving Guilford, prisoners were sent to him to guard, of which guard Montgomery was one and he was on that duty when the battle was fought at Guilford ( March 15th, 1781). After the battle he was released from the care of prisoners to go to Randolph County against some Tories gathered in the High Hills, called the Caraway Mountains. (Abont 10 weeks.) The September follow- ing he volunteered with Capt. Stewart who marched in the command of Col. Martin and General Rutherford down the country to near Wil- mington, and was engaged to near Christmas checking the ravages of British and Tories, who often turned out in parties to plunder and destroy plantations. About three months.
WILLIAM POLK.
He was residing in April 1833 in Wake County, N. C., and stated that he was born in Mecklenburg County, N. C., July 9th, 1758, wehere he was living when he entered the service. In 1785 he removed to Davidson County, Tenn., "There occasionally living for three years," then returned to Mecklenburg County, where residing until 1799, since which time he has lived in Wake County as the Mayor of the City of Raleigh, where now living. He has lost his commission as 2nd Lieutenant and as Lieutenant Colonel Conmandant. His papers were seized at Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, by the British. Ile died January 14th, 1834.
In April 1775 he entered the service of South Carolina as 2nd Lieutenant in the Company of Capt. Ezekiel Polk in 3rd S. C. Regi- ment, mounted Infantry, commanded by Colonel William Thompson, which marched from the rendezvous in York District to Ninety-Six, Dorchester and Granby, where they were joined by the Militia of S. C. The object was to oppose the embodied Tories at Ninety-Six, to which place they marched and pursned the Tories, to the great cane break, where an engagement occurred December 22nd, 1775. In this action he received a wound in his left shoulder with which he
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was confined 8 or 9 months. Immediately after his recovery, he was appointed Major November 26th, 1776, in the 9th N. C. Regiment of the Continental line, he having held his commission of Lieutenant in South Carolina troops from April 1775 to November 26th, 1776. He joined his regiment at Halifax, N. C. in April 1777, he having Ixen on duty in the interior by the command of General Moore at Charleston, S. C., and Wilmington, N. C. The Colonel of the 9th regiment was John Williams and the Lieutenant Colonel John Lutt- rell. The command of the regiment from the absence of the Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel devolved on Major Polk, which he marched to Georgetown, Md., now in the District of Columbia, where they were inoculated with the small pox; from thence, after recovery, they went to Trenton, N. J., to join the army under General Washington, which was going to the head of the Elk to meet the enemy's advance toward Philadelphia. He was in the battle of Brandywine (Delaware, 11 Sept., 1777) and Germantown (Pennsylvania, 4 October, 1777) in which latter he was wounded by a musket ball in the cheek. Ile continued with the army at Valley Forge until the regiments were reduced, when he, with other officers, returned to North Carolina to superintend the recruit- ing service to fill up the regiment. The particular length of this service he cannot recollect, nor the precise day of its termination, but upon a further reduction of the regiment, in the Spring or Summer of 1779, he was put out of the service. The length of his ser- vice as Major was certified by the Secretary of the State of N. C. as 33 months, to which Mr. Polk referred as on the Continental estab- lishment. Ile served after this as an occasional Volunteer in the Militia until the fall or winter of 1780, the day and month not recol- lected, when he received a commission as Lieutenant Colonel of the 4th and then the 3rd regiment of South Carolina, signed by John Rutledge, then Governor of that State. Ilis regiment was first mus- tered under the command of General Thomas Sumter on Broad River in S. C. The first active service under his new commission was an attack upon a Block House near Granby on the Congaree, which was carried by his own and Colonel Wade Hampton's regiments. He was at the siege and reduction of Fort Motte and Orangeburg (the respective dates are probably Orangeburg May 11th, 1781; Fort Motte May 12th, 1781; Fort Granby May 15th, 1781). IIe was in the battle of Eutaw Springs (September Sth, 1781) where his
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horse was killed under him ; at the reduction of Wathoo (or Mathoo- badly written) and the battle at Quimby (probably late in July, 1781) making his service as Lieutenant Colonel Commandant in S. C. State troops, ten months. On one occasion he was a Volunteer in the Militia between the fall of 1779 and the date of his commission at Lieutenant Colonel and as aid to General Caswell at the battle of Gates' defeat near Camden (August 16th, 1780).
AUSTIN PRESCOTT.
STATE OF NORTHI CAROLINA,
To the Honorable the Secretary of War of the United States:
The petition of Austin Prescott, a citizen of the United States, sheweth that he entered the service of the United States as a private soldier in the War of the Revolution in the North Carolina Artillery, in the Continental line, in the company first commanded by Captain John Vance and afterwards by John Kingsbury; he served in said company in the North and in the South against the common enemy for upwards of five years when he was discharged. Deponent was with the army which was captured at Charleston but at the time of the capture was with the waggons sent to Georgetown for provisions and escaped the fate of the army at Charleston.
Ile received a discharge but has lost it.
JOHN TAYLOR, SENIOR.
In December 1832 he was residing in Granville County, N. C., and states that he was 76 years old on the 4th inst., and that he was born in Virginia; removed at the age of two years with his parents to Mecklenburg, in the same State, then in 1777 he settled in Granville County, N. C., where since living.
In 1778 a Company was raised in Granville County to aid in the defence of S. C. and Georgia and was told that his brother Richard Taylor was the Captain thereof, but he has no recollection of the fact. The wife of his brother Richard had received no intelligence of her husband in some time and expressed uneasiness in John's presence, to which he replied that as he had no family, he would go,
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and if permitted, serve out his time as a substitute. Accordingly he started with two young men, Solomon Walker and Solomon Mitchell, to join the American army, which was stationed on the north side of Savannah river, opposite Augusta, then occupied by the British. There he learned that his brother Richard had returned home, for what canse and under what circumstances he has no recol- lection, but has recently been informed and believes that by reason of his disappointment in not being raised to the grade of Major, he had resigned his commission and left the service. Ile was received into the service and a considerable time in the carly part of his tour, he was in the family and marquee of Colonel Lyttle. A detachment under the command of General Ashe were ordered across the river to take their station at the point where Brier Creek empties into the Savannah River. At this time he belonged to the Company of which Lt. Pleasant Henderson had in part the command. A few days before the attack on his detachment, which proved so fatal to it, General Ashe sent Lt. Ilenderson with dispatches to General Lincoln at Purysburg and Taylor was selected to accompany him. Lt. HIen- derson, observing when starting, that Taylor did not have his saddle bags, insisted on his return for them, but as Taylor hesitated, re- peated his request, and he got them. On the road Henderson remark- ed he had particular reasons for insisting on his securing his saddle bags "for you nor I will see this place again as there will be a battle here before we return." They remained three or four days at Purys- burg before commencing their return to their station and soon met the stragglers of their troops flying from the battle ground at Brier Creek (March 3rd, 1779) to whom he gave all the clothing in his saddle bags. He thinks they returned back to Purysburg, of which he has no recollection, nor when or where discharged. He thinks his service was about 5 months.
In August 1780 he was mustered at Oxford in a regiment of Volun- teers under Colonel Phil Taylor, which marched through Hillsboro, Salisbury, and Charlotte, to the Catawba River. At Salisbury the command was changed and assumed by Colonel Davie. Taylor ap- pears to act as commissary at times for he mentions the purchasing of a large quantity of flour, on one occasion, for the use of the army. The regiment being aware of the liability to be attacked laid down to sleep on their arms. In course of the night they changed, with as little noise as possible, to another place. A short time after leaving
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the ground, it was covered by Tarleton's Cavalry. At the Waxhaw he was in company with General Davie, when the latter pointed out the meeting house with the remark that he was educated by his uncle to suecced him as the pastor at that house. Absent about four months.
A regiment of mounted Volunteers was raised and placed under the command of Colonel Malmedy and Major Pleasant Henderson. A company was raised in Taylor's neighborhood, which elected him as Captain. Among the members were James Lyne, James Lewis, Joseph P. Davis, John Farrar, James Minge Benton, two of his brothers, Lewis and Edmund Taylor- one older and the other younger than him-and Robert Goodloe Harper, who afterwards be- came distinguished in the public councils of his country. The Com- pany met at Oxford to elect their Captain. After joining Colonel Malinedy and within seven miles of Guilford C. II., while at break- fast, they heard the report of the artillery in the battle, which started them to reach the battle ground by a short cut through the woods, but the route was so rocky and uneven, they abandoned it and returned to the more circuitous road, meeting hundreds flying from the con- fliet, from whom no information could be obtained as to the location or the issue of the engagement. Colonel Malmedy reached the battle ground and found it in the possession of the enemy, with their guns stacked around their fires. A council was held by the officers as to the "propriety" of attacking the camp, and Taylor thinks it was only op- posed by Colonel Malmedy. The regiment was ordered to pursue after Cornwallis, who had left Guilford. In course of this pursuit, Capt. Taylor with as many men as he was pleased to take, was ordered to ascertain the position of the British Army. Ile selected seven, one of whom was Richard Goodloe Harper, and after two or three days search the required information was obtained of the situation of the main body, and on another road the enemy were driving 300 beeves and would be compelled to march 15 miles before intersecting the main body. Soon after this discovery and while in the imined- iate neighborhood of the enemy, so much did the Company and horses need refreshments, that they were tempted to halt at a cabin and turn the horses into a wheat lot near the house. While the wo- man was preparing their breakfast of fried hominy, Capt. Taylor, with all but one of his men, went to the eastern side of the cabin to bask in the sun,-the morning being cool,- leaving their arms within the house. Capt. Taylor turned round to see the front surrounded
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by seven or eight armed men on horseback. Whispering to his party to follow him he walked to the cabin, but the others not knowing whether they were friends or enemies, or perhaps from pure coward- ice, did not resist their progress. Seizing his sword and the men their guns, presented himself at the door with the inquiry who they were; and observing a motion as if to retreat, ordered his men to fire, but this in so hurried manner, was without much effect, although the enemy had to pass through a small gate in front in single file. One man put his hand to his back and dropped his hat from his head. It was afterwards said that a Capt. Drake of the British Army had died of a wound received at that time and place. The wound was well understood to have been inflicted by Robert Harper. Capt. Taylor was so much alarmed by the occurrence, and the danger they were in, that the party mounted their horses and set out for their regi- ment, which was not in the place that had been designated for that day. Soon afterwards he learned it was while Cornwallis was at Ramsay's Mills, Colonel Malmedy ordered an attack on Tarleton's Cavalry in order to draw them out in pursuit, so that Major Pleasant Henderson, with a detachment placed in ambush, might attack them. The Command of this attack, Taylor was recently informed, was given to De Globack, a Frenchman, though he (Taylor) had always believed the Frenchman was subordinate to him. After the neces- sary preparation, the young Frenchman and himself set out at the head of the Company of about forty men ordered for the attack. Riding side by side DeGloback remarked to Taylor that one or the other of them, would in all probability, be killed ; to which he replied that if the enemy kept double piekets, perhaps both would be killed. Shortly after, seeing two pickets, and getting within about forty yards of them, received their fire, then pushed on at full speed until they joined, in a short distance, some 20 or more, who were sentries to the main body and all ran in the direction of the army, which was prob- ably within 200 or 300 yards further on, but were overthrown and three captured. While thus engaged with the guard, and before they were aware of the movement, about four hundred Hessians had nearly surrounded them, intercepting their return the same way from which the advance had been made for the attack. The party, escaped in another direction and notwithstanding the shower of bullets from the enemy, brought off the prisoners without receiving an injury. It was estimated by Major Henderson that there were three thousand bul-
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