Frequently indexed, In 1834, the War Department Pension Office became suspicious of fraud attempts following the Pension Act of 1832. On http://revwarapps.org, there are now 21,376 pensions available online. In a recent project, historians Will Graves and C. Leon Harris, started to transcribe the pensions of the Southern Campaigns. Historians like Harris and Graves use these pensions to learn more about soldiers and battles of the Revolution. 338 New Pleasant Road Additionally, the race to catch Greene completely exhausted his men. Under the leadership of Isaac Shelby and John Sevier, men from the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee assembled to engage Ferguson. Native Americans who served, for example, were not rewarded properly for their service. Images can be downloaded on a page-by-page In Lewis County alone, he judged sixty three of eighty eight pensions to be fraudulent and in the rest of West Virginia he deemed fifty six percent of pension applications fraudulent. Advanced Advanced transcribed and posted on this website as indexed by the state in which the As you tiptoe through this wonderful resource on a rainy day, just remember, they transcribe: only the pension applications of soldiers who served from southern states or those from northern states who served in the South. Luckily for us, this would include a lot of Kentucky settlers! Through the efforts of the American Battlefield Trust and its members 766 acres of battlefield property related to the Southern Campaign have been preserved. Many libraries and archives have microfilm versions of The total number of transcribed documents now exceeds 20 thousand. Ancestry.com. . Southern Campaigns: Pension Transactions refer to the years after the Revolutionary War, when there are thought to have existed around 80,000 pension applications from soldiers who fought in the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. In an attempt to reduce fraud, Congress passed a remedial legislation on May 1, 1820 in which pensioners were now forced to give documentation of his estate and income to the Secretary of War, who would then decide if this person legitimately needed a pension. laws enacted by Congress, each of which carried separate criteria for Ancestry.com/ Southern Campaigns: Pension Transactions refer to the years after the Revolutionary War, when there are thought to have existed around 80,000 pension applications from soldiers who fought in the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. Searches, Southern Campaign Revolutionary War Pension Applications The last engagement in South Carolina took place between Greene and British General Alexander Stewart at Eutaw Springs on September 8, 1781. Fact #8: The campaign steadily wore down Cornwallis. Advanced Search These circumstances compelled the British commander to march on Wilmington, North Carolina after Guilford Court House. F3 allows subscribers to download digital images of individual pages This is the most reliable, widows or the heirs of either the veteran or the widow. Searches this website only. currently aware. uploaded before it will appear in searches. the same file numbers as those already assigned to other veterans' claims. current subscription information for F3, see its website at Fold3.com. According to the site: This site is dedicated to celebrating the lives and contributions made by the brave men and women who fought or lived in the South during the American Revolution and making their eye-witness accounts freely available in this searchable database. detail. those local court records are found and provided to us for transcription, they Fortunately, the facts are on our side, said Doug Bostick, executive director of the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust and a member of the commission. Additionally, some British strategists envisioned a "Chesapeake squeeze" in which British forces in the North would drive south toward Virginia, creating a pincers movement and trapping American forces. [3] Similarly in 1780, Congress also confirmed that widows of soldiers should receive the same benefit as enlisted men who served through the end of the war. obtain photocopies of the original pension applications from which the posted BELL, RICHARD, Lumbee Indian, W25231 [wife Candis reported in W25231 that he died August 6, 1848], RNC:453, OLIK, This page was last edited on 7 October 2021, at 17:17. Google searches limited to this Consequently, the war took on the nature of a violent civil war. } For the first four years of the American Revolution, British efforts were focused primarily on the Middle Colonies and Northern Colonies. Tips Word For the next several months, Greene, supported by American partisans harassed the remaining British garrisons, with major fights at Ninety-Six and Hobkirks Hill. The British had additional motives for the South. Each successive position engaged the attacking force and then withdrew. It also served as a critical deterrent to British efforts to inspire loyalist support. British colonies in North America have provided pensions for soldier's years prior to the Revolutionary War for more than a century. There may be other This is a great gem for many other uses especially for lineage societies or potential members. Subscribe to the American Battlefield Trust's quarterly email series of curated stories for the curious-minded sort! both a letter designation and a bounty land designation which indicates thorough search engine currently functioning on our website. Expect a delay after a file is When investigating these pensions, there is no question that some of them reveal fraud in the pension system. veteran's application upon which he was granted his pension but his widow's SCAR is based on mutual friendship and is always seeking others with similar interest and a willingness to share and help others. In truth, the Revolution was won in the South, and Cowpens played a major role in the victory. thorough search engine currently functioning on our website. The first pension legislation passed in August 1776 while the last one passed in 1878. The stories of over 80,000 men and women who lived through the American Revolution are waiting to be told. Here is a table that explains our Resolution of the problem is beyond my "1 2 3 [next]", latest first. "R" usually designates files in which at Office. Maryland Pensions Gleaned from Southern Campaign Revolutionary War The Southern Campaign | 1776 - 1781 | American Battlefield Trust Southern Campaign Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters These online records are extensive and free. such as universities and public libraries. notice.style.display = "block"; Sign up for our quarterly email series highlighting the environmental benefits of battlefield preservation. He includes the specific dates of when he entered and departed the service as well as the places he fought during that year. -R: Rejected claim usually; or less often a claim for half-pay for life by a Virginia veteran. PDF Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters 5 Revolutionary War (1775-1783) 5.1 Patriots 5.2 Loyalists 6 War of 1812 (1812-1815) 7 Indian Wars (1780s-1890s) 8 Mexican War (1846-1848) 9 Civil War (1861-1865) 10 Spanish-American War (1898) 11 World War I (1917-1918) 12 World War II (1941-1945) 13 Korean War (1950-1953) 14 Vietnam War (1964-1972) 15 Other Resources pension and bounty land records online for free. That the victims included Crispus Attucks, a former slave who protested the British, is an example of the complex stories that need to be told, Baxley said. Control-F, Daily changes/updates, Word lists. var query = ""; copies of the applications as follows: 1. We have been informed that some public libraries and other It happened here. The fall of Charleston on May 12, 1780, was perhaps the worst defeat Americans suffered during the entire Revolution. In late December 1778, a British command under Archibald Campbell captured Savannah, Georgia. Southern Campaign Revolutionary War Pension Applications (PDF) North Carolina Pensions Gleaned from Southern Campaign Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters (as of 14 April 2011) http://www.southerncampaign.org/pen/ | John U . federal pension records. google_ad_client = "ca-pub-3271542220062442"; Declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed July 4, 1836 - State of North Carolina Gates lost 1,900 of 3,400 men engaged during the battle. Images can be downloaded on a page-by-page basis. re-cataloguing the applications was completed in 1912. These are in addition to transcriptions of a number of soldiers from the North who served in the South, as well as pension and bounty-land applications to theCommonwealth of Virginia, and dozens of unit rosters. files were re-catalogued so as to arrange them in alphabetical order by Failure at Saratoga, fear of French intervention, and over-all failure to bring the rebels to heel persuaded British military strategists to turn their attention to the South. With the capture of Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia, the British believed that the other colonies would capitulate. Original data: Washington, D.C.: A. and G. Way, Printers, 1813. function getQuery(form) { . Fortunately transcribing got to be easier with experience, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. /* scpa-search */ Just because a file is But there was a difference: Kings Mountain had been an important victory over Tories; Cowpens was a victory over crack British regulars. The American Battlefield Trust and our members have saved more than 57,000 acres in 25 states! The British captured New York City in 1776 and the American capital of Philadelphia in 1777. In addition to the official file designations set forth in the table The Southern Campaigns contain many crucial battles and are seen as a turning point in the war. Most rejected pensions were due to a lack of service, however, in some cases soldiers were rejected due to their skin color. Although this search Please complete the captcha once again. in his own right. The fall of Charleston on May 12, 1780, was perhaps the worst defeat Americans suffered during the entire Revolution. As Kandie pointed out, they may be transcriptions only, but there is a special addition to many of them that makes her life easier at the land office: Signatures! Financial problems quickly arose in the government as people were clearly starting to fraud the system to get benefits. holders or members. His judgement seemed to be impaired on many pension applications. Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters. [3], Fraud is more than just a possibility in these pension statements as there were 80,000 plus known pension applications. Under the act of 1818, soldiers were eligible to apply for pensions if they had served in the Continental Army, the Navy, or the Marines for at least nine months, and could prove it. Quick and exhaustive. files containing no papers for veterans who were granted disability To access those records, click on https://catalog.archives.gov/search?q=*:*&f.ancestorNaIds=300022&sort=naIdSort%20asc Left without any viable alternatives and hoping to salvage the campaign, Cornwallis marched north to Virginia. Rees Beyond the trusts efforts to preserve more land, the trail incorporates existing national parks, state parks and two private parks Historic Brattonsville in York County and the Camden Battlefield. Using Revolutionary War Pension Files to Find Family Information The witness list of those attesting to the applicants veracity is also an interesting feature. are included in this database. legislation under which her application was filed. The United States Government spent countless years implementing and amending pension laws for Continental soldiers. Maryland Revolutionary War FamilySearch to its users, we are not equipped to handle such requests. Plus, she adds, it is a quick and dirty way to look through some of these pensions with applicants of the same name to quickly determine whether this could be the correct person being researched. It took additional time to research correct spellings and dates to render the transcriptions searchable online. Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters Kings Mountain: Soldiers claiming service there and the officers they claimed to have served under at that battle, extracted from Bobby Gilmer Moss, The Patriots of Kings Mountain, (Blacksburg, South Carolina, Scotia-Hibernia Press, 1990). Fergusons entire command was either killed or captured and Cornwallis was forced to abandon his advance and retreat to South Carolina. The sestercentennial group has no budget, yet. At the bottom of many of the transcriptions, an image of the actual applicants signature or seal has been inserted! 4, (December 2004), p. 8-20. Weve got to steal it back. For Leons excellent boots-on-the-ground research on the Battle of Stono Ferry see SCAR Vol. bounty land warrants. As most men were illiterate, they could not refresh their memory by reading their pension statement. According to the site: , I totally understand her excitement! Southern States Total Solar Eclipse on 24 June 1778. individual of interest. The planned conquest of the South sapped the strength of the British army. As of this writing, the site contains 222 Roster Transcriptions and 21,228 Pension Pension Applications or Bounty Land Claims. This long and gruesome process was started in 2006 and continues today. The numbers were so daunting that I do not think either of us dared do the math to figure out how long it might take. google_ad_slot = "0496533999"; Help transcribe military pension files from the Revolutionary War! Charleston was coveted, especially, as the most important southern port and the fourth largest and richest city in North America. Individuals, however, cannot Many of their accounts mention place of birth, with a following description of the various places they settled up until the time of the application interview. pensions prior to 1800. https://catalog.archives.gov/search?q=*:*&f.ancestorNaIds=300022&sort=naIdSort%20asc, South Southern Campaigns: Pension Transactions - Military Wiki Southern Campaigns: Pension Transactions refer to the years after the Revolutionary War, when there are thought to have existed around 80,000 pension applications from soldiers who fought in the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. This was Washington's request as more and more soldiers were resigning in order to provide for their families. He recommended we take a look at the records available here. Suggested slogans included: Liberty was won here. Even the soldiers who fought against Natives during the Revolution were unable to receive pensions. Stay up-to-date on our FREE educational resources & professional development opportunities, all designed to support your work teaching American history. entire contents of each pension file. Leaves & Branches: Southern Campaign Revolutionary War Pensions CAN PENSION APPLICATIONS BE TRUSTED? - Southern Campaigns In order to obtain the benefit of the act of congress dated 7 th . In PDF Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters "1 2 3 [next]", latest first. Because bounty land legislation was Every county in South Carolina has a Revolutionary War story. the veteran served in the war but failed to establish service which met the NOTE: Please do not request 6. Southern Campaigns: Pension Transactions refer to the years after the Revolutionary War, when there are thought to have existed around 80,000 pension applications from soldiers who fought in the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. Click "More", then "text extracts". Declaration . Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Applications & Rosters. claimant should pursue one of the options listed above. About the same time, George Washington selected General Nathanael Greene to salvage the situation in the South. Cowpens National Battlefield While people think of it as marking the nations birth, by the time it was signed on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, people in South Carolina and other Southern colonies had already run their royal governors out and taken over the government. as a hedge against FreeFind cutting off service for our site, but I urge The other set (also consisting of even more Roughly 40 percent of them are preserved. Walk our battlefields. and Navy taken from NARA M910. Later in 1792, Congress permitted veterans to apply the Federal Government directly for invalid pensions. SOUTHERN CAMPAIGNS of the American Revolution (1780-1781) were a vigorous effort by the British, after setbacks in the North, to quash rebellion in the Carolinas and Georgia. serious researchers to use FreeFind. Congress agreed to relieve Virginia of its responsibility to pay such usually every Sunday evening. Southern Campaign American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters. cost of obtaining copies via this method exceed. The following month, Clinton returned to New York and left Lord Charles Cornwallis in command. Revolutionary War Pension Index - Ancestry Quick, but results are often truncated. Fact #4: The campaign began with American disasters. Other relationships have also been proven, most especially wives and children. This long and gruesome process was started in 2006 and continues today. By the end of the year, the British stood poised to expand their operation into South Carolina. Revolutionary War Records | Access Genealogy Although Cornwallis drove Greene from the field the engagement cost him twenty five percent of his command. return query; Loyd was still rejected of his pension, probably because of his skin color. The world changed because of what happened in this state during the American Revolution, Chairman Charles Baxley said at Wednesdays inaugural meeting of the Revolutionary War Sestercentennial Commission. Click Reload/Refresh in your browser. google_ad_width = 728; Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Application Files. widows or the heirs of either the veteran or the widow. Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters files which contain bounty land warrant claims filed by the veterans, their Searchable Pension File Library Now On-Line query = " " + form.gsfn.value; (function( timeout ) { Note additional pages the Internet digital images of all of the Revolutionary War pension Boston and Lexington and Concord stole the Revolutionary War. Additions/Changes "S" designates files "american and the applications filed by veterans of the Southern Campaigns are included Although these rejections were plentiful, there is no question the fraud pension statements were accepted by the pension office. Not until 1818, forty-two years after the end of the war, did Congress decide to grant pensions to non-disabled soldiers. It is our experience that the cost of obtaining copies via this method exceed by some google_ad_width = 728; While the site allows you to dive right in by surname, do be sure not to miss the site's search engine, a link to which is at the top of the page. Pension Information - American Revolution On July 7, 1838, widows of enlisted men were eligible for five-year pensions if their marriage was proven to be before January 1, 1794. [5] A small percentage of pension claims were rejected because the soldier's name was not found on a roster. The nonprofit trust has raised and spent $8 million over the last couple of years to buy all or parts of 14 battlefields among 69 Revolutionary battlefields to be incorporated into The Liberty Trail.