REVOLUTIONARY WAR VETERANS, HENDERSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE

Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith

I.

Southern Statesman, Jackson, Tennessee, February 26, 1831:
Died. In Henderson county, on the 24th December last, Capt. WM. NEILL, a soldier of the Revolution, aged 90 years. He was a native of Iredell county, North Carolina.

II.

Researching the original pension applications on microfilm copies from the National Archives, Washington, D.C., the following data has been gleaned about these old-time Henderson County patriots.

On August 8, 1853, HENRY MOFFITT, a resident of Henderson County, applied for any pension benefits that might have been available for himself and his siblings, based on the Revolutionary War services of their father, ROBERT MOFFITT "who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War" and who "died in the county of Chatham in the State of North Carolina in or about the year A.D. 1817 leaving a wife CATHERINE MOFFITT and eight children. He further declares that his mother CATHERINE MOFFITT remained a widow until her death which transpired in the State of Missouri ... leaving eight children, HENRY MOFFITT, NANCY, MARY, MARIA, WILLIAM MOFFITT and AARON MOFFITT, RACHEL and SARAH. "The application was refused as there was no law providing for the children of Revolutionary War veterans, but it did establish in record the fact of ROBERT MOFFITT's military service. (National Archives: pension number R7293)

Among the deponents in this Moffitt application was that of MARY PHILLIPS of Henderson County who declared, August 16, 1853, that she had personally been "a neighbor of ROBERT MOFFITT, the father of HENRY MOFFITT ... that ROBERT MOFFITT and CATHERINE MOFFITT were man and wife, that they lived together as such, that the people of Randolph county in the State of North Carolina considered them as lawful man and wife." Also deposing, August 16, 1853, were ELI TEAGUE and JOHN BRAY, both of Henderson County, who declared that they personally knew HENRY MOFFITT to be a son of ROBERT MOFFITT "who resided in Randolph county in the State of North Carolina and died in Chatham county"; that he and CATHERINE MOFFITT had been man and wife; that "the opinion of the people where he lived" accepted him as a Revolutionary War veteran. T.P.PHILLIPS of Henderson County deposed, August 16, 1853 "that from my own knowledge of ROBERT MOFFITT ... that I believe him to have served in the Revolutionary War."

Therefore, from this one pension application alone the North Carolina origins of several of Henderson County's pioneer families are preserved in a public record.

III.

U.S.Census, 1840, Henderson County, Tennessee
(listing of Revolutionary War pensioners living therein,with their names)

page 331, JOSEPH PURVIANCE, aged 78
page 333, NATHAN GREEN, aged 80
page 336, ARCHIBALD McCORCLE /McCorkle/, aged 81
page 353, JOHN FOSTER, aged 86
page 364, DANIEL MURPHY, aged 78
page 375, JOHN ANDREWS, aged 52 (all of whose ages varied somewhat in this census enumeration and their pension applications)

IV.

From the pension application, #S2771, of ARCHIBALD McCORKLE it is known that he applied for a pension based on his Revolutionary War services, while living in Stewart Co., Tenn., Sept.23, 1833; that he was born in the Waxhaw settlement, Lancaster District, South Carolina and "according to the record of his fathers family bible" he was born October 27, 1754; he lived on the place he was born until 1806 when he moved to Montgomery Co., Tenn. where he lived 21 years, then moved to Stewart Co., about 2 miles from Dover; that from some time in October 1775, he served 2½ months in Captain John Barkley's company under colonels Joseph Kershaw and Richardson, was in the "snowy" campaign with skirmishing when 100 prisoners were taken; from some time in October 1778 he served 2½ months in Captain Hugh White's company, Kershaw's regiment and fought in the battle of Coosawatchie Bridge; served three months in 1779 in Captain James Kennedy's company, Kershaw's regiment; served from early summer of 1780 until August 1781 in Captain Hugh White's and James Kennedy's companies and fought in the battle of Rocky Mount, Fishing Creek and Camden. Having had a "dangerous fall from my horse which has left me a criple probably for life and has necessitated me to change my residence and be conveyed from Stewart county, Tenn. to Henderson county, Tenn. /1838/ in order to be with my children so as to be taken care of by them." (as submitted to the authorities from McCorkle's residence at Jack's Creek)

Late in life he received his pension through the Jackson post office. He died in Henderson County, June 6, 1844. (In 1909,a great-grandchild, E. N. TABLER, living in Henderson, Chester Co., Tenn., inquired about his service record.) Deposing in his favor was SAMUEL DUNLAP of Humphreys Co., Tenn. who served with McCORKLE in his last tour of duty (deposition of Oct. 12, 1833).

V.

From the pension application, #S3412, of NATHAN GREEN, it is known that he applied for a pension based on his Revolutionary War service while residing in Henderson County, Oct. 12, 1832; that he was born in Halifax Co., N.C., Oct. 29, 1759; that late in the summer of 1778 he enlisted and served three months as a private in Captain Ambrose Harper's N.C. military unit to guard the jail and ammunition in Halifax; that he enlisted late in 1778,serving six months in Captain Thomas Scurlock's company, Colonel Thomas Eaton's N.C. regiment and fought in the battle of Brier Creek; he was commissioned as first lieutenant, Aug. 1, 1782, serving in Captain William Morris' and John Hargraves' companies, Colonel Kennon's N.C.regiment and fought in the battle of Rock Fish Creek Bridge about 25 miles from Wilmington, N.C.; that he moved from Halifax Co., N.C. to Mecklenburg Co., N.C., then to Madison Co., Alabama, thence to Henderson Co., Tenn. From a deposition filed with these pension papers, was that of THOMAS H.GREEN of Henderson Co. and NATHAN GREEN, JR., only surviving heirs of NATHAN GREEN, SR., who had died in Henderson County, August 3,1846.

VI.

From the pension application of PATIENCE PURVIANCE, aged 60 years, widow of JOSEPH PURVIANCE, which she filed in Carroll Co., Tenn., Oct. 24, 1853 it is known that he was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, December 24, 1764; that he was living in Mecklenburg Co., N.C. when he rendered military service in the Revolutionary War, serving in the N.C. militia; he moved from there in 1831 to Jackson Co., Tenn. and after a year moved to Madison Co., Tenn. where he applied for a pension, July 23, 1835; that he had married PATIENCE, October 1834 and died February 27,1845 in Henderson County.(Pension #W2666)

VII.

From the pension application (S 1515) of JOHN FOSTER it is known that he applied for a pension based on his Revolutionary War services while living in Charlotte Co., Va. ,October 1, 1832; that, aged 79 years, he had lived long in that county and during his time of military service in Prince Edward Co., Va.; that in the summer of 1837 he moved to Henderson County, Tennessee.

VIII.

From the pension application (S186l) of DANIEL MURPHY it is known that he applied for a pension based on his Revolutionary War services while living in Anson Co., N.C., October 10, 1832; that he was born in Anson Co., N.C. January 23, 1763, a fact noted in "a Bible left by my father & my son took it off in another Bible which I have yet in my possession"; that he served 5 tours (1780,1781) of military service, some 15 months, in the N.C. militia. The family was living in Anson Co., in 1830, but had moved to Henderson Co., Tenn. where DANIEL MURPHY was listed in the household of a presumed son, DANIEL H.MURPHY in the 1840 census of that county.

IX.

A problem of age exists for the veteran, JOHN ANDREWS, given as age 52 in 1840, therefore born about 1788 — born years after the Revolutionary War. In the 1830 U.S. census of Henderson County (page 103) a man of that name, presumably the pensioner was given as aged between 40—50 years, hence born in the 1780s decade.

THE PENSION ROLL OF 1835, Southern States, volume 3 (a copy of the original was published by the Genealogical Book Co., Baltimore, 1992), page 525 lists JOHN ANDREWS as living in Henderson County, Tennessee, a pensioner, veteran, having served in the 8th Infantry and placed on the pension roll December 1, 1820 based on provisions of act of Congress passed May 15,1820.

This act provided pensions for veterans who had sustained wounds in the course of their services during the Revolutionary War, based on a former act of Congress, April 10, 1806 in which such wounded, disabled veterans, by formal application — giving proof of service and affidavit of physician noting particular injury/disability — could receive a pension for such services rendered in the war for American independence.

It may not be possible, at this late date, to establish the real age of JOHN ANDREWS, who to have sustained injuries from service in the Revolutionary War would had to have been older than the censuses indicate. It isn't apparent in the pension files which JOHN ANDREWS was claiming a pension for such wounds. The act providing for men pensioned in similar circumstances reads, from PUBLIC STATUTES AT LARGE OF THE UNITED STATES (Boston, 1846), volume 3, pages 596-597:

THE PENSION ROLL OF 1835, Southern States, volume 3, page 514 lists several Revolutionary War veterans living in Henderson County at that time: ATHELSTAN ANDREWS, GEORGE ANDERSON, BENJAMIN BUTLER, SAMUEL BEARD, ROBERT GREGGS, JAMES KING, JOHN ROBINS, NATHAN GREEN, WILLIAM YOUNG. All but NATHAN GREEN had either died by 1840 or had moved away from the county. In Virgil A. White's monumental work, the GENEALOGICAL ABSTRACTS OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION FILES (Waynesboro, Tenn., c1990s), the 1835 pensioners are listed: volume one, page 61, ATHELSTAN ANDREWS, S1620, born 1761; page 55, GEORGE ANDERSON, S2914, born 1754; page 201, SAMUEL BEARD, S2980, born 1755; page 496, BENJAMIN BUTLER, S3096, born 1765; volume two, page 1443, ROBERT GREGGS (Griggs), S3418, born 1757; volume three, page 2916, JOHN ROBINS, S4150, born 1756; page 4003, WILLIAM YOUNG, Bounty Land Warrant Application 71078-160-55, born 1764; the data given for JAMES KING appeared too inconclusive to cite; to which reference book the interested researcher is referred for fuller information on these particular veterans.

Further information on the Moffitt pension application, S7293:

U.S.Census, 1850, Sept.6, Henderson Co. ,Tenn., civil district 2, page 243:
THOMAS PHILLIPS, age 51, born N.C., farmer
MARY PHILLIPS, age 50, born N.C.
listed with two apparent younger children

IBID., Sept. 10, civil district 2, page 250:
JOHN BRAY, age 51, born N.C., farmer
RETTA BRAY, age 43, born N.C.
listed with apparently 8 children, all born in Tennessee

Copies of signatures from this R7293 file:

Other works by Jonathan K. T. Smith can be found at the Madison County Records Repository at TNGenWeb.