1263 William Robertson's Amendment of April 3, 1837

State of Tennessee Court of pleas and Quarter sessions April term

Hardeman County 1837

On this Third day of April / A D 1837 personally appeared in Open / Court before the Justices of the County Court / of said county of Hardeman now / sitting William Robertson now a resident / of said county of Hardeman aged about / Seventy Six years who being first duly / sworn according to law doth on his oath / make the following Amendment to his / declaration of the 3rd day of October in / the year of our lord 1832 in order to / obtain the benefits of the provision made by / the act of Congress passed June 7th 1832. That he cannot tell his age not having / any record of it, but from information / received from his mother in his lifetime / he was seventy six years of age the 22nd / day of March 1837. He cannot give a / better account of the place of his birth than / is stated in his original declaration numbered / 1553 here present was offfered as part of this / amendment. He cannot say when he first / entered the service but he thinks the time / he served under Capt. James Robinson was / in the year 1777 or 1778. He then served in /that tour Three months and was then / mustered out of service without a written dis- / charge. The next year he volunteered or / enlisted under Capt. Thomas Price as stated in / said original Declaration and then served / a full term of one year. The next tour he

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entered the service under Capt. W. Parker as / a Lieutenant and served three months. The time / of performing this service he cannot now state. / Shortly after the above service he entered the / service again under Lieutenant Cunningham / and served Three months. Immediately after he / was mustered out of service when he when he cannot / under Cunningham. [sic] / he again entered the / service under Capt. Robert Sevier in this / term of Three months the Battle of Kings / mountain was fought, but this Declarement [–] / been sent home with Capt. Sevier & some others / who were wounded did not serve out the / three months by about three weeks. he thinks he acted on this occasion as Capt. of the / guard sent with the wounded. In the year / 1786 as he believes he served under Capt. James / Richardson commanded by Gen. Joseph Martin. / he was at this time about five months in / the service. In the year 1782, information / of Indians & tories on Coosa Watee river in / what is now Georgia as he thinks Capt. / Isaac Thomas raised a spy campaign and / he volunteered under him. Said Thomas was under command of Col. Robertson & Sevier. / The company went to said river and took a / white man on the way. he broke courtesy and / said Thomas killed him as he run. he went / on and burnt Big Shoemaker town and a / store house said to belong to the British. We / then retreated home with thirty six Indians / and one white man prisoners We served / I think five weeks and four days. In the

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three months enlistment in which he went / against the Cherokee Indians called the / Chickamaga Campaign he served a short / time more than the three months. He thinks / he did not serve two years in all by one / or two weeks but he cannot now recollect / He does not remember that he ever got a / written discharge. He further states that he / is not acquainted with any Clergyman in / his neighborhood and he is informed and be / =lieves it to be true that there is not one / living nearer him than about seventeen / miles. He never had any record of his age. Since [–] his original declaration / he has resided in the State of Mississippi some / time but now resides in Hardeman County / where he then did. The reason why he did / not renew his application sooner is because / of his infirmity and the difficulty attending / the obtaining proof of service which he has / in part done by the statements of William / Price, Thomas Gist and Hugh Pearson of White / County Turnpike which is here produced These / statements are imperfet and Wm Pearson is / mistaken as to claimant being in the Battle / of Eaton Spring, being then in a different ser= / vice. He does not think he ever received a / written discharge. He truely again relinquishes / every claim whatever to a pension or annuity / except the present, and he declares that his / name is not on any pension roll or agency / in any state. Isaac Thomas called captain / above was only our leader on that

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occasion. There may be errors in this declar= / ation, but from length of time he cannot / make it more perfect. Christopher Bullard / Temple Bullard James Moore, William Moore / & Thomas Simpson & many others of his neighborhood / are acquainted with him and would testify / as to his character and the fact of his / being reputed a revolutionary soldier residing / in the county of Hardeman in the State of / Tennessee and to his being a man of truth

Sworn to and Subscribed before me William Robertson

in Open Court Saml. Neely Circuit C. Clerk

Apl. 3rd 1837 for Rufus P. Neely Clerk

We William J. Davis and John Creekmore / residing in the county of Hardeman and / State of Tennessee hereby certify that / we are well acquainted with William / Robertson, who has subscribed and sworn / to the above amendment of his declara= /tion of 1832 that we believe him / to be Seventy Six years of age that / he is respected and believed in the neigh= / =borhood where he resides to have been / a soldier of the revolution, and that / we concur in that opinion.

Sworn to in Open Court William J. Davis

the 3rd Apr 1837
John Creekmore

Rufus P. Neely, Clerk

By Saml. Neely, Circuit Clerk

And the said Court do herby declare / their opinion after the investigation of

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the matter, and after putting the interrog -- / gotories prescribed by the war department / that the above named applicant William / Robertson was a Revolutionary Soldier / and served as he states. And the court / further certifies that it appears to them / that Willie J. Davis and John Crocker / who have also signed the same are / residents in the county of Hardeman / in the state of Tennessee are credible / persons and their statement is [–] to Credit –

E. C. [–] (LS)

W Becker Jr (LS)

Daniel Ayers (LS)

I Rufus P. Neely Clerk of the County Court / of Hardeman County in the State of Tennessee / do herby certify that the foregoing five / pages contain the original proceedings of the / said court in the matter of the appli - / cation of William Robertson for a pension.

In testimony whereof I have / hereunto set my hand and seal of / office this 3rd day of April in / the year of our lord 1837 –

Rufus P. Neely Clerk

By Saml McDowell D.C.

Source: National Archives of the United States, Revolutionary Pension File S4790. Also available at United States Veterans Administration, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files, Robertson, Joseph – Robertson, Zachariah, FHL microfilm 972062. Document images courtesy of Pollye Calvery.