submitted by: Brenda Dillon
Pension application of DANIEL TAYLOR
Pension Application dated May 15, 1833
signed by Judge P.H.McBride & Jacob L. Sharp
State of Missouri County of Montgomery , On this ___ day of May in the
year
of our Lord, eighteen hundred and thirty three, personally in open
court,
before the judge of the Circuit Court of the County of Montgomery
aforesaid now sitting Daniel Taylor, a resident of Lewiston Township
in the
said county and state, aged about eighty four who being first duly
sworn
according to law doeth make the following statement in addition to
the one
which he has heretofore made in order to obtain the benefit of the
act of
Congress dated 7th of June, 1832 for the relief of soldiers of the
revolution.
That he was, he thinks, in the year 1774 in a battle which was fought
near
the mouth of the Great Kanawha between the colonial forces under the
command of General Lewis and the Indians, that he was then a married
man, that he was born in Jersey about forty miles from the City of
New York
in the year 1748 on the 18th of September according to the record of
his
birth which was in his father's Bible from which he copied it, that
his father
when this affiant was still quite young removed to Frederick County,
Virginia,
near Winchester, that this affiant remained there until he had become
a man
and there learned his trade of house carpenter, that he removed from
there to
Greenbrier River to a settlement_____ there and remained there 12 years,
having married there and it was some few years after his removal to
this
settlement that the revolutionary war broke out, the settlement on
Greenbrier
at this time was small and could not produce more than thirty or forty
men and
was far from its distance from the interior and the proximity to the
wilderness
extremely exposed to danger from the Indians inhabiting to west and
south who
were generally hostile to the Americans in this situation. The inhabitants
of the
settlement were organized into militia under the command of one John
Cook
and this affiant in conjunction with the rest of the command of Captain
Cook
erected a fort a place called the little levels within one mile and
a half of
Greenbrier River and gave it the name of Fort Defiance, that the fort
was built
in the year seventy six and from the time of its erection this affiant
was engaged
during nearly the whole every summer for six years under the command
of
Captain Cook in spying, guarding the fort, and ranging during this
time
several of the men were killed by the Indians but the fort was not
attacked,
being on an ______ in open ground, the Indians, its seemed, were unwilling
to expose themselves to the dangers of an open attack. A Fort within
about
14 miles from Fort Defiance was attacked by about 300 indians but was
successfully defended, this was Fort Donaldson----during the six years
that this affiant was engaged in guarding and defending Fort Defiance
and
the neighboring settlement, he assisted on several occasions to equip
young
men of the settlement who were desirous to partake in the defense of
their
country against the British invaders, though he never went himself
and ____it was
the desire of the government that the fort and the settlement on Greenbrier
should
be maintained and the people of the settlement accordingly received
a message
said to come from the board of war requesting them to maintain their
position
and promising them that their services rendered in its defense and
protection
should be accounted as service rendered the government in the line
of the
Continental Army. This affiant after remaining at Fort Defiance _____
years or
there abouts returned to the neighborhood of Winchester where he
remained some three or four years and then moved back to Greenbrier
and
after a couple of years moved to Kentucky where he resided part the
time
near Bardstown in the_______ and after remaining there some twenty
years he
removed to this county where he has remained since and expects to die---It
is
impossible for this affiant to state the number of months or years
that he was
engaged in active service in defense of his county, but he thinks that
this ought not to preclude him from receiving something from his government
with which to smooth his way to the grave. And in his circumstances
anything would be much better than nothing at all----his extreme age
has
affected his memory but he believes he is very safe in saying he must
have
engaged in actual service under Captain Cook for at least one year,
as the greater
part of each summer for six years was occupied by him in the summer
for six years
was occupied by him in ______ or at the fort as he before
said----this affiant states that the other officers of the company
were
George Clendenon Lieut. and John McNeil Ensign----that he himself a
private
for the greater part of the time acting as a spy----that he was a volunteer
in all of his service and never got a discharge but each one went his
ways
when the war was over----this affiant does not know of any one living
by
whom he is able to prove the services mentioned above----he is known
to
several persons who are now in this state and many in Kentucky, who
have
known him for many years, but they are out of his reach and he is obliged
to
resort to his neighbors in this county for the only testimonials of
his
character and reputation of his revolutionary services which he is
abler to
produce amongst these he named Nathaniel Dryden, Amon Kibbe, and Jacob
L
Sharp this affiant further states that his name is not on the pension
roll
of the agency of any state or of the United States and that he has
never
made any application for a pension ____ present---and hereby relinquishes
all claim to pension or annuity for or on account of revolutionary
services
save what he seeks by this petition and which may be granted him under
the
law of the seventh of June last----this affiant believes that he has
stated
all that he knows material in this application and further said not.
Pension Application dated May 15, 1833
signed by Judge P.H.McBride & Jacob L. Sharp
© 2002 Rhonda Smith