Pension Application of
Caleb Cooper S30959
Transcribed
and annotated by C. Leon Harris
[Punctuation partly corrected]
State of Kentucky
Pulaski County Court Sct
On this 19th
day of May 1834 personally appeared in open Court before the County Court of
Pulaski County Kentucky, now sitting as a Court, Caleb Cooper A resident of
Pulaski County state of Kentucky aged about Seventy two years who being first
duly sworn according to law doth on his Oath make the following Declaration, in
order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the Act of Congress passed
June 7th 1832. That he entered the service of the United States
under the following named officers, and served as herein stated. that while a resident of Bottetourt
[sic: Botetourt] County, Virginia in the year 1776 or 1777. he
cannot now from long lapse of time state the year or month exactly. he is entirely illiterate, can neither read or write. he well recollects he was a little upwards of fifteen years
of age. he went as a hired hand to assist in driving cattle from said County to
Baltimore in the state of Maryland for the use of the United States Army and
while in Baltimore he enlisted for the Term of Three years in the company of
William Johnson Captain who was Captain of a Company of Light horse, that he
was attached to the Light horse Corpse [sic], & belonged to the Regiment
under the command of Colonel William Washington. after his enlistment he was
marched to JamesTown Virginia thence to Richmond from
thence back to James Town, where the american forces
had a Battle with the British, in which battle Colo
Washington’s light horse participated & was engaged, the British forces
were whipped & Beaten, and in which Battle he received a wound in the right
leg just below the knee and a slight sword wound on the head, on the top of the
head & when he lost a horse killed during the Battle. [see
note below] General Wayne was engaged in said Battle, in command of the Regular forces in
which Battle Capt’n. Johnson was killed. The
Lieutenant whose name I have forgotten was made the Captain after the Battle he was marched to different
places engaged in performing such service as he Light horse Corpse were ordered
to render. was in several skirmishes but in no other
regular Battle.
he was stationed the first winter after he entered the service together with
the rest of Colo. Washingtons Light horse, at a place
called Potts Grove in the state of Pensylvania,
according to his present recollection was once marched thro the state to a
place called Bedford
was twice during the Three years for which he enlisted marched
into the state of Maryland. most of the Three years he was engaged in the State
of Virginia at different places rendering Light horse service a part of the winter he was stationed at
Richmond Virginia Gen’l.
Campbell of the
Militia was occasionally there during the winter. the
third winter when the severely cold weather set in he was ordered by his
Colonel to return home and remain until the breaking of winter he done so. he
remained at home not more than two months and again returned to the service in Washingtons Light horse. he served out fully the three
years except the two months above mentioned in rendering such services as he
was ordered to perform as one of Colo. Washingtons
Light horse, and at the expiration of the Three years he received a discharge
in writing for Three years service as a Light horseman signed by Colo Washington as he now thinks, which has long since been
lost or destroyed, who then expressed a readiness and willingness to pay him
his wages then due him. But the Colonel said the money was depreciated and of
no account, the Colo.
handed him his discharge, which induces him to believe it was signed by Colo.
Washington.
Afterwards
in the latter part of the year 1780 as he now thinks still a resident of Bottetourt County Virginia, he was drafted to serve for three
months in the company of Captian James Barnett
against the Indians. he belonged to the Regiment and
was under the command of Colo. [William] Campbell. after he
entered the service he was marched to the Long Island on holstien
River [sic: Holston River, at present Kingsport TN] and at which place a peace
was concluded with the Indians, and he together with rest was ordered home and
discharged from service. he cannot say exactly how
long he was engaged in this service, but not less than two months. he received a discharge in writing signed by Captian Burnett which has long since been lost or distroyed.
Afterwards
in the year 1781– still a resident of said County, he was again drafted for the
Term of Three months to serve against the British who were then encamped &
lying near and about Richmond & Williamsburg. he was
drafted to serve in the company of Captian Looney
belonged to the 4th Virginia Regiment commanded by Colo. [John] Willis after entering
the service he was marched to and joined the main army at headquarters at old
Williamsburg Commanded by Genl Campbell, was in a Battle called the hot water
fight near Williamsburg [Battle of Hot Water or Spencer’s Ordinary, 6 miles NW
of Williamsburg, 26 June 1781]. was afterwards marched
& joined the American army under the command of General Washington, then beseiging Lord Cornwallis at York [28 Sep - 19 Oct 1781]. before Cornwallis was taken, he was together with others
marched into the Country Between Richmond & York to prevent the
British & Tories from burning the rope walks [see note] and destroying
houses &c and remained in the vicinity of the rope walks until after the
surrender of Cornwallis. immediately afterwards upon
the expiration of the Three months which he fully served out he was discharged
from the service. he received a written discharge for
three months service, signed by Captian Looney which
has long since been lost or destroyed.
Five or Six
years after the close of the Revolutionary war, while living in Sullivan County
Tennessee the year he does not now Recollect he volunteered to serve as Indian
spy for the Term of Two months under the command of Lieutenant Hare, who was in
command of a company of 35 Spies. after the company
was raised he was marched to the frontiers and as a spy served on Holstien Clinch & Bluestone Rivers. during
the time he was stationed at Blackamores [or Blackmore’s]
fort on Clinch River he served out fully said two months and was
discharged from the service, But received no discharge in writing.
He has no
Documentary evidence whatever of his services and knows of no person whose
Testimony he can procure who can testify to his services except William Hays of
Pulaski county a Revolutionary Pensioner who lived a neighbour
to him in Bottetourt County Virginia and by whom he
can prove the service stated in his Declaration against the Indians in the
campaign in the company of Captian Burnett. he can also prove by said William Hays that it was
understood and talked about in the neighbourhood
about the time that he was one of Colo. Washingtons
Light horse. the said Hays served with him under
Burnet against the Indians. He [Cooper] is known to John Duncan and George S.
Benton (no clergyman living in his immediate neighbourhood)
residents of his present neighbourhood who can
testify to his character for veracity and their belief of his services as a
soldier of the Revolution.
He hereby
relinquishes every claim whatever to a Pension or annuity except
the present, and declares that his name is not on the Pension roll of the
agency of any state or Territory
He was born
in Bedford County, Virginia on the 6th of January according to his
present recollection of what his Parents told him on the subject, but in what
year he has entirely forgotten. He has no Record of his age. he
cannot read or write.
He was
living when called into the service at the places stated in his Declaration.
after the Revolutionary War and before he served as a spy he continued to live
in Bottetourt one year then moved to Montgomery
County Virginia and from there he moved to Sullivan County where he lived when
he volunteered as a spy & also volunteered to serve against the Indians
under Gen’l StClair [sic:
Arthur St. Clair] and was in StClairs defeat [4 Nov
1791]. after his service as a Spy he moved to Lincoln
County Kentucky and from there after living little upwards of one year he moved
to & settled in Pulaski County State of Kentucky where he now lives. and in which he has lived since he first settled in said
County except about two years he moved from Pulaski to Wayne
County and when troops were raising to
march to the defence of Orleans towards the close of the last war he
volunteered in the company of Capt’n. Vickery and was
in the army under the command of General Jackson now President of the United States
and was at the Battle of Orleans [8 Jan 1815]. after
his return home he moved back again to Pulaski County
where he now lives.
He was
called into service as stated in his Declaration.
He has
stated the names of the Officers and the Regiments where he served together
with the general circumstances of his service.
He received
discharges in writing for each & every term of his service except in
services as a spy signed as stated by him in his Declaration, which have long
since been lost or destroyed
Sworn to
and subscribed the day and year aforesaid Caleb
his X mark Cooper
I William Hays a resident citizen of Pulaski County State of
Kentucky aged Seventy eight years a Revolutionary Pensioner of the United
States having been first duly sworn according to law in open Court, doth on
oath declare and state, that I do of my own personal knowledge know that Caleb
Cooper the applicant in the above foregoing Declaration, as well as myself was
drafted to serve for three months in the company of Captain James Burnett
against the Indians was under the
command of Colo. Campbell and I do know that said Cooper served in said company
until after the peace was made at the Long Islands of Holstien
when he was ordered as well as the rest of the company to return home. we did not serve out fully the three months but served at
least two months. and the said William Hays doth on oath further state, that he
lived a neighbour to said Caleb Cooper at the time
and for a long time before he was drafted for the three months in the company
of Captain James Barnett as above states in the County of Botetourt Virginia, and that he does know that it was
generally and well understood in the neighbourhood
about the time & afterwards and talked about in the neighbourhood
that the said Caleb Cooper was one of Colo. William Washingtons
Light horse, and that he has heard it talked about and has often talked with
said Cooper about his services in the Light horse under Washington.
Sworn to
and subscribed the day and year aforesaid William
hisXmark Hays
NOTE:
The account
of Cooper’s first tour is thoroughly confused. Lt. Col. William Washington took
command of a corp of Dragoons late in 1778, and he
served in the North for the next two years until he was sent to Charleston SC.
He was not in Virginia
during this period, since there was little action in that state until early
1781. The battle near Jamestown
VA was the Battle of Green
Springs Plantation on 6 July 1781, where Gen. Anthony Wayne was soundly
defeated. Lt. Col. Washington was still in South Carolina at the
time.
The
description of Cooper’s first tour as a militiaman is also confused. The Treaty
at Long Island of the Holston
River was signed in 1777.
According to the pension application of William Hays [R4783], the troops
intending to attack the Cherokees late in 1780 were dismissed when on arriving
at Long Island they learned that Campbell
had already burned the Indian towns.
Rope-walks
were long factories where workers spun rope as they walked along it.