W1425 John Hereford
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Southern Campaign American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters Pension application of John Hereford 1W1425 Sarah Hereford f166VA Transcribed by Will Graves 3/19/14 [Methodology: Spelling, punctuation and/or grammar have been corrected in some instances for ease of reading and to facilitate searches of the database. Where the meaning is not compromised by adhering to the spelling, punctuation or grammar, no change has been made. Corrections or additional notes have been inserted within brackets or footnotes. Blanks appearing in the transcripts reflect blanks in the original. A bracketed question mark indicates that the word or words preceding it represent(s) a guess by me. The word 'illegible' or 'indecipherable' appearing in brackets indicates that at the time I made the transcription, I was unable to decipher the word or phrase in question. Only materials pertinent to the military service of the veteran and to contemporary events have been transcribed. Affidavits that provide additional information on these events are included and genealogical information is abstracted, while standard, 'boilerplate' affidavits and attestations related solely to the application, and later nineteenth and twentieth century research requests for information have been omitted. I use speech recognition software to make all my transcriptions. Such software misinterprets my southern accent with unfortunate regularity and my poor proofreading skills fail to catch all misinterpretations. Also, dates or numbers which the software treats as numerals rather than words are not corrected: for example, the software transcribes "the eighth of June one thousand eighty six" as "the 8th of June 1786." Please call material errors or omissions to my attention.] [p 71] Logan Ch. Va. Aug. 3, 1828 Honorable Richard Rush Sir I am about to procure the affidavit of Judge Lewis Summers of this district which will be to this effect, That in the summer of 1825 he was in company with General Lafayette who informed him that I John Hereford was a major in the Continental line of the United States and that he was well acquainted with me and further that I was with him at the siege of York and Gloucester and many other engagements. You will be pleased to inform me whether an affidavit to this amount will be sufficient for me to claim the sum allowed me by the act for benefit of revolutionary officers. Respectfully S/ John Hereford [p 56] For the purpose of obtaining the benefit of an Act for the relief of certain Surviving officers and Soldiers of the Army of the revolution approved on the 15th day of May 1828 I John Hereford of Mercer's Bottom in the County of Mason in the State of Virginia do hereby declare that I was raised in the town of Leesburg in Loudoun County Virginia that in the summer of 1777 I enlisted under Lieutenant Erasmus Gill a recruiting officer, belonging to the Second Virginia Regiment on the Continental establishment for three years that I marched with the said officers and under the command of Captain Marcus Calmus [Marquis Calmes] another recruiting officer with about 100 recruits from Leesburg and joined the American Army near Philadelphia and was annexed to Captain Payton Harrison's Company in said Regiment as Sergeant and continued in such during my stay in the Regiment: As well as my memory serves me; in the winter 1778 – 9 in the State of New Jersey there were came out General orders that all the Three years Soldiers who would reenlist for and during the war should have a bounty of one hundred fifty dollars Continental money and a furlough till the 8th April 1779. Accordingly I enlisted for during the war with a number of others belonging to the Company and returned to Leesburg to see my Parents. That I never received a certificate for the reward of eighty dollars nor was I ever on the Pension list. That before my furlough expired I enlisted a Substitute to take my place by the name of John Sorrell, when about to march he was claimed by Lieutenant Colonel Leven Powell of the 1 BLWt28613-160-55 16th Virginia Regiment as a Soldier in his Regiment; I then hired another Substitute in Sorrell's place and sent him on with the 16th Regiment the said John Sorrell served during the war (as I believe) returned to Leesburg and died in a few years. That I received a favorable discharge from Captain Christian Febiger who commanded the Regiment that I always took a part in defense of my country during the Revolutionary War; that I bore arms in an Independent Company in Leesburg before I was sixteen years of age. That on the invasion of Cornwallis I marched with a Regiment from Leesburg commanded by Colonel John Alexander as Adjutant and joined Lafayette's Army between Richmond and was with him during his retreat in the mountains where we were reinforced with General Wayne's [Anthony Wayne's] division when we made them retreat in turn. We drove Cornwallis to Williamsburg and from thence to Old Jamestown where they took Shipping for Norfolk. I also acted as Adjutant in a Regiment commanded by Colonel Charles Dabney of Hanover County Virginia & Lastly as Adjutant in Colonel George West's Regiment from Loudoun County. Served as such during the Siege of York and after the Surrender of Cornwallis our Regiment had the honor of taking one division of the prisoners to Potomac where they were received by the Maryland troops, and that the undersigned is seventy years of age and in reduced circumstances. S/ Jno. Hereford [Charles Clendenin and Matthew W Stribling gave a standard supporting affidavit.] [Attested in Mason County Virginia August 6, 1828] [p 60] Revolutionary Claims Treasury Department, August 30, 1828 John Hereford of Mercer Bottom in the County of Mason in the State of Virginia has applied to the Secretary of the Treasury for the benefits of the act, entitled "An act for the relief of certain surviving officers and soldiers of the Revolution," approved the 15th of May, 1828. He states that he enlisted in the Continental line of the Army of the Revolution, for and during the war, and continued until its termination, at which period he was a Sergeant in Captain P. Harrison's Company, in the Second regiment of the Virginia line; and that he received a certificate for the reward of eighty dollars, provided by the resolve of the 15th of May, 1778; and further, that he was not on the 15th of May, 1828, on the pension list of the United States, and that he has received as a pensioner since the 3rd of March, 1826, nothing. He states that he served personally in that Regiment until 1779 and then by a substitute named John Sorrell, who was excepted in his place. The Third Auditor is requested to report how far the several statements are corroborated by the records in his Office. By order of the Secretary S/ F. A. Dickins Treasury Department, Third Auditor's Office, 3rd September 1828 It appears by the records of this office, that a certificate for the reward of eighty dollars has been issued to __ in the ___ It further appears that John Hereford is not now on the pension list of any agency, and has not been so since the 3rd March 1826 at the rate of __ dollars per month. Neither the name of John Hereford nor that of John Sorrell can be found among those of the Virginia line to whom Certificates for the gratuity of $80 were issued. S/ Peter Hagner, Aud. General Land office 30 April 1829 The name of John Hereford does not appear on the List of Warrants issued by the Register of the Land Office at Richmond Virginia so far as they have been received. S/ G. W. Graham, Commissioner War Department: Bounty land office 30 April 1829 The records of this office do not show that John Hereford of the Virginia line ever received or is entitled to bounty land of the United States. S/ Robert Taylor [p 10] State of Virginia Mason County to wit On this 19th day of September 1832 personally appeared before the Judge of the Superior Court of Law and Chancery for the County aforesaid in open Court John Hereford a resident of said County in the Commonwealth aforesaid who being first duly sworn according to law, doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provisions made by the act of Congress passed June the 7th 1832. I John Hereford, a soldier of the Revolution, now residing in Mason County, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, was born on the 3rd day of February in the year of our Lord 1758 in the County of Fairfax in the State aforesaid, as appears by the Register in our family Bible, on the banks of the Potomac River on the national [?] estate of my great grandfather who came from Wales, in England, as I have been informed by my ancestors. I was raised in the town of Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia. In the summer of 1777, I enlisted under Lieutenant Erasmus Gill a recruiting officer belonging to the Second Virginia Regiment, of Infantry of the line, on the Continental establishment, for the term of three years. I marched with the said officer, and under the command of Captain Marcus Calimas [Marquis Calmes], another recruiting officer of the same Regiment, with about one hundred recruits from Leesburg, and joined the American Army near Philadelphia. I was annexed to Captain Peyton Harrison's Company in said Regiment as Sergeant and continued as such during my service in the Regiment.