In Black and White: Cross-Cultural Genealogy

"Battle of Eutaw Springs,"engraved abt. 1859 South Carolina, September 8, 1781 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Update: The North Carolina Continentals The last section I read of this book was Chapter 18, Eutaw Springs. There seems to have been several changes in command for the 2nd North Carolina Regiment. I'm hoping to find another source that can elaborate on where these men were during the battle and what their contributions were. Till then, I'll have to set my notes next to the reading and see if I can make any connections. Nearing the end of this file We've come to the last few documents of Isaac Perkins' pension file. One might think that this is the end; however, it is just the beginning. After the documents are transcribed, in order for them to be purposeful in building Perkins' story line, they must be abstracted and the details put into a chronology. But first, lets take a look at the last three images in the recor...

In Summary: Abstracts of Isaac Perkins' Pension File Part 1: Isaac Perkins: Image 1/35: Cover page N.C., File: S41953 Image 2/35: Isaac Perkins: Service Record Enlisted 16 May 1777/8 for a 3-year term (2 sources with conflicting year of enlistment) Officers: Captain Stevenson and Colonel Sheppard; Captain Clement Hall and Colonel John Patton Private, 2nd Regiment, North Carolina line On N.C. Roll: Pension: $8 per month, beginning 9 June 1818 Certificate of Pension: 30 Nov 1818 Amount due on 4 Mar 1830: $18.06 Died May 23, 1830 Muster Roll: Captain Clement Hall's 2nd North Carolina Batalion Served at White Plains, New York Line 20: "Isaac Purkins": enlisted 16 May '77, term: 3 years Served with Martin Black: line 21: enlisted 16 May '77, term: 3 years Served with Isaac Carter: line 47: enlisted poss. 28 Oct '76 Served with John Carter: line 62; enlisted poss. 1 Jan 1777: tern: "1", for the duration of the war Part 2: Q...

Update: The North Carolina Continentals To date I am half-way through reading Chapter 17: South Carolina, 1781 . The author provides interesting details of military communications and actions, as well as the day-to-day effects of this prolonged war on our North Carolina troops, fighting outside of their state boundaries. It explores their inner conflicts of service to country vs. the needs of their families at home, especially during planting and harvesting seasons, which counted significantly in the continuous rate of desertion. We are coming near to the close of Isaac Perkins' pension application file. Today we'll be examining a collection of communications which causes questions to arise in regard to the identities of several of those who contributed documentation in the attempt to restore Perkins' name to the pension list. As we view the lapse of time just represented here--September 1828-December 1829--we can only imagine the mounting frustration this man and his ...

Washington at Valley Forge E. Percy Moran, 1862-1935, artist Courtesy Library of Congress Update: The North Carolina Continentals Chapter 6, Valley Forge, 1777-1778 This chapter brings to light some answers to questions I had formed from working with a member of the North Carolina Society of the Sons of the American Revolution who had contacted me about participating in the Forgotten Patriots project. In regards to military service in the 10th North Carolina Battalion under the command of Captain Abraham Sheppard, he had mentioned that late in the war the records were ill-kept and many who were not under the direct command of Capt. Sheppard were, in fact, lumped together with other soldiers, leaving it to us these two-hundred thirty-odd years later to sort out. Chapter 6 helped with the sorting. The problems seemed to start with the recruiting officers in Abraham Sheppard's Tenth Regiment who recruited "bodies" to fill the ranks who were often too sickly to...

Update: The North Carolina Continentals Major General Nathaniel Greene, Commander of Washington's Left Wing Courtesy Library of Congress It is amazing how a vacation...a week away...though filled with activity, offers opportunity for reading without distraction! I finished the chapter entitled, Charleston, 1780 (Chapter 11), and then read Chapter 7,  Monmouth and the New York Highlands. As I read, I highlight the details which might have effected my ancestor directly, or may have been aware of. I then check the footnotes, and work on tracing the information back to its origins, some of which include  Writings of Washington , The Diary of James McHenry , Correspondence of Colonel John Laurens , and Revolutionary War Journals of Henry Dearborn . Even though the ancestor was unable to read a newspaper, keep a diary, or correspond with his spouse, the eye-witness accounts of those serving close by offer a glimpse at shared events, the difference being a matter of individual...

Historical Background Watercolor painting by Charles M. Lefferts Courtesy of Wikipedia.org As I pondered the idea of one day assembling a complete narrative for the 1st and 2nd North Carolina Continental Line, focusing on the men serving in the same battles our Carter and Perkins ancestors fought, my mind drifted to their common denominator: military pension application files. For those I have already transcribed, each veteran had received their pension on the merit of having served for the minimum time prescribed (at least nine months), but had not necessarily been wounded in battle. Their maladies were related to their current state of indigence, and a grateful country's financial response. Below you will find a listing of several online resources offering the basic guidelines for the military pension application: Follow the Money: Tracking Revolutionary War Army Pension Payments , by Claire Prechtel-Kluskens. National Archives, Prologue Magazine, Winter 2008, Vol. 40, ...

An addition to my LibraryThing.com When I began my in-depth research on the battles and skirmishes in which our free black Patriots from Craven County, North Carolina had participated, I came across a book title contained within an end note of a book on the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse. I quickly checked on the Barnes and Nobel and Amazon.com sites to compare availability and prices and found what I was looking for! Not only was I able to purchase a "Like New" hardcover copy of this book, but much to my joy, it arrived at my mailbox two days later! Available at Amazon.com The book's title is, The North Carolina Continentals , by Hugh F. Rankin. Check it out on Amazon.com's "Click to Look Inside!" feature. It appears to be quite thorough in its footnotes and bibliography, which is great for me, because I'm always checking sources to glean additional details. Contained within its twenty chapters, I found information concerning every battle in w...

Encampment at Valley Forge It is difficult to imagine the conditions, the time and energy expended by these heroic soldiers from New Bern, North Carolina, who were marched some 463 miles to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and then another 670 miles to Charleston, South Carolina,only to be taken as prisoners of war and held on a prison ship in the harbor. By today's standards we think of a trek of this nature in terms of hours; but, in the 18th Century we're looking at months of walking, waiting, fighting, and walking some more. As we look at the next documents in Isaac Perkins' Revolutionary War pension application, we begin to see the framework of his military experience. We are also introduced to a new participant, one Osborn Clark. A quick search at Fold3.com uncovered a pension file for this soldier, who fought in the same regiment as Isaac Perkins on his second tour of duty. You can find more about Osborn Clark here . Isaac Perkins 7/35 www.Fold3.com ...