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On this 22nd day
of January 1833 personally appeared before the Worshipfull the Court of
Pleas and Quarter Sessions for the County of Williamson, State of Tennessee,
Tapley Lightfoot, a resident of the county and state aforesaid, aged 69
years who, being first duly sworn according to law doth make the following
declaration in order to obtain the benefit of an Act of Congress passed June
7th, 1832.
He was born in the County of Hanover, State of Virginia, on the 15th
February 1761. He has a record of his age in his possession, which was
copied from his father’s family bible, now in the possession of a sister
older than himself in South Carolina. He resided in the county where he was
born until he went into service which was in June 1778. He was then a bound
apprentice and having quarreled with his master, he left his service without
his consent and enlisted as a regular soldier for the whole war under a
recruiting Captain named Thomas Price at Hanover Court House. From Hanover
C.H. he was sent to Norfolk with about three and twenty others under command
of a Sergeant named Smith. In Norfolk and the country adjacent he remained
attached to the company commanded by Captain Tapley White and regiment by
Col. Davis, until the month of August 1780. He then marched with his company
to the county of Chesterfield, Virginia. From C. Ct. House he was marched to
the Shirley Hundred where he was engaged in a skirmish of guards in which
applicant thought his commander Colonel Davis exhibited great cowardice. At
Ch. Ct. House he remained until the month of January ‘81, by which time
about 1000 men had assembled there of whom two regiments were formed, one
commanded by Col. Campbell, the other by Col. Haw. Applicant was attached to
the regiment commanded by Col. Campbell. The two regiments marched from
Chesterfield Ct. House to join the army of General Greene which they
overtook at the Cheraw Hills about two or three weeks previous to the action
at Guilford Courthouse. Applicant was in that action.
After it he marched with Greene’s army in pursuit of Lord Cornwallis to
Ramsey’s Mills on Deep River, thence to Camden, So. Carolina, where Greene
found and fought Lord Rawdon. Applicant was also in this action. After it
the army marched to Ninety Six, a fort held by some British troops under
Colonel Cruzer[?]. General Greene lay before this fort with his army about
one month and was then compelled by the arrival of Lord Rawdon with
reinforcements to raise the siege and retreat. He crossed the Catawba River
to the High Hills of Santee where he received a reinforcement of No.
Carolina Militia. He then returned in pursuit of Lord Rawdon and came up and
fought with him at the Eutaw Springs. Applicant was also in this action and
received a severe wound in the leg and a slight one in the arm, both with a
bayonet from the same man. In this action the regiment to which applicant
belonged was stationed on the right wing. During the action this wing which
was entirely composed of the two Virginia regiments above mentioned was
overpowered by superior numbers and compelled to throw down their arms and
ask for quarter. At this critical moment Colonel Washington arrived at the
spot with his squadron of horse, made a furious charge upon the enemy’s left
then engaged with us and broke their line. Our two regiments resumed their
armies, completed the defeat and came out of the action with about 360
prisoners although we left Colonel Washington a prisoner in the hands of the
enemy and our brave Colonel [Richard Campbell] dead upon the field of
battle. Applicant remained with the army after this action marching from
place to place wintering at the High Hills of Santee, thence marching to the
Round O, thence to the Hickory Hills, where he first received information of
the termination of hostilities. Applicant was marched thence under Major
Edmunds to Salisbury, where the soldiers were discharged. He received a
written discharge from the service and a certificate purporting that he had
received nothing for his services. At the time of his discharge applicant
had neither hat, coat, shoes nor stockings, his whole apparel consisting of
a pair of flaxen trousers and a shirt of his own making. In this condition
it is not surprising that he lost these papers. They never reached home with
him. He was discharged about the last of January or first of February 1782.
He now deems it almost unnecessary to mention the names of the officers that
he knew, but in compliance with the instructions of the Secretary of War, he
says he was well acquainted with the persons of Greene, Lee, Washington, and
Marion and knew all the Captains in his regiment: Culverson, Anderson,
Scott, Crawford and Walls. He has no papers to prove his services and knows
of no person living by whom he can prove them but refers to John Atkinson, a
clergyman and Seth Sparkman, residents of his neighborhood who can testify
to his character for veracity and to his character in his neighborhood as a
soldier of the Revolution.
He lived in No. Carolina two years after he left the service, and having
lived two years in Hanover Va., 4 or 5 years in Rowan No. Carolina, 6 or 7
in the counties of Pasquotank and Perquimans, about 20 years in Guilford,
about three years in Wilkes No. Carolina, about 5 years in Bedford County,
Tennessee. Moved to this county about 4 years ago and has resided here
since.
He hereby relinquishes all claims to any pension or annuity, except the
present and declares that his name is not on the Pension Roll of the agency
of any state whatever.
[signed] Tapley Lightfoot X his mark
We, John Atkinson, a clergyman and Seth Sparkman, residents in the County of
Williamson, do hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Tapley
Lightfoot, who has sworn to the above declaration that we believe him to be
as old as he states, that he is reputed and believed in the neighborhood
where he resides to have been a soldier of the Revolution and that we concur
in that opinion.
[signed] John Atkinson, Sen.; S. Sparkman
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