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Revolutionary War Pensioners REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION APPLICATION William Miles – Onondaga County, New York Service: New York Number: S28813
Albany 31,552WILLIAM MILES Onondaga Co. in the State of N. York who was a private in the company commanded by Captain (Fosberry?) of the Reg’t. commanded by Col. Whiting in the N. Y. Militia time for 11 months & 9 day. Inscribed on the Roll of Albany as the rate of 37 Dollars 66 cents per annum to commence on the 4th day of March 1831. Certificate of pension issued on the 8th Day of Nov. 1838 and sent to Gen. Pettit, Fabius, N. Y. Arrears to the 4th of Sept ’38 282.45 Semi-annual allowance ending 4 Nov ’39 18.83 301.28
Revolutionary Claim Act June 7, 1832 Recorded by D. Brown - Clerk Book (C or E?) 2 Vol. 4 page 46 Declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress passed June 7th 1832. State of New York} Onondaga County} On the 6th day of September 1838 personally appeared in open court before Grove Lawrence First Judge and Johnson Hall & Lyman H. Minor two of the judges of the court of Common pleas, & general session of the peace now sitting at Salina in said County, WILLIAM MILES, a resident of Lysander in said county of Onondaga, and State of New York, aged seventy-five years, who being first duly sworn, according to law doth, on his oath, make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefits of the Act of Congress, passed June 7th 1832 –
That he entered the service in the fore part of October 1780, in a company of militia commanded by Captain Jacob (Fosberry?) in the town of New Britain, then in Albany County, State aforesaid, his Lieutenant was Nathaniel Miles, & father to this declarant, and all lived then in that place, that he turned out as a volunteer, & said company officers, volunteered also, & as all went under Col. Whiting & Col. Watermann, to whose Regiment of local Militia, said company belonged, up the Mohawk river, & fought the enemy in the battle of Palatine, on the same day that Col. Brown was killed – that he returned home in November, having served one month. & followed the enemy to Fort Herkimer where he was discharged with all the Militia Volunteers, by Governor Clinton in person - Afterwards, in the month of August 1781, he enlisted for four months into Capt. Skinner’s Company of state troops, which was attached to Willet’s Regiment, that he went to Albany, & went from there by advice of Gen. Clinton, with a detachment of another company to Schoharie, where were some of Skinner’s company, with whom he marched to Fort Plain on the Mohawk River, where Capt. Skinner was with his company – from there he marched in a detachment to Fort Herkimer - remained there two weeks, & were then marched back to Fort Plain – then went with a guard to Fort (Walcot?) & then after a week or two, went back again to Fort Plain – from thence he marched with all the troops by the way of Fort Hunter to Johnstown and was there in the Battle of Johnstown – from there the Regiment, under Command of Col. Willett, marched to Fort Herkimer – Major Rowley was in that Battle & got wounded in the heel – after about four days we pursued the enemy & had a skirmish, killed some & took fourteen prisoners & declarant was sent back with the prisoners to Fort Herkimer, while the Regiment pursued the enemy & killed their commander Butler – the Regiment then returned to Fort Plain where Skinner’s Company was discharged in the month of December – That in April 1782 he enlisted for Nine Months into Capt. (Gray’s?) Company of state troops, & joined it at Schoharie, and served in it there till August, & then & there he enlisted for three years, into Capt. Joseph Harrison’s Company of state troops – Rial Bingham was his Lieutenant & Pliny Moore was his Ensign that he was mustered into the three years service at Albany under General Clinton, & then the whole company was taken back to Schoharie, & remained there till October, keeping Garrison - & watching the Indians, and then went to headquarters at Fort Plain, & built our huts for winter – in January 1783 the men were inoculated at Fort Plain for the smallpox – and in Feb. he belonged to a party of about four hundred, who were ordered to go and surprise & take Fort Oswego – at Oswego Falls we eat our last provisions - & proceeded down the down the river about four miles - & the pilots got bewildered & the enterprise failed – returned then to Fort Plain having lost a number who were frozen to death – that he was so frozen himself, that he got a furlough & went home in March, but did not recover so as to join the Regiment before it was discharged at Albany in July – being confined at his Father’s house more than three months – that he resided in New Britain, County of Albany, State of New York when he entered the service aforesaid – that he knows of no other person except those whose depositions are hereto annexed, whose testimony he can procure, who can testify to his service -–that he was born, in the Town of Brimfield, County of Worcester, & State of Massachusetts, on the 9th day of September 1763, but has no record of his age – that since the Revolutionary War, he removed from New Britain to Pompey, Onondaga County – to Cazenovia Madison County – to Phoenix Oneida County and then to Lysander Onondaga County where he now lives, that he remembers Major Van (Schauten?) & Colonel Willet at Fort Plain also Capt. Cannon Capt. (Tione?) Capt. Pierce Capt. McConnel & Adjutant Fonda – that he never received a written discharge, excepting one from Col. Willet at the end of the four months service, and that is long since lost – That the reason why he has not made this application before now, is because he has not been able to find any witnesses alive who care to swear to any part of the service herein set forth. He hereby relinquishes any 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 and that Ira Eno and Ebert B. Dyckman are known to him in his present neighborhood, & can testify to his veracity & their belief of his services in the Revolutionary War, as a Soldier.
Sworn to and subscribed Wm. Miles the day & year aforesaid E. Rhoades Clerk Onon. Com. Pleas We Ira Eno and Ebert B. Dyckman residing in the Town of Clay in the county of Onondaga & near to William Miles who has signed the foregoing declaration, hereby certify that we are well acquainted with said William miles & we believe him to be seventy-five years old & that he is reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resided to have been a soldier of the revolution & that we concur in that opinion – further that there is no clergyman in the vicinity of said William Miles, who has known him long & can be obtained to attend court & give his testimony, the only one of this description being gone from home.
E. B. Dyckman Ira Eno
Sworn & Subscribed the day and year aforesaid
E. Rhoades Clerk Onon’a Com Pleas
And the said court, do hereby declare that they propounded to the said William Miles all the interrogatories required by the regulations of the War Department for carrying into effect the pension Act of 1832 to which he answered and his answers are all embodied in his declaration above & his answer to the seventh had been omitted & was interlined at the close of it. That it is their opinion, after the investigation of the matter that the above named applicant was a Revolutionary soldier & served as he states. And the court further certifies, that it appears to them that Ira Eno & Ebert B. Dyckman who have signed the preceeding certificate, are residents in the town of Clay in said county, and are credible persons and that their statement is entitled to credit – and further, it is their opinion, that said applicant could not produce in Court, a Clergyman to testify as required by said regulations, without too much expense & inconvenience to said applicant
Grove Lawrence (???? ????) Johnson Hall Judges Lyman H. Mason
The Commissioner of Pensions Sir: Your favor of the 8th instant is received, answering a favorable decision on the application of William miles for a pension. For his sake I request that he is among the many whose service in the War of Liberty & independence is unquestioned and unquestionable, where they are known, but who cannot lay hold of the boon of Justice held out by their country, for want of the evidence which the decrease of their comrade-soldiers deprives them of. Please forward the certificate for the 11 Mo. and 9 days to me, as soon as the order of your official business will permit – for the old Gentleman is literally in want.
I am very respectfully your Obed’t &c George Pettit
STATE OF NEW YORK CORTLAND COUNTY} ss On this 7 day of July 1838 personally appeared before Rensselaer Merrill one of the Justices of the Peace in and for said county, Roswel Holmes of Cortlandville is said county who being duly sworn by & before the said Justice according to law, doth on his oath, depose & say that he is seventy three years old, that he resided in the time of the Revolutionary War in the town of New Britain, Albany county, now called Chatham in the county of Columbia, State of new york, and was then & there well acquainted with William Miles now living in the town of Lysander, County of Onondaga, who is an applicant for a pension under the Act of June 7th 1832. That in the year 1781, in the month of August, the deponent enlisted into Capt. Van Rensselaer’s company of new York State Troops belonging to col. Willet’s Regiment for four months, or rather was hired by a class of the militia who were bound to furnish a man – that said William Miles entered at the same time & in the manner into Capt. Skinner’s company belonging to the same Regiment, that said Miles & deponent served in said regiment from the first of August till the first of December, that they performed those services sometimes together & sometimes in different detachments, at Schoharie and on the Mohawk river, and were both together in the battle of Johnstown - & both returned home in December but not together, the deponent having been discharged at Fort Herkimer & said Miles at Fort Plain - - - that this deponent knows & recollects that said Miles was gone from home both before & after the time of the above services, to serve as a Soldier as was said & generally believed – Deponent remembers that he went out with his Father who was a Lieutenant in the Militia & that another time he was gone eight or nine months in the service as a Soldier, as was said & understood & the deponent has no doubt that he did so serve & further says not.
ROZEL HOLMES
Sworn & Subscribed the day & year above writeen before me & I certify that I am acquainted with Roswell Holmes & know him to be a man of truth & veracity.
RENSSELAER MERRILL Justice of the Peace
STATE OF NEW YORK CORTLAND COUNTY} ss On this day of July 1838 personally appeared before one of the Justices of the peace in and for said county, Rhoda Welch, of in said county, & Joanna Merrill of in said county, who being (severally?) and duly sworn by & before the said Justice do, on their oaths respectively, depose & say as follows - the said Rhoda testifies that she is years old and is a sister to William Miles, a resident of Lysander in the county of Onondaga, who is an applicant for a pension under the Act of Congress of June 7th 1832 – that she well remembers, although she was young at the time, that while living in her Father’s family in the town of New Britain, Albany county, during the time of the Revolutionary War that her said brother William Miles, was gone several times to serve as a soldier as many as four or five different times, & once nearly a year - & deponent recollects also that the family made preparations to fit him off for such service, & sent him on with a horse on one or two occasions - & said Joanna deposes that she resided during the revolutionary war in the same place & neighborhood of said William Miles’s Father & now remembers that he was frequently absent from home, sometimes for one month – sometimes three or four months – and one time nearly a year, and that it was said & believed in the neighborhood that he was in the army, & deponent’s best recollection is that he served as a soldier more & less all through the war & that she is now years old –
STATE OF NEW YORK ONTARIO COUNTY} ss On this 23rd day of July 1838 personally appeared before Ansel Munn one of the Justices of the peace in and for said county, Thomas Miles, of the town of Gorham in said county, who being duly sworn by & before the said Justice according to law, doth, on his oath, depose and say, that he is seventy three years old & is brother to William Miles, of Lysander in the county of Onondaga & State aforesaid, who is an applicant for a pension under the Act of Congress of June 7th 1832, that deponent knows that said William served as a private Soldier in the War of the Revolution, on several different times of service & in different year, although deponent was younger & did not serve with his said brother. Deponent knows that his Father, Nathaniel Miles, was an officer in the Militia & went into active service on the Mohawk River, in cases of alarm, with his company, as part of his company, while living at New Britain, Albany County - & he remembers well that said William went with his Father in Capt. Fosburg’s company of militia to which they both belonged, in the year 1780 & were both gone a month before they came home – that in the summer afterwards, about July or August, said William enlisted into Capt. Skinner’s company, Col. Willet’s Regiment, New Yor State troops, for four months, that his said Father, sent deponent to carry said William as far as the ferry at Albany, & they both went on horseback & deponent led back the horse said William rode – who did not return home again till December following – that the next April, 1781, said William left home again as a Soldier, & was gone almost a year, & when he came home in March following, he was badly frozen, & on that account, as he said, he got a furloght, but before he got well enough to go back as he intended, news came that Willet’s Regiment was discharged at Albany – Deponent recollects that it was said & understood in the family, when said William left home as last mentioned, that he had enlisted in Capt. Gray’s company for 9 months, Willet’s Regiment, & it was afterwards talked in the family that William had enlisted for during the war or three years.
THOMAS MILES
Sworn & subscribed the day & year above written before me, & I certify that I am acquainted with this deponent, Thomas Miles, & know him to be a credible witness.
ANSEL MUNN, Justice of the peace, Ontario County, New York
STATE OF NEW YORK MADISON COUNTY}ss On this ninth day of August 1838, personally came before me Stephen G. Sears one of the Justices of the Peace in and for the said County, Samuel Thompson, who being duly sworn by and before the said Justice according to law, doth on his oath depose and say that he was acquainted with William Miles during the Revolutionary War and knew him to be a soldier in the service of the United States – that this deponent has the day of this date seen the said Miles & recognized him to be the same man that he knew to be a private soldier in United States service during the Revolutionary War – that deponent is now seventy one years old – and further this deponent says not.
SAMUEL THOMPSON
Sworn and subscribed the day and year above written before me – and I do further certify that – I am well acquainted with this deponent and know him to be a man of truth and veracity.
STEPHEN G. SEARS, Justice of the Peace
STATE OF NEW YORK MADISON COUNTY} ss On this tenth day of August 1838 personally appeared before me Elias Munger one of the Justices of the peace in & for said County, Roswell Welch of Fenner in said county, who being duly sworn by & before the said Justice according to law, doth on his oath, depose & say that he was a Soldier in the Revolutionary War, and belonged to Captain Skinner’s company of New York State troops, Col Willet’s Regiment, that while he was serving in said company in the year 1781, at Fort Plain on the Mohawk River, in the month of August or September, a number of Soldiers came from Schoharie, for was said, and joined said company, & that among them was one William Miles, who now resides in the town of Lysander in the county of Onondaga, & is an applicant for a pension under the Act of Congress of June 7th, 1832, as this deponent is informed & believes, that said Miles served in said company as a private soldier from three to four months - & was discharged at Fort Plain sometime in December – during which time this deponent also served in said company & became well acquainted with said Miles, & both fought together in the battle of Johnstown, & were out on scouting parties & detachments, sometimes separate, & on several occasions together, that this deponent has lately seen said Miles & recognized him to be the same man who served with him in Captain Skinner’s company as aforesaid, & that deponent is now 74 – years old, & when he enlisted into said company he resided in the town of Chatham, county of Columbia & further says not.
ROSWEL WELCH
Sworn & subscribed the day & year above written before me - & I do further certify that I am well acquainted with this deponent & know him to be a man of truth and veracity.
ELIAS MUNGER – Justice of the Peace
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