Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File B. L.Wt. 1820 - 300, for John Reily, Pennsylvania
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Penn.

Reily, John.

B.L.Wt. 1820_300_Capt.
Issued Oct. 10, 1789
No papers.
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[Stamp: Received May 19 1938 Mail Sub-Div Vets ? Number # 54]
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Cincinnati Coal Exchange               Leon Strikman
Member Commercial Law League of America

From:  Stuart R Ducker
Attorney At Law
1819 First National bank Building
Cincinnati, Ohio
Phone  Main 3829

May 18, 1938

Stamped Received on May 19, 1938

Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Pensions,
Washington, D.C.

Revolutionary and 1812 Wars Section MCS/EEL John Bailey

Gentlemen:

For historical purposes having to do with "The Settlement of the Northwest" celebration which takes place her in Cincinnati this year, I am asking your assistance in straightening out the records on a certain soldier of the Revolution.

On November 1, 1929, your department wrote that John RILEY (please not spelling) received a Revolutionary War pension S-36873.  Your Department gave additional information to the effect that he enlisted in Westmoreland County Pennsylvania, in August 1776, served as a private under Captain Samuel Miller, Van Swearingen, and Clark, also under Colonels Mackey, Daniel Morgan, and in Bayard's Pennsylvania Regiments.  It is further stated that he was at the capture of Burgoyne and was wounded at Piscataway, New Jersey, being discharged August 11, 1779. 

He was allowed a pension on his application executed in April, 1818, while a resident of Campbell County, Kentucky.

Now the records of Campbell County do not show a man that named John RILEY ever lived at Campbell County, but that one named JOHN REILEY do so live there and that he was a Revolutionary soldier.

In the Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army, written by Francis B. Heitman, Washington, D. C. 1914, the record of Captain John Reiley, is given as follows:
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                               -2-

"1st Lieutenant 12th Pennsylvania, 1st October 1776; Captain, 20th May 1777; transferred to 3rd Pennsylvania, 1st July 1778; wounded at Bonhampton, New Jersey April 1777, transferred to Invalid Regiment 12th August 1780, and served until June 24, 1783."

Without too much trouble, is it possible for you to determine from the records whether these two records are records of the same man?  It is particularly confusing due to the fact that the Reiley receiving the pension in Campbell County, Kentucky, spelled his name R-E-I-L-E-Y, the same as the officer referred to above, and was reputed to be the only Revolutionary officer in the county while he lived there. 

This doesn't seem to jibe at all, inasmuch as apparently the War Department Pension Records show Private Riley being discharged in 1779 and Captain Reiley serving until June 1783.

As stated for historical purposes in regard to the celebration, it is necessary that we do all we can to straighten out this confusion and get all the information possible.

Will you kindly assist us?

Yours very truly,

Stuart R. (Reiley) Ducker

SRD:LB
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June 16, 1938
XXXXXXXXXXXX

BA-J/MCS
John Riley, S.36873
John Reily, B.L.Wt.1820-300

Mr. Stuart R. Ducker
1819 First National Bank Building
Cincinnati, Ohio

Dear Sir:

Reference is made to your letter of May 18, 1938, requesting information sufficient to enable you to determine whether the Revolutionary War soldier, John Riley, S.36873, is identical with John Reiley (found in Heitman's Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army) who served as follows:  1st Lieutenant 12th Pennsylvania, 1st October, 1776; Captain, 20th May, 1777; transferred to 3rd Pennsylvania, 1st July, 1778; wounded at Bonhampton, New Jersey, April 1777, transferred to Invalid Regiment 12th August, 1780, and served until June 24, 1783.  You state that this office furnished an abstract of papers on file in John Riley's pension again S.36873 on November 1, 1929, and said abstract shows that his soldier applied for pension while living in Campbell County, Kentucky.  You also state that the records of Campbell County, Kentucky, do not show that a Revolutionary soldier named John Riley ever lived in that county but that one named John Reiley lived there.

The only John Riley (searched under all spellings) who applied for pension while living in Campbell County, Kentucky, that is found in the Revolutionary War records of this office is  John Riley, S.36873.  This soldier's personal signature does not appear in the papers of his pension claim (signed with a mark) and the surname is written both as Riley and Reily.

The Revolutionary War records of this office show a John Reily who  served in the Revolutionary War as captain of Pennsylvania troops and received Warrant 1820 for 300 acres of bounty land and the warrant was issued October 10, 1789.  There are no further data on file in this office relative to this John Reily (place of residence and personal signature not given) because of the destruction of the papers sin bounty land claims when the War Office was burned in 1800.

As the John Reily who received bounty land served as captain  and John Riley, S.36873, served as private only, they are not identical.

Very truly yours

A, D, Hiller
Executive Assistant
to the Administrator