Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 2,979, James Dobbings, Md. Sea Service. Penn. Indian Wars & War Of 1812
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(3-1776)

SERVICE
Md. Sea Service.
Penn.
Indian Wars & War of 1812.

Dobbings, James

NUMBER
R. 2,979

CONTENTS
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State of Indiana, Marion County, ss
On this 24th day of September, 1834, personally appeared in open court, before the Circuit Court of the County aforesaid now sitting ( being a court of record, having, by law, a seal & a Clerk ), James Dobbings, a resident of Centre Township, in said County, aged seventy-four years on the 11th July last, who being first duly sworn according to law, doth, on his oath, make the following declaration, in order to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress, passed June 7, 1832:
I entered the service of the United States, under the following named officers, & served as follows: I was born in the city of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, on or about the 11th July, 1760, & was, at the age of about 14 the precise day, month or year not now recollected, but believed to be in the year 1774 or '5) impressed, at Baltimore, by Captain Samuel Smith ( of the Navy or Marine service, as I supposed ) to serve as a marine or sailor on board the schooner Polly then employed in carrying the public mail from Annapolis to Head of Elk, Maryland, it being unsafe to carry it by land; entered accordingly, & continued in, that service, on board of said Schooner, about one year & ten months, acting as mate the greater part of said time, & sometimes sailing the schooner in the absence of the commander & James Lynch, & was then discharged, at Baltimore, my discharge being in writing & signed, I believe, by Col. Zebulon Hollingsworth of Maryland.- About a year afterwards (precise day, month,c & not recollected), I entered the land service, as a private, for six months, as a substitute for my father, James Dobbings, then of what was then Baltimon now Handford
oe [over?]
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(or Howard) County, Md. who had been drafted there, amongst others, for that term of service, to join the  Pennsylvania levies or troops called the "Flying Camp"; this service I entered at Head of Ellk afs'd; my company officers were, Samuel Smith Capt., William Butler Lieutenant, & (I think) Jacob Rogers, Ensign; my field officers, Zebulon Hollingsworth Col., [blank] Prall Lt. Colo., & Dr. John Archer Major; our company, when organized, was marched, from Head of Elk where we joined the troops under Colo Hollingsworth, to Powell's Hook, & thence to Brandywine, where we joined the army under Washington, commanding in person, & were in the Battle of Brandywine; I then marched with my company & regiment, back to Powell's Hook, & thence to Christeen (or Christian) Bridge (Del.), where I was discharged, having been in service between six & seven months; this discharge also was in writing, & signed, I think, by Col Hollingsworth. I never received pay from the Govt., for this service; whether my father, long since deceased, ever did or not, I do not know. Some five or six years after this second discharge & at or about the end of the Revolutionary War, I emigrated to Kentucky, & settled in the (then) small town of Bourbon, now Paris, the county seat of Bourbon Cay, and, about two years afterwards, whilst engaged in making sugar near the mouth of Bear-grass, & not far from where the city of Louisville now stands, was taken prisoner, together with two white girls named Sally Scott & Ellen Agnew, by the Shawanee Indians, & carried, over the Ohio, to an Indian village called Thorntown, in the (now) State of Indiana, where I was compelled, according to the Indian custom, to "run the gauntle," in doing which I was unmercifully flogged,
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with switches, &c., by the Indians, male & female, old & young; thence I was carried to Shawance Prairie, at the month of Flint Creek, on the Wabaseh & thence to another Indian Village, then called Shawnee town at the mouth of the Tippercanoe, on the Wabash, where I effected my escape, after a captivity of about four years, taking with me the said two white girls, & arrived safely in Ky, with them, & restored them to their friends. Some years afterwards (precise time not recollected), I enlisted at Bombon aforesaid, for sixmonths, under Capt Wm. Faulkner, in the levies then raising in Ky to join the army of Genl Arthur St Clair in his expedition against the N. W. Indians, & marched, as soon as organized, under Capt Faulkner, Lieut. Benj'n Lockwood, & Ensign [blank] (name not recollected) to Fort Washington, where Cincinnati now stands, on the North bank of the Ohio, where we joined the army under Gen. St Clair, & were marched to a place on the great Miami where he built fort Hamilton, thence Northwards to the St Marys, & were in the engagement there with the Indians, commonly called St. Clair's defeat, on the 4th of Nov.; we then retreated to Ft. Jefferson, & marched thence back to Washington, where we were discharged, after about seven months service; my discharge was in writing, & signed, I think, by Genl St Clair. Capt. Faulkner then & there drew the pay for his Company, & went off with the money leaving most of them, my self included, unpaid, so that for this seven months service, I never received a cent: On my discharge I returned home to Bourbn - this was in the winter. The next fall, I enrolled myself as a volunteer, amongst the mounted riflemen thenr raising in Ky, to go out with Gen'l Anthony Wayne, in his expedition agaomst tje sa,e Omdoams' we were Comanded by Gen/ Charles Scott, since
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since Governor of Ky, my Capt was James Lanier, [blank] Lieut & Ensign [blank] & Field officers, (names not remembered); we marched, as soon as organized, & joined Wayne's army at Ft Washington, & proceeded with it, North, to the Maumee Rapids, where we had the memorable engagement with the Indians, in which we were victorious; soon afterwards a treaty of peace was made, at Greenville, with the Indians, at which I was present, & acted as Interpreter to the Shawaneser, having learned their language whilst a prisoner amongst them as above related.
After the battle at Maumee, the army marched back to Washington, where we of the Ky troops were discharged, after a service of five or six months; my discharge was in writing, & signed, I think, by Gen. Scott. I then again returned home to Bourbon, whence I emigrated, about two years afterwards, say in 1796, to York Co. Penn'a, where I resided until after the commencement of the last War between the U.S. & Great Britain, in the second year of which, say in 1813 (precise day or month not now recollected), I volunteered at Meadville, Penn'a, for a term of service of three months, under Capt Wm. Welsh (my Liet. being Briggs, Stewart, my Ensigns name, not recollected), and marched, about three weeks afterwards, to the mouth of Carring river, in the North part of Ohio, where we joined Commodore Perry, [blank], and, some five or six days afterwards, I with others, volunteered to go, & did go, with Comm. P.  on board the Lawrence, & was with him in the memorable naval engagement, of the 10th Sept., r with the British fleet, on Lake Erie, which resulted in victory on our side, & I was one of nine men who, during the engagement left the Lawrence, in company with the Commodore, went, in the log boat, to the Niagara, an..
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another of his vessels; about 8 or 10 days afterwards, I was, with the other volunteers, discharged, in writing, by Comm. P. at the mouth of Carrying river, & have since like the other volunteers under Com. P [Perry], received from the State Gov of Penn'a, as an honorary token, a silver medal. After this last discharge, I returned to York Co.y Penn. where I resided some 7 or 8 years,  then emigrated to Preble Co., Ohio, where I resided 5 or 6 years, & then to Marion Co., and, where I have ever since resided, & still reside. My several written discharges afs'd have been all long since lost or  destroyed by time & accident. Thus it will appear that I was in the service of my country, in all about three years & eight months, viz. about 2 years & 5 months during the Rev'y War, about one year during the Indian Wars & three months during the last war with G. B.
I have no documentary evidence of my said services, & know of no person whose testimony I can procure who can testify to the same. I have made diligent inquiry for some such person or persons, but without success. with a view of finding one; I some 12 or 13 months since, performed, at considerable expense, a fatiguing journey of about 170 or 108 miles on foot, Fairfield County Ohio, where I had understood one of my companions in war, in the same company, under Col. Hollingsworth, in the Rev'y War resided, but, on my arrival there, found I was unfortunately to late, as he had died some three months before. Some of the Regular officers whom I knew, whilst in service, were the following. Gen'l
Washington, Lee, Wayne & St Clair; Col Prall, & Capt. Wm. Faulkner.
I am now old, in indigent circumstances, without children or other relatives to afford me pecuniaary aid, unable to labor to any considerable extent, stand in need of public or private benevolence for
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for support, &c. I hereby relinquish every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present & declare that my name is not to my knowledge or belief, on the pension Roll of the Agency of any State.-
Sworn to & subscribed the day & year first afs'd.
[right] his
[right] James    X    Dobbings ]X being his mark in lieu of signature]
[right] mark

We Peter Smock & Alex'r Bodkins residing in Centre Township, Marion County Ind'a, hereby certify, that we are well acquainted with James Dobbings, of the same place, who has subscribed & swon to the above declaration; that we believe him to be about 74 or 75 years of age; that he is reputed & believed, in the neighborhood where he resides, to have been a soldier of the Revolution, of the Indian Wars, & of the Late war, & that we concur in that opinion.
[signed] Peter Smock
[signed] Alex Bodkin

Sworn to & subscribed the day & year first aforesaid in open Court
[signed] Robert B. Duncan Clerk

[the following all crossed out]
And the said Circuit Court do hereby declare their opinion, after the investigation of the matter, & after putting the interrogatories prescribed by the War Department, that the above named applicant, James Dobbings, was a Revolutionary Soldier, &c. and served as he states. And the Court further certify, that it appears to them who has signed the preceding certificate, is a resident in the township County & State last afs'd, & that Alexander Bodkin, who has also signed the same, is a resident of the same place, & is a credible person & that their statement is entitled to credit.
I,. Robert B. Duncan, Clerk of the said Court, do hereby certify, that the foregoing, from page one to page 6, inclusive, together with the annexed interrogatories & answers on page 7, contains the orginal
[/the following all crossed out]
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ginal procedings of said court, in the matter of the application of James Dobbins for a pension, &c.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand & seal of office, at Indianapolis, this 18 day of
[/crossed out]

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Questions propounded by the Court to the Applicant James Dobbins with the Answers thereto, which Ans's are embodied, at greater length, in the above declaration, viz.
1st - When & where were you born.
Ans - At the time & place stated in my declaration.
2d - Have you any record of your age, & if so, where is it?
Ans - None in my possession, & none that I know of any where.
3d - Where were you living when you were called into service; where have you lived since the Rev'y War, & where do you now live?
Ans - At the several places, at the several periods, in those respects stated & set forth in my declaration.
4th -How were you called into service; were you drafted, did you volunteer, or were you a substitute? And if a substitute, for whom?
Ans - The 1st time, by impressment, the 2d as a substitute for my father James Dobbing, and in the 3d 4 & 5th, as a volunteer; as in those respects severally in my decl'n stated.
5th - State the names of some of the Regular officers who were with the troops where you served; such Continental & Militia Regiments as you can recollect, & the general circumstances of your service?
Ans - I can state nothing further in these respects than I have already stated in my
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declaration, to which I now refer for an answer to this quest .[question] By reason of age, &c. my memory is much impaired.
6th - Did you ever receive a discharge from the service, and if so, by whom was it given, & what has become of it?
Ans. My answer to this quest. also will be found in my decl'n, in which the particulars are fully stated. - 7th - State the names of persons to whom you are known in your present neighbourhood & who can testify as to your character for veracity & their belief of your services as a soldier of the Revolution?
Ans - Peter Smock & ALex'r Bodkin, amongst others.

And the said Court do hereby declare their opinion, after the investigation of the matter, & after putting the interrogatives prescribed by the War Department, that the above named applicant was a Revolutionary Soldier, &c. and served as he states. And the Court further certify that it appears to them that Peter Smock & Alexander Bodkin who have signed the preceding certificate (on page 6) are residents of the same place with said applicant, viz. Centrer township, Marion Co. Ind, that they are creditable persons, & that their statement is entitled to credit.

I Robert B. Duncan Clerk of the Court of Marion County State of Indiana, do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of said Court in the matter of the application of James
Dobbings for a pension.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office, this fourteenth day of October in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty four.
[signed] Robert B. Duncan

[illegible Court Seal affixed at left]

32,140 [right margin, on edge]
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[printed form, blanks filled by hand]

["Act of July 14, 1862, and March 3, 1873." lined thru]

2.979 [initial] amn
P.O. [blank]
James Robbins
Service: [blank]
Enlisted: [blank]
Discharged: [blank]
aapplication filed: [blank]
Alleges: [blank]
Re-enlisted: [blank]
Attorney: [blank]
P. O. [blank]
[blank] Recognized. [blank] Contract
[blank] Cert of Dis. Searched for [blank]
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James Dobbings
Indiana
Rejected

See letter to
John H. Scott Esqr.
Indiapolis
23d Decr 1834

See letter 
28 March 35 to 
Hon. G.C. Kinnard Indianapolis

See letter 
11 Augt 1836 to 
Hon. G.C. Kinnard Indianapolis

2979
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Land Office Annapolis Dec 16th 1834.
Sir,
Yours of the 8th Inst with the declaration of James Dobbings enclosed was received. I have carefully examined the papers and rolls of the revolution in this office, and do not find his name upon any of said rolls, - the declaration is herewith returned.
I am very respectfully,
Your obt. Svt.
[signed] G. G. Brower

J. L. Edwards Esqr
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Indianapolis, Ind, Oct. 15, 1834

Sir,
Herewith are forwarded the papers of James Dobbings an Applicant for a pension as a Rev'y soldier, &c. From these it will be seen that, in addition to his services during the Indian wars & the Late war, he served 2 years & 5 mos during the Rev'y war viz. 1 yr & 10 mo. by impressment, on an armed schooner, in guarding the public mail from Annapolis to Head of Elk, & twas under Colo. Hollingworth, of Md., in connexion with Penn'a troops, called the Flying Camp, & was in the battle of Brandywine under Washington, &c. This, it seems to me, clearly identifies him as a Rev'y soldier, &c. It is, however, for the Dept to decide, & the papers are respectfully submitted. Should there be any defect in their authentication (& the nature of the service  be deemed suff't) they will of course, according to your custom, be returned for correction.
Very Resp'fy,
[signed] John H. Scott

Hon. J. L. Edwards,
Com'r of Pensions,
War Dep't
Washington