Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S 32040, William Wardlaw, S.C.
Page 1

(8-1776) Service S.C.
Wardlaw, William
Number S.32040
Contents
Page 2

Paid at the Treasury under the Act of the 6th April 1832 from 4th Sept 1838 to 4 March 1839 Agt notified 19 Dec 1839
Georgia 16.346
William Wardlaw of Gwinett in the state of Geo. who was a pr. in the commanded by Captain Wadlaw of the Regt commanded by Col. Pickens in the SoCa line for 2 years
Inscribed on the Roll of Georgia at the rate of 80 Dollars cents per annum to Commence on the 4th day of March, 1831.
Certificate of pension issued the 31st day of July '36 and Sent to Wm Maltbie. Lawrenceville Geo
Arreas to the 4th of March 1835 160
Semi-ant. allowance ending 4 Sept 40
$200
Revolutionary Claim Act June 7, 1832
Recorded by Nath. Rice Clerk
Book E Vol. 6 Page 106.
Page 3

William Wardlaw Ga. Admitted a private 2 years $80 Ret to the clk Gwinett Co. Ga
4.5.6.14,16 [illegible] 1.2,7
P. 307
21 March
Wm Maltbie
Lawrenceville Geo.
Page 4

Brief in the case of William Wardlaw of Gwinett Co. in the state of Geo. (Act 7th June, 1832.)
1. Was the declaration made before a Court of a Judge? Court
2. If before a Judge, does it appear that the applicant is disabled by bodily infirmity?
3. How old is he? 68
4. State his service as directed in the form annexed.
Period. in 1750 Rank as a private
Duration of Service.
Months | Days|
1 | 1|
2 | |
6 | Cad.|
1 | |
2| |
2| Cad. |
4| |
8 | |
1| |
1 | 12|
5. In what battles was he engaged?
6. Where did he reside when he entered the service? S.C.
7. In his statement supported living witnesses, by documentary proof, by traditionary evidence, by incidental evidence, or by the rolls? Traditionary [illegible]
8. Are the papers defective as to form or authentication? and if so, in what respect? not attached by the Clerk
Certify that the foregoing statement and the answers agree with the evidence in the case above mentioned.
Examining Clerk.
Page 5

Georgia Gwinett County Personally appeared before me the undersigned a Justice of the Peace in and for said county William Wardlaw who being duly sworn deposeth & saith that by reason of old age and the consequent loss of memory he cannot swear positively as to the precise length of his service but according to the best of his recollection he served not less than the period mentioned below and in the following grades; That he entered the United States service as a volunteer Militia man in Abbeville Dist- S. Carolina in the month of May 1780 and served one month under Sergeant James Dobbin, we marched to within twenty miles of Charleston S.C. in order to join the American forces but said town having been surrendered to the British we were ordered home again. That he again entered the service of the U.S. as a volunteer in the month of October 1780 and served under Capt Hugh Wardlaw & Coll Andrew Pickens in the Dist of Abbeville S.C. two months. that he again served as a volunteer under Capt Samuel Moore & Coll A. Pickens in a company of cavalry six months this service was performed in the Dist's of Abbeville & Lawrence S.C. in the years 1780 & 1781. That he again in the year 1781 served one month as a volunteer under Capt John Norwood Coll Pickens & Gen. Green before ninety six as a rifleman - That he again served as a volunteer under Capt Samuel Moore & Coll Pickens in a company of cavalry or mounted infantry from June 1781 to August same year two months. our place of service was Abbeville Dist S.C. (always meaning formerly Ninety six) & marching to and at Bacon Bridge about twenty miles from Charleston S.C. at the latter place . I was discharged & went home
Page 6

to Abbeville Dist - And that in the latter part of the year 1781 he again served two months as a volunteer in a company of cavalry or mounted infantry under Capt Saml Moore in what is now the Dist of Abbeville & Lawrence S.C. at which tiime Capt Moore was killed by Wm Cunningham a Tory Captain - Robert Maxwell our first Lieut was then appointed Captain and I served under him as a volunteer in Abbeville & Lawrence Dist in a company of cavalry or mounted infantry four months that he [taken]. in the year 1782 served in the U.S. service as a volunteer in a company of cavalry or mounted infantry eight months under Capt. John Norwood & Coll A. Pickens which company was principally engaged in defending the frontier settlements of S. Carolina against Tories & Indians - In the same year 1782 I served one month as a volunteer in a company of cavalry under Capt Rober Maxwell & Coll Pickens in an excursion against the Cherokee Indians & again early in the year 1783 I served six weeks as a volunteer in a company of cavalry or mounted infantry under the above named officer, in another excursion against the Cherokee when we killed thirty two indians and two whites. And that he was not in any civil pursuit during said period and that for the above specified service he claim a pension & deponent further states that he was born in Rockbridge County, Vir. in the year 1763 and that the record of his age taken from his fathers family Bible is at his own house in Gwinett County & deponent states the names of the following persons who can testify as to his character for veracite and their belief of his service as a soldier of the Revolution. John G. Park Clk S. Court Gilbert Copper [Shff] Wm Maltbie C.J. Court, Asahel R. Smith P Master John S
Page 7

Wilson Minister of the Gospel Coll Nathan L. Hutchins & John Mills Esqr. - And deponent further states that he was called into service as he believes by competent authority and further that he has no recollection of ever having received a written discharge. Sworn to & subscribed before me this 6th day of May 1833 Wm. Wardlaw
John Mills JP 

Georgia Gwinett County Personally appeared before me the undersigned a Justice of the Peace in & for said county Samuel Reid who being duly sworn deposeth & saith that he was well acquainted in the Revolutionary war with William Wardlaw who is now personally present, that he resided in Abbeville Dist S.C. and served as a volunteer Militia Man in the years 1780-1781 & 1782 under the following officers Capt Samuel Moore, John Norwood & Robert Maxwell, Coll Andrew Pickens & General Andrew Pickens - that he served at least 18 months and probably longer and that the place of his service were chiefly in Abbeville Dist S.C. Lawrence Dist S.C. & in the Cherokee Nation. Sworn to & subscribed before me this 6th day of May 1833.
John Mills JP Saml Reid

Georgia Gwinett County
I John Mills a Justice of the Peace in & for said county herby certify that Samuel Reid Esquire whose name appears to the foregoing affidavit is a man of unquestionable truth and veracity & that full faith & credit ought to be had & given to his affidavit as such - Given under my hand & seal this 6th day of May 1833.
John Mills J.P. {S.S}
Page 8

Georgia Gwinett County
Inferior Court May Term 1833
And the said court do declare their opinion after putting the question, required by the war department & receiving the foregoing answers in the foregoing affidavit made before John Mills an acting Justice of the Peace for said county by William Wardlaw that said Wardlaw was a revolutionary soldier as is there in set forth and further that they are well acquainted with Samuel Reid Esq who made the foregoing affidavit & that he is a man of undoubted truth & veracity and so likewise are the other persons referred to by said Wm Wardlaw in his affidavit.
Given under our hands & seals this 6th day of May 1833
Simon [illegible]
[illegible]
[illegible]
Georgia Gwinett County I William Maltbie Clerk of the Inferior Court for said county do hereby certify that John Mills whose name appears to the foregoing affidavit as a subscribing witness is an acting Justice of the Peace for said county that the signature purporting to be made by him to said affidavit is genuine and that the said court did question the said Wm Wardlaw in open court & received the answers set forth in the foregoing affidavit the same being an amendment to his declaration and application for a pension.
Given under my hand and seal of office this sixth day of May, 1833
William Maltbie Clk
Page 9

4
Wm Wardlaw
Page 10

Declaration in now to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress passed June 7, 1832.
[illegible]
State of Georgia Gwinett County On this 5th day of October 1832 personally appeared in open court before the Inferior Court of the county aforesaid, William Wardlaw, a resident of the county & state aforesaid aged sixty eight years, 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.
That during the Revolutionary War he performed service as a private in the militia of South Carolina as herein states: viz.
I first took arms during the siege of Charleston by the British in the spring of 1780. My father Hugh Wardlaw was their first Lieutenant in a company of Whig Militia in the upper part of what is now Abbeville District in South Carolina, three hundred in ninety-six district, and in that capacity was our of the garrison of his command of it, while had charge of a stockade fort, called Reids fort, about 20 miles above 96, intended chiefly for defense
Page 11

defense against the Cherokee Nations, whose boundary
was not then far above. When a requisition of
assistance for the defense of Charleston was made
for our neighborhood. I marched with six of
the privates towards Charleston, but hearing
from a sentry that Lincoln had surrendered.
we returned home. I was then not quite 16
years old,  [since afterward as a ??? myself] 
& here I have always supposed, but he being our
  officer, I have been probably mistaken as to that
& [thereafter] sent for some other person at the
 request of my father.
I remained at home at my father's unit after the
 British had take position of ninety six, when the
 protection promised to the inhabitants having been
 violated, and great outrage committed upon the Whigs
 by the Tories under the authority of the British. I 
having now taken [illegible insert] joined as a
volunteer sometime in the winter of 1780-1, a
partisan company of mounted Infantry, which
was raised by Sam Moore as [illegible]
the country, [rub the tories in muck] & cut off
the foraging parties of the British. In this difficult
 & dangerous service I continued until
the American army under Gen. Greene invested
96, in May 1781, when Moore’s Company united with the
[regulars?], and I during the siege joined the volunteer
 company of militia rifleman raised
by Capt John Nowood to pick off the British
 who might be [enforced], whilst the American
 works were in progress. After the siege was [survived]
Page 12

he Norwood, was along at one incursion  into
the Indian Country where the Savannah & [illegible]
Rivers, commanded by Ed Pickens usually with 
Col. Clark of Georgia, where some of
the Refugee tories were taken & killed.
Independent of the short service in the
spring of 1780, I was almost constantly engaged
for the battle of the Cowpens in [?] 1781 - until the
 summer or fall of 1783, near the time for gathering [illegible insert]

In this time I was not one month out of service or [concealment]
 & during it I had the smallpox. I came home to stay
 during my sickness, but was 
obliged to be concealed in the woods near
my father’s, and whilst I was yet not half
recovered, the tories hearing of my concealment,
 I went off & joined my company there [illegible].
 After the war I resided in Abbeville
Dist South Carolina, removed then to Jackson County in
Georgia & thence to Gwinnett County where he now resides.
And the said William Wardlaw
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.
Wm Wardlaw

Sworn to & subscribed in open Court
 the day & year aforesaid
Attest Wm Maltbie Clk
Page 13

State of Georgia
Gwinnett County
We Mitchel Bennett a Clergyman residing
in the State & County aforesaid & Sam’l Reid
residing in the same do certify that we are
well acquainted with William Wardlaw who has sworn
 to & subscribed the above declaration.  That we believe him to
he sixty eight years of age, that he is reputed & believed
in the neighbourhood where he resides to have been a
soldier of the Revolution and that we concur in that
opinion.
Mitchell Bennet
Saml Reed
Sworn to & subscribed in
Open Court the day & year aforesaid
Attest W. Maltbie Clk.

State of Georgia 
Gwinnett County
 Inferior Court adjourned Term 1832
 and the said Court do declare their opinion after the
 investigation of the matter and
after putting the Interrogatories prescribed by the war
department that the above named applicant was a
soldier of the Revolution & served as he states and this
further certifies that it appears to the Court that Mitchel
Bennett who has signed the above certificate is a Clergyman
resident in the State & County aforesaid and that Saml Reed
who has also signed the same is a resident of the said State
 & County & is a credible person and that their statement is
 entitled to credit
Given under our hands & Seal of Office annexed
this 5 October 1832
Clifford Woodroof JPC
Reuben McClurg JPC
James Wardlaw JPC
Page 14

I William Maltbie Clerk of the Inferior
Court for said County & State do hereby
certify that the foregoing contain the original
proceedings of the said Court in the matter
of the application of William Wardlaw
for a pension. In testimony whereof I have
 hereunto  set my hand & seal of
office this 5th day of October 1832
Wm. Maltbie C.I.C.
Page 15

 the Whigs who had been active were all obliged
 to leave the country or to be concealed, and I
went to Rutherford County North Carolina, and
was absent about ten days, when I returned
and again joined Moore who I heard had 
at the urgent request of Col. Pickens again undertaken
 by his vigilance & activity to restrain
the small bands of tories who were plundering
& murdering the Whigs. With Moore, I continued
until the fall of 1781, where as a member of the
militia [that] company under Capt Frank Carlisle,
I marched with a detachment of militia under Major
 Alexander Noble to join Greene's army there near Dorchester.
 And lay at Bacon’s bridge 7 or 8 days, when the
British being confined to Charleston & provisions
very scarce, the militia were discharged. After
 my return home, the tories & indians being
yet troublesome, I again joined Moore, and
continued with his company until he was killed
by Bill Cummingham about the time
of the [massacre] at Hayes's Station.  After
Moore’s death, the company was combined by
Robert Maxwell and under him I was engaged
 in the incursions into the Cherokee Country, 
the first conducted by Major Robt Anderson
 & the other by Col. Pickens. After Pickens’s
[illegible] Col Maxwell quit service and I joined
 a company of rangers under Capt John
Norwood, which guarded the frontier between
the Saluda the Savannah from the Indians.
Some time after the British left Charleston, &
until when quiet was established in 1783.
Page 16

Wm  Wardlaw
Page 17

BRIEF objections to the admission of Pension Claims, of which those
answered in the negative, in red ink, will apply to the claim of
William Wadlaw
further proof or explanation.
which require
I. Does the declaration show where the applicant resides? [blank]
II. Did the declarant make the declaration in the county where he resides?  [blank]
III. If the applicant did not make the declaration in the county where he resides, is there any reason
assigned for his not doing so?  [blank]
IV. Has the declarant mentioned the period or periods of the war when he served? NO
V. Has he mentioned with precision the length of his service, and the different grades in which he
served, in language so definite as to enable the department to determine to what amout of pension
he is entitled? NO
VI. Has he given the names of the officers under whom he served, in conformity with the regulations? NO
VII. Has he made a relinquishment of every claim to any other pension than the one under the Act of
June 7, 1832?  [blank]
VIII. Has the Court given their opinion?  [blank]
IX. Has the Clerk given his certificate?  [blank]
X. Is the Clerk's seal affixed? And if so, has it a device or inscription by which it can be distinguished
from any other seal?
Page 18

2
XI. 
Has the applicant obtained the evidence of a clergyman and another respectable citizen as to
their belief respecting his age and the general belief in his neighborhood relative to his revolutionary
service? [blank]
XII.
If the clergyman's affidavit has not been produced, is there any reason assigned for not obtain
ing it?  [blank]
XIII.
If the applicant has no documentary evidence, and has not obtained the testimony of at least one
living witness, has he stated in his declaration that such proof cannot be had?  [blank]
XV.
XIV. If the applicant's name is not found on the rolls of military service, has he produced a witness
or witnesses as to his service?  [blank]
If he has produced direct proof as to service, has the magistrate who administered the oath,
certified to the credibility of the witness or witnesses? NO
Has the proper officer certified to the official character and signature of the magistrate as the
regulations direct?  [blank]
XV.
Does it appear from any of the papers that the witness was in such a situation, or of such an age
as to have a personal knowledge of the applicant's service?  [blank]
XVI. Are the papers authenticated as the regulations direct? NO
XVII. Are the seven interrogatories prescribed by the War Department answered satisfactorily? And,
if not, which of them is not so answered? 1.2.7
EXPLANATORY NOTES.
QUERE V. In a case where the applicant cannot, by reason of the loss of memory, state precisely how
long he served, he should amend his declaration by making an affidavit in the following words:
"Personally appeared before me, the undersigned, a Justice of the Peace, &c. A. B. who, being
duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that, by reason of old age, and the consequent loss of memory, he
cannot swear positively as to the precise length of his service, but according to the best of his recolelection
he served not less than the periods mentioned below, and in the following grades; Foryear
-
months, and --- days, I served as a -. For - months
and --- days, I served as a ; and for such service I claim a pension.
Page 19

It is important in all cases to determine with precision the period for which each applicant served,
and the particular rank he held, as the law directs the pension to be paid according to the grade of the
pensioner and the length of his service. The use of the phrase about three or our months is too indefinite
, and all such qualifying expressions are objectionable. Some persons who apply for pensions
merely state they served two years in the militia, &c. without specifying the tours; the names of the
officers, and other particulars respecting their service. This form of a declaration is highly objection
able. It must in every case be clearly shewn under what officers the applicant served; the duration
of each term of engagement; the particular place or places where the service was performed; that the
applicant served with an embodied corps called into service by competent authority; that he was either
in the field or in garrison; and for the time during which the service was performed, he was not employed
in any civil pursuit.
QUERE XIV. Proof of Service.
In a case where the name of the applicant is not found on the records of the Department, he must
prove his service by two credible witnesses, who are required to set forth in their affidavits the time of
the claimants entering the service, and the time and manner of his leaving the same, as well as the
regiment, company, and line to which he belonged. The magistrate who may administer the oaths
must certify to the credibility of the witnesses, and the official character and signature of the magistrate
must be certified by the proper officer, under his seal of office.
tering officer who authenticates the papers is not
written on the same sheet of paper which contains the affidavit, or other paper authenticated, the certificate
must be attached thereto by a piece of tape or narrow ribbon, the ends of which must pass
under the seal of office of the certifying officer, so as to prevent any paper from being improperly
attached to the certificate.
In every case where the clerk of the court, or other certifying officer, has no public seal of
office, the certificate of a member of congress, proving the official character and signature of the
certifying officer, should accompany the papers.
Page 20

TREASURY DEPARTMENT
Second Comptroller's Office
Nov. 26th 1839.
Sir:
Under the act of the 6th of April, 1838, entitled "An
act directing the transfer of money remaining unclaimed by certain
Pensioners, and authorizing the payment of the same at the Treasury
of the United States, William Wardlaw
a Pensioner on the Roll of the Georgia Agency, at
the rate of Eighty
Dollars per annum, under the law of the 7th June 1832, has
of
been paid at this Department, from the 4th of Sept. 1838
to the 4th March 1839

Respectfully, yours,
Albion K. Parris
Comptroller.


To the Commissioner of Pensions,
Present.
Page 21

32040
Revy INVALID.
File No. 32040
William Wardlaw
Pri Rev War
Act June 7th 32
Index: -- Vol. 2 Page 438
Arrangement of 1870.