Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File W. 26,377, for William Reily, Maryland
Page 1

(3-1776)
SERVICE Md
Reily, William 
or Reiley
Barbara
NUMBER 26,377
{B.L. Wt. 1839_300_Capt
Issued July 18, 1789,
No papers}

CONTENTS
Page 2

[Mathematical Calculations and Payment Dates with Amounts]

Issued 30 Mar 1818
com 23 Mar 1818

The Honorable
The Secretary at War
Page 3

Personally appeared, William Reily before me, one of the judges of the district of Columbia, and declared upon his honor that he served his Country as an Officer of the Revolutionary War. for near nine years faith-fully and truly in the year of 1775 as a Lieut" and Adjutant to a Militia Regt in Baltimore County, in 1776 as Lieut in the Maryd flying  Camp, in 1777 as a Captain in the 4th Maryd Reg. of Regulars which Rank he held to the close of the War in the Northern and Southern Army, the latter Commanded by General Gates until his misfortunes, afterwards by that great and good man General Green until the close of the war When he returned from the city of Charleston by Sea triumphant to An-napolis with the only Regt. left out of eight which the State of Md. furnished for the South-ern Army that he never lost a tour of duty by Idle furloughs or sickness, that he was blessed with a Constitution Suitable to any climate, that he never received any compensa-tion from the United States except, a final settlement Certificate, which he retained some time and at last, from necessity, had to dispose of it for one eighth its normal value, upon the general supposition that the Government would never be able to redeem them. That I am [......] of my Country for support. 
Wm. Reily
City of Washington Mar 23 = 1818
Page 4

Sworn to and subscribed before me the 23d day of March 1818  B Thruston. 

I Buckner Thurston Judge per as aforsaid do certify, that it appears to my satisfaction that the said William Riley did serve in the revolutionary War as stated in the proceeding declaration against the common enemy; and I transmit the testimony and proceedings taken in hand before me to the Secretary at war, pursuant to the directions of the aforementioned act of Congress 
Washington 23 March 1818 B. Thruston
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July 14. 1826. Mr. Reiley, the son of Capt. W.R. the deceased pensioner, applied to the Secretary of War, for his father's pension from Sept. 4 1819 to March 1820; but the Secretary decided that the claim ought not to be allowed 
See letter 9 March 1831 to the Sec. of War.-do to T. B. Reily 
Dec. 9. 1831
---
Dist: (7) of Columbia 
----------------------
William Reiley,  4 
Captain, 
Maryland Line 1777 6 years in the army of the States
----------------------
At $ [20?] per month, to comce. on the 23d March, 1818. 
---------------------
Cert: of Pensn. issued 20th of March, 1818 and deld. to the Pensioner. 
-----------------
Ans. to 4th Sept. 1818. 5 10/28 mos. $107.14
(Revy. Claim Act 18th March, 1818) 
Stricken from the roll in consequence of his not in reduced circumstances. See letter to the P.B.B.[R U. A.?] Agent  
Washington City 
22d. April 1820.-
Washington City
Page 6

802 
District of Columbia 
Barbra Reiley widow of William Reiley. 
Md 
Who served in the Revolutionary War as a Captain 
--
Inscribed on the Roll at the rate of 480 Dollars - ents per annum to commence on 4th day of March, 1848 
--
Certificate of Pension issed the 19 day of July 1848 and sent to Major Reiley Present 
-- 
Recorded on Roll of Pensioners under act February  2,1848, Page 377 Vol.4 

Reported 
Letter 
chairman & c. 
Feb 6. 51 
[illegible] some sic 20/51. 
[Illegible] [J.H.?] Reily 12 Feb [53?]
Page 7

2 ([illegible])
Declaration
of 
Mrs Barbara Reily
of Dis't Col'a
In order to obtain the benefit
of the act of Congress of 7 July 1838
entitled "An act granting 
half pay & pensions to 
certain widows

claimant present
July 24
Page 8

Declaration of Mrs. Barbra Reily 
In order to obtain the benefit of the act of congress of the 4th July 1838 entitled An act granting half pay and pensions to certain widows-
District of Columbia 
County of Washington } Ss. 
On this Twenty Third day of July one thousand eight hundred and thirty eight personally appeared before the subscriber one of the assistant judges of the Circuit Court of the United States for the said District; Mrs. Barbra Reily a resident of the City of Washington in said county and District aged about Sixty five years who being duly sworn according to law, doth on her oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefits of the provision made by the act of Congress, passed the Seventh day of July, eighteen hundred and thirty eight  entitled 
" An act granting half pay and pension to certain widows". 
That she is the widow of Major William Reily who was a Pensioner under the act of congress of the eighteenth of March eighteen hundred and eighteen as a Captain.-
And that, by the documents now on file in the pension office, and reference being had thereto it will more fully appear that in the year 1775, he was a 2nd Lieutenant & Adjutant in a Regiment of Militia in Baltimore County, Maryland, that in 1776 he was a 2nd Lieut in Captain John Edgar Howard's company, Col. J.C. Hall's regiment - that in the same year he was a 1st Lieutenant in captain Godman's company 4th Maryland Regiment, Col. J.C. Hall, & that in 1777. he was promoted by the resignation of Capt [Dan Dorsey?] to a Captaincy in which grade (with a first rank of Major,) he continued to serve his country until the close of the Revolution_ the Regiment in which he last served was commanded by Colonel John Egar Howard in General Green's division in the ever memorable campaign of the South, and that
Page 9

his services, commencing with the earliest period of the war, continued for eight or Nine years without intermission of duty. _ 
She further declares that she was married to the said Major William Reily on or about the twenty eighth of September in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and ninety one, (28th Sept. 1791) as will appear by the accompanying paper in his own hand writing, noting that and other circumstances; that her husband the aforesaid Major William Reily died on or about the eighth day of July, eighteen hundred and twenty four (8th July. 1824.) that she was not married to him prior to his leaving the service, but that the marriage took place on or previous to the first of January, Seventeen hundred and ninety four (1. Jany. 1794) [viz?] at the time within stated, ..... And that she has not since married 
Barbra Reily 
Sworn to and subscribed , on the day and year within written before me the subscriber an asst. Judge of the circuit court of the district of Columbia the day and year herein first above written 
B. Thurston
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William & Barbara Reily was Married
the 20 of Septr 1791 at Bloomsbury
near Baltimore the seat of her
Fathers, Thomas Brooke [illegible]

Clayon Reily their first child was
born in Augusta State of Georgia
the 10th day of August 1792 at 8 Oclk [sic]
in the residence of ____
died 25th July 1818 at half past 9 o'clock in the evening
aged 25 years and a half

William Reily their second Child
was born (same place) the 16th of
Sepr 1794 at 7 Oclk [sic] in the Mo'g
He died the 27th of July 1795
at Col Ambrose Gerdens
at 4 Oclk [sic] in the evening
and buried in the Church
Yard in Augusta

John [insert Hamilton] Reily their third Child
was born the 23 March 1797
at 4 Oclk [sic] in the morning
in Philadelphia

our Creole Daughter was
Born on Wednesday the 12th of June 1799
at or after 3 Oclk [sic] in the morning in a
Home we rented of Mrs. Rosy Tolliver
near the Church of Savannah La
near in Jamaica
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District of Columbia City of Washington DC
On this 23d day of July 1838, personally appears to
me the subscriber an afr.d Judge of the circuit court of the
said district, Mrs Barbara Riley of the said City who to 
me is personally known, and makes oath in the form of law,
that this paper is the record of her marriage with the late 
Major William Riley that it is the only record of said marriage 
 within her knowledge or control, that these papers are in the hand
writing of her said husband, and that the facts therein stated 
she knows to be true:  Given under my hand and seal at
the said City at the day & year aforesaid
B. Thurston 

Marriage &
Birth of (illegible)
Barbara Reily
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Treasury Department 
Second Comptroller's Office 
April 20," 1853 

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," and the third section of the Act of August 23,1842, extending the time within which pensioners may receive their pensions from the Pension agents, 
The the children of William Reily Decd. 
a Pensioner on the Roll of the Dist. Columbia  
Agency, at the rate of Twenty Dollars and Cents [strikethrough] per month, under the law of the 8" March 1818 have been paid at this department, from the 4" of Sept. 1819 to the 4" March 1820. 
via act 1838
2 [illegible] [46?]
[no 802 ?]
Respectfully, yours,  
J.M. Broadhead 
Comptroller
To the Commissioner of Pensions, 
Present.
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(3-1776)
Md.

Reily, William
Reilry, Barbara

Number
W. 26, 377
(B.L.Wt.1839-300. Capt.
Issued July 18, 1789,
No papers.)
Page 14

Washington, 21. February, 1831. 
Sir, 
My Father, Maj. William Reily, by the provisions of the Act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the United "States, in the Revolutionary War," passed 18. March, 1818, became, "by reason of his reduced circumstances in "life," entitled to a pension from the government, of hereby dollars, per month, "during life," and  he continued to receive it until the 4. of September, 1819,  when, by some unaccountable error, or minical design, he was stricken from the Rolls. He died, on the 8. of July, 1824, and I am desired by my Mother, respectfully, to solicit your kind attention to the subject. She submits her claim for the amount of pension left unpaid, especially to the 4. March, 1819 [Strikethrough] 1820, and if, in your judgement, her husband was still entitled, as she thinks he was, to its continuance, under the Act of 1. May 1820, to the time of his death, (for the same "indigant circumstances" which entitled him to the pension at first, prevailed throughout the whole period,)  she most respectfully claims that also: referring, for a knowledge of her husband's services ( which were from the beginning to the ending of the war) to his Declaration on file in the Pension Office of your Department, and rests her pretentions upon the justice and purity which belongs to the Administration. 
I have the honor to be, with great respect 
Your Mo: obedt. Servt. 
Th B Reily
Honble 
John H. Eaton 
Secretary of War.
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Revy WIDOW, &c
oar
File No. 26.377
Barbara Reiley
wid of
William Riley
Capt Rev War
Act: Feb 2d 48
Index: -- Vol. M. Page 157
{Arrangement of 1870.]
Page 16

Mrs. Barbara Reily
Ltr Celten to claimant
July 24, 1838

$480 pr ann
Page 17

District of Columbia
Barbara Reiley
widow of William Reiley
who was a Captain
in the Maryland line
during the War

Inscribe on the Roll at the rate of
480. Dollars
Cents per annum, to commence on
he 4th day of March, 1843.

Certificate of Pension issued the
27th day of April 1843
and sent to 
Mason John Reiley
Present

Act of March 3, 1843.}
Vol.
Recorded in Book A
Vol 1 Page 246.
Page 18

District of Columbia
Barbara Reily
of William Riley Deceased
who died on the 8th of July, 1824;
of Washington in the District of Columbia
who was a Captain in the Regt commanded
by Col. J. E. Howard in the Maryland
line during the War

Inscribed on the Roll of Dist. of Columbia
at the rate of 480 Dollars -- Cents per annum
to commence on the 4th day of March, 1836

Certificate of Pension issued the 30th day of July,
1838 and sent to Claimant,
Present

Arrears to the 4th of March 1838 $960.00
Semi-annual allowance ending 4 Sept. 3. 240.00
1200.00


Five Years Pension
Revolutionary Claim
Act July 4, 1838,
Section the 3d

Recorded by S. A. Elliott Clerk
Book A. Vol. 2, Page 234
Page 19

Respy referred to Mr.
Coming  Pensions
(illegible)
Feb 10/33
Page 20

S. 208 
A Bill [strikethrough] [Prev.?] 4th. 
An Act For the relief of Barbra Reily 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 [strikethrough] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior be required to bay to Barbra Reily, widow of Captain William Reily, an officer of the army of the Revolution, the amount of pension due him from the time he was last paid, to the fourth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty. 
[illegible strikethrough] 
Approved Feby. 9th" 1853. 
Department of State 
Washington  Feb" 10. 1853.
[Master?] copy carefully collated with the original Roll
W. Hunter 
Cheif Clerk
Page 21

Jno Robb, Esq
War Department

Dear Sir; 
I suppose the (illegible) of 
other matters of more consequence, you
have forgotten to make the transfer to
Mr Edwards of my letter that you promised.
Be pleased to do it as soon
as convenient, with instructions to let the
reply to me contain all the evidence
likely to be necessary, or called for 
upon my mothers' petitionings, as is her
desires.

(illegible) With great respect
Dr B Reily
8 December of 31

John Robb, Exq
Page 22

Ref to J L Edwards

To the Hon;ble
the Secretary of War
Page 23

City of Washington
2 Feb. 1820.

Sir
I received Mr Edwards letter from the
Pension Office requesting an explanatory statement
shewing that from my reduced circumstances
in life I require the assistance of Government
for my support & that of my family, in answer to
which I respectfully submit the following
brief remarks to your consideration. That from 
a series of years of the most laborious and unremitting 
exertions, which was continued as long as

health & strength would permit with the utmost
assiduity in a business that of all others requires
most the Strength of vigor of youth, combined
with a perfect knowledge of mankind in order to
make it profitable, that with the blessings of
that Providence who so eminently protected the
Patriot soldier of the Revolution I have until
late years enjoyed the former, that I do not
possess the latter is most evident from the
many losses I have sustained of which now
compels me in my old age to call on my native
County
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in whose service I spent the prime of life and endured
with cheerfulness the many deprivations and hardships so
inseparable from that glorious contest, that from the
unfeeling & unrelenting disposition of an Individual Land
lord callows to all the tender feelings of human nature, and 
to prevent a recurrence of a like similar treatment resolved
to become the Tenant of the Bank, in other words to
obtain a Lean which has enabled me to rear a House
only nominally my own that now rents for 650 dollars
depending upon contingency for its continuance at
that rent, in addition to which I receive a pension from
the State of Maryland of 240 making with that of the
(illegible) 1130 dollars, out of which I pay Bank Curtails,
Bk discount, Taxes, insurance, & repairs leaving me a
balance wherewith I just subsist as I hope it will
to appear to you-- the House I now reside in belongs
to my Son in the Bk of Washington who is also indebted
to the Bank so that it takes all that he can
save & that of his Brother to comply with the unceasing 
importunities of the BK which increase with the
depressure of the times, all which facts are respectfully
submitted, the result of which I hope
may be that I am fairly entitled to receive the pension
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rom the states,
I have the honor to be
Very Respectfully
Yr ob. servt
Mrs. Reily
-
Page 26

No(illegible)
D.C.

Major John Riley
Privt
Page 27

District of Columbia
County of Washington
ss
On this fifteenth day of
March, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and forty three,
personally appeared before me the subscriber, a Justice
of the Peace, in and for said County, Mrs Barbara
Reily, a resident of the City of Washington, in the
County of Washington, aged about seventy years,
who, being first duly sworn according to law, doth on
her oath, make the following declaration, in order
to obtain the benefits of the provision made by the
Act of Congress, passed on the third of March, Eighteen
hundred and forty three, granting pensions to widows
of persons who served during the Revolutionary War,

That she is the widow of Major William
Reily, who was a captain in the fourth Maryland 
Regiment; and that she received a pension under
the Act of Congress of the Seventh of July, Eighteen
hundred and thirty eight, at the rate of four
hundred and eighty dollars per annum.
She further declares that she is still a widow.
Barbara Reily

Sworn to and subscribed
on the day and year above written

John D. Clark J Peace
Page 28

To the Commmiss of Pensions
Page 29

January 30, 1851

Hon. J.E. Heath
Comm of Pensions

Sir
I beg leave to call your attention
to the enclosed petition of Barbara Reily, which
among other things, states, that the husband of the petitioner
"complied with the requirements of the act of 18th of
"March, 1818, & was inscribed on the pension list at the
"rate of twenty dollars a month during life - he was
"deprived of that pension by the Department of War
"on the 4th of March, 1820, on account of some
"property qualification, which ought never to have
"been considered," &

The letter of your predecessor (herewith) is not
satisfactory, and you will oblige me by stating
the facts of which the petitioner alludes, and such
others as may enable the committee to understand
the case fully.
respectfully
Your obdt servt
Geo. W. Jones
Hon Com Pens (S)
Page 30

Admr
Admitted

Major Reily
Present

Major Reily
Present
Page 31

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE.
To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting:

I Certify that John D. Clark
whose name is subscribed to the paper hereunto annexed, is
now, and was, at the time of subscribing the same, a
Justice of the Peace for the County of Washington, in the District
of Columbia, duly commissioned, and that full faith and confidence
are due to his acts as such -

In testimony whereof, I, James Buchanan
SECRETARY OF STATE of the United State, herein subscribe my name
and caused the Seal of the Department of State to be affixed.
DONE at the City of Washington, this 18th
day of July ___A. D. 1818,
and of the independence of the United States of America the 73d 
James Buchanan
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declaration
In order to obtain the benefits of the act
of Congress of the 2nd February 1848 entitled
"An act making further provision for surviving
widows and Soldiers of the Revolution

District of Columbia
County of Washington ⎬ SS.
On
this Seventeenth day of July Eighteen hundred 
and forty eight, personally appeared
before the subscriber, a Justice of the Peace
in and for the County aforesaid; Mrs Barbard
Reily, a resident of the City of Washington
in the said County, aged about
seventy years, who being first duly sworn
according to Law, doth on her oath make
the following declaration in order to obtain
the benefits of the provision made by act
of Congress passed on the 2d of February
1848 granting Pensions to widows of
persons who served during the Revolutionary
War:- That she is the widow
of Major William Reily who was a captain
in the fourth Maryland Regiment
that
Page 33

that she received a Pension of four
hundred and Eighty dollars per annum
under the act of the 17th of June 1844,
and that she has not intermarried but
continues to be a widow-
Barbara Reily

Sworn to and subscribed on the
day and year within written -
John Clark JP

District of Columbia
County of Washington
S.S.
Personally
appeared this Seventeenth day of July, Eighteen
hundred and forty eight, before me the subscriber,
a Justice of the Peace in and for the said County,
duly authorized by law to administer Oaths, Mrs
Barbara Reily, a resident of the City of
Washington in said County, who is personally
Known to me, and makes oath on the
Holy Evangely of Almighty God that
she is the identical person who signed
the foregoing declaration and that the
facts therein stated are true to the
best of her knowledge and belief
John D. Clark JP