Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 32356, for Christopher Kerby, North Carolina

SERVICE
NUMBER
N 6
Kerby Christopher
S 32356
CONTENTS

30.383 Arkansas Christopher Kirby
Washington Co. in the United States of Arkansas was a private in the Company commanded by Captain Underwood of the 1st reg t command by Col. Armstrong in the N.C. militia time for six months from 1/79
Inscribed on the Roll of Arkansas at the rate of 25 Dollars — Cents per annum to commence on the 4th day of March, 1831.
Certificate of Pension issued the 8 day of Februa- ry 1836 and sent to No one at N. Severn N. O.
Arrears to the 4th of Sept 1835 $112.50 Semimont. allowance ending 4 March 36 12.50
$125.00
{ Revolutionary Claim, Act June 7, 1832.
Recorded by Book 62
Wm Allison
Clerk
Vol. 9
Page 125

Declaration,
In order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress of the 7th of June 1832.
Territory of Arkansas, County of Washington } ss.
On this 19 th day of December 1835 personally appeared in Open Court before Archibald Yell sole Judge of the Third Circuit Court in and for the County of Washington aforesaid at the Courthouse in the town of Fayetteville in said County now in Court Sitting; Christopher Kerby a resident of the County of Washington aforesaid, aged Seventy-five years since the 10 th day of September 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 provision made by the Act of Congress passed June 7th 1832.
That he enlisted in the Army of the United States in the County of Surry in the State of North Carolina at a place called the Old Stone near the Yadkin river in July 1779 in the company of Light Horse or Volunteer dragoons commanded by Captain William Underwood and in the Regiment under command of Colonels Martin Armstrong and Joseph Williams. That upon his enlistment or entering into service as aforesaid he was selected by the company as Ensign there, held the commission and commanded the said company as Ensign. Applicant cannot state with precision the time he entered into Captain Underwoods Company, but states from the best of his recollection, that it was in the latter part of July 1779.
He states that, from the Old Stone mentioned above, said Company under command of Officers aforesaid, proceeded across the line into the State of Virginia, and through that section of Country bordering on the line, traversing the new counties of Henry, Patrick, Wythe and Washington in the State of Virginia: The Object of their expedition being to take, disperse or kill a party of Tories who had passed into Virginia from North Carolina, and were devastating the Country and otherwise annoying the Whigs. In this service applicant continued to act and serve as Ensign in Captain Underwoods Company until some time in December next after his having entered the service as aforesaid, when the troops were discharged at Captain Barlands near the Flower Gap in the State of Virginia; applicant having acted and served as Ensign of Horse in said Company not less than Four months and Five days as is his best recollection and belief.
423 I was young without further

This applicant further states, That on or about the 1 st day of July 1780 he again volunteered a private in the army of the United States at Surry Courthouse North Carolina and served as a volunteer private of Horse or dragoons in the Horse or dragoon company commanded by Captain James Shepherd. From Surry Courthouse Captain Shepherd proceeded with his company to Freeman's on the Yadkin River, where his company was joined by companies commanded by Captains Joseph Phillips and Minor Smith; that the three companies were then and there placed under command of Maj r Joseph Winston and from thence proceeded to Wilks Courthouse North Carolina where they were joined by other troops, which with the three companies aforesaid composed the Regiment under command of Colonel Benjamin Cleveland of North Carolina Militia or Volunteers. That at Wilks Courthouse Ensign William Hewlett of Capt. Shepherd's company retired from the service and this applicant was then and there appointed to fill the vacancy thereby accruing. That in the early part of August 1780 said Regiment under Officers aforesaid proceeded up the Catawba River where it joined the Regiments or Troops under command of Colonels Isaac Shelby John Saver and William Campbell. That said Troops commanded by Officers aforesaid, advanced to The Cowpens, South Carolina, where they were joined by Colo. James Williams with a small force of South Carolina Volunteers. From the Cowpens the combined force under command of Officers aforesaid proceeded to Kings Mountain where they engaged and defeated the British and Tories under command of Maj r Ferguson, in which battle this applicant acted as Ensign in Captain Shepherd's company aforesaid. From Kings Mountain after the battle the American troops proceeded on their return as far as the head of Kings Creek in Wilks County at which place this applicant was detached with a small party of men under him, to disperse, take or kill a party of Tories near Fisher Gap in Surry County commanded by one Goins. In pursuance of the aforesaid arrangement he marched with his party to the place designated; but the Tories as was then understood, having received intelligence of the meditated attack secreted themselves or retired from that section of the country, and applicant returned with his party to Surry about the last of October 1780 as is his best recollection and discharged his little party, the main

body of the Troops having been previously discharged at Moravian Towns.
Applicant states that he served as a Volunteer Private of Horse or Dragoons One month and as Ensign Two months and Fifteen days in the Horse or Dragoon Company under command of Captain Shepherd as stated above and to the best of his recollection and belief.
In the last of second January or first of February as is his best recollection and in the year 1781 this applicant entered into the Army of the United States at Hamlin's Old store in Wilks County and under command of Captain Joel Lewis, as a private of Horse or Dragoons Captain Lewis marched the company this applicant being one from Union, and proceeded to reconnoitre the British between Salisbury and Moravian Towns, arrived at last mentioned place, and pushed on to Guilford to General Green's Army. By order of General Green as applicant understood Captain Lewis returned with his company, to protect the country from the Tories and were not afterwards called into service to the best of his recollection.
This applicant upon his Oath 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 as a Revolutionary Officer and Soldier but according to the best of his recollection he served not less than the periods and in the grades mentioned above which he recapitulates as follows (2 wth)
For Four months and five days he served in Captain Underwood's company as an Ensign of Horse or Dragoons (including 5 days.) For One month he served as a Volunteer private of Horse or Dragoons in Captain Shepherd's company (1 month.) For two months and fifteen days he served as Ensign in said last mentioned company (2 months 15 days.) For two months he served as a Volunteer private of Horse or Dragoons under Captain Lewis (2 months) Making a Total of 9 months and 20 days service (6 months and 20 days of which he acted as Ensign as aforesaid. And for such service he claims a pension.
The Judge aforesaid in Open court then and there pronounced to the

said applicant the following Interrogatories and to which said applicant made the following answers (to wit)
1. Where and in what year were you born? Answer I was born in Halifax county State of Virginia on the 10 th day of September 1760 as I have been informed and believe. 2. Have you any Record of your age, and if so where is it?
Answer I have no Record of my age. 3. Where were you living when called into service? Where have you lived since the Revolutionary War and where do you now live?
Answer. I lived in Surry County, North Carolina, when called into service, since the Revolutionary War I moved from thence to Green County State of Tennessee, from thence to Washington County Arkansas Territory where I now live. 4. How were you
called into service, were you drafted, did you volunteer, or were you a substitute, and if a substitute for whom? Answer I volunteered. 5. State the names of some of the regular Officers who were with the Troops when you served, such Continental and Militia Regiments as you can recollect and the general circumstances of your services?
Answer. I have no recollection of any regular Officers being with the troops when I served. Only at Guilford for a short time party General Green was there, and other Officers of his division, they were strangers, and their names I do not remember. The Virginia, North and South Carolina Regiments under command of Colonels Campbell, Shelby, Saver Williams, Cleveland and Armstrong were in service at the time and places respectively mentioned in the foregoing narrative, and to which I also refer for an account of the general circumstances of my service. 6. Did you ever receive a discharge from the service, as a soldier, if so, by whom was it given and what has become of it? Did you ever receive a commission, and if so by whom was it signed and what has become of it? Answer. It is my best recollection that I received a discharge given me by Captain Lewis from the service as a Private and I have a perfect recollection of having had a commission as

Ensign in Captain Underwoods company, and also in Captain Shepherds company. applicant cannot be positive, but unless he is much mistaken, the first mentioned Commission was signed by Colonel Joseph Williams, the second by Col. Cleveland. These commissions and he thinks the discharge also, this applicant retained in his possession untill some time in the year 1826 or 27 when in the County of Green and State of Tennessee his house was burned and all his papers the Commissions and discharge also as he thinks destroyed in the conflagration.
7 th State the names of persons to whom you are known in your present neighborhood and who can testify as to your character for veracity and their belief of your services as a Soldier of the Revolution. Answer James Coulter sent John Dodson, Jonathan Newman, Robert Parks, Mark Bean and James Crawford can testify as to my character for truth, and I am of their belief confident of my having served as a Soldier of the Revolution.
Applicant states that he has no documentary evidence to support his claim to a pension, nor does he know of any person now alive by whom he can prove his services as a Soldier of the Revolution as set forth herein. He states, that shortly after the intellgence of the passage of the act of Congress of the 7 th June 1832 reached him, your applicant made his declaration under said Act and placed it in the hands of a certain Bennett H. Martin Esquire for the purpose of its being transmitted to the War department at Washington City. That said Martin has left this section of the country and applicant has not received a pension certificate, and is also ignorant of the fate of his declaration. He hereby relinquishes every claim whatsoever to a pension or but the present annuity, and declares, that so far as he knows or believes his name is not on the pension Roll of any agency in any State or Territory.
Confident of his right to a pension, and confiding in Mr. Martin to present his claim to the appropriate department, he has delayed thus long without further

effort to obtain a pension, which he hopes will be a satisfactory explanation for the seeming neglect to present his demands and claims to the proper tribunal.
Sworn to and subscribed the same day and Year first aforesaid in Open Court Test
Christopher Kerby
And afterwards (To wit) on the same day and Year aforesaid in the Territory and County aforesaid, in the same Courthouse and before the same Judge in Open Court sitting as aforesaid personally appeared Thomas Poque a resident of the County of Washington aforesaid who being first duly sworn according to Law doth on his Oath depose and say that he hath heard the foregoing declaration of Christopher Kerby read, and that the statement of services therein, accord with statements uniformly and often made by the said Kerby in the presence and hearing of this deponent many years ago. This deponent expressly states, that he lived within one half mile of said Kerby for twenty years in Green County State of Tennessee. and then and there saw a commission or commissions in the possession of said Kerby constituting him an Ensign in the service of the United States during some part of the Revolutionary War. He states that they were then viewed by him as of but little importance, and he did not examine them minutely and his memory does not now enable him to state the date, company, or name of the person by whom the same were signed. This deponent well recollects the burning of said Kerby's dwelling house as stated by him and that it was talked of and believed by the family and neighbors as this deponent hath reason to know and believe, that the papers of said Kerby were destroyed in the house at the time it was burned.
This deponent hath known applicant Kerby many years and lived in his immediate neighbourhood, that he has been always considered a man of truth and as a soldier of the Revolution, and this deponent concurs in that opinion
Sworn to and subscribed the same day and Year aforesaid Test
Thos Poque

Territory of Arkansas, County of Washington } ss.
We William J. Sarremona Clergyman, residing in the Territory of Arkansas and County of Washington and B. H. Smithson John Campbell L. Evans L. C. Pheasant. J. M. Hoge L. B. Tully James Bradford residing in the same Territory and County aforesaid hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Christopher Kerby who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration, and also with Thomas Pogue who has subscribed and sworn to the above deposition and we do believe the said Kerby to be seventy-five years of age, that he is reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resides, to be a man of truth, and to have been a soldier of the Revolution and we concur in that opinion. We do further certify that the said Thomas Pogue is reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resides to be a man of truth and we also concur in that opinion.
Sworn and subscribed this day and year aforesaid in Open Court Test
Wm J. Sarremona B. H. Smithson John Campbell L. Evans L. C. Pheasant J. M. Hoge L. B. Tully James Bradford
And the said court do hereby declare their Opinion their Opinion after the investiga- -tion of the matter and after putting the interrogatories prescribed by the War department that the above named applicant was a Revolutionary Soldier and served as he states. And the Court further certifies that it appears to them that William J. Sarremona who has signed the preceding certificate is a clergyman resident in the County of Washington and Territory of Arkansas; and that Bryan H. Smithson, John Campbell Lewis Evans L. C.

Pleasants, J. M. Hoge, Lewis B. Tully and James Crawford -
who have also signed the same certificate are residents in the same county and territory aforesaid, and that they are all of them as well as the applicant Herby and deponent Pogue creditable persons and their statements are well entitled to credit.
A. T. Tully Judge of the 3 d Judicial Circuit A.T.
Territory of Arkansas } County of Washington } United States of America.
I Bryan H. Smithsonian clerk of the circuit court of Washington County and Territory aforesaid do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the Original proceedings of the said Court in the matter of the application of Christopher Herby for a pension
H. A. H. H. H.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal of Office this 19 th day of
B. H. Smithsonian CLK
33.5-26 Christopher Herby for Pension

Suspended Oct 5 - Feb 26 B. A. N. Junior

32 356 Very INVALID.
File No. 32, 356
Christopher Kirby His Rev. Wm
Act: June 1 st 32 nd
Index:—Vol. 2 , Page 219
[Arrangement of 1870.]

na A. H. Senior
Col Edward.
Pension Office Worthington City D.C. -

Washington City, Feb 6 th / 1836.
Dear Sir.
Mr. Kelly has furnished all the proof I suppose he can furnish - and as he is very old and poor I think it advisable for him to look to what he can get - Therefore enclose in a certificate for him to pay all on Sibley's Stock, for the amount now or a number of cavalry, also being and oblige your friend A. H. Lewis -

Feb 4.
Adk. Tn
Col Edward.
Miss Adkins A. S. Jones Pension office Washington D.C.

Mr Edwards will please attend to the letter and see for me as soon as he can - I have known old Mr Kirby from my infancy - He used to reside in my native county of Greene in the state of Ten- nessee and I can state that I always understood he had been in the revolutionary army but in what capacity I don't know
Yours truly A. H. Lewis
Feb 30/86.