Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1883-07-31
f+ t-44s For the SPECTATOR.
Gen. Robert and Col. Charles P0rterfield.

| Editor iSpectdtor:-A writer in your val
liable paper Of May 22nd, under the heaC
of incidents in the life of Gen. Rober
Porterfield, never before published ha
made several erroneous statements. Among
| the most evident of these is the statement
that ''his brother, Col. Charles Porterfeld
made his home under the Generals roof
and was buried in cemetery close by" p
/ Robert and Charles Porterfeld were borr
in Frederick county, Va. Charles JOINED
the first company raised in that county a
the beginning of the Revolutionary war, o.
which Daniel Morgan was chosen Captain
was mortally wounded at the battle O
Camden, S. c.; was taken prisoner ant
paroled; and died whilst on parole in Oc
tober, 1880, ON the banks of the Santee, il
South Carolina, and was there buried.
Robert Porterfleld became Lieutenant
in Capt. Johnston's company; served
through the war, and at its close purchased
the farm in Augusta county, called s'Sol
diers' Retreat" on which he died.
The story about Brandywine is not cor
rect At that date Robert Porterfield was
Adjutant in Col. Daniel Morgan's regi
ment, aand his brother Charles was Captain
of Company No. in the same regiment
The following letter from the Washing.
ton correspondent of the Memphis (Tenn.
Appeal, of December last, shows the result
of legal Investigations, and may be of inter.
est to some of your older readers:
WASHINGTON, December Gin the
summer of ITS the city of Boston was
filled with British troops, and British ships
of war lay in her harbor. The occupation
was complete, and further advances were
only prevented by the raw, undisciplined
and struggling militia lying in circle
around tie enemy's position" 1t is in
language of this sort that the slzillful, able
and ingenious attorneys of the claimants OF
the Porterfeld scrip have presented their
case to the Secretary of the Interior. The
attorney, Mr.. Reddington, continued Civ
ing the following history of the origin OF
the scrip: At this crisis a band of volun-
teers, since famous in the history of their
country, was organized in the county of
Frederick, in the far-off State of Virginia.
In three weeks this band of gallant patriots
marched on foot 600 miles, over rivers and
through forests to the relief of the Cont
mental army investing Boston. Charles
Porterfield, a prominent and wealthy citi-
zen of Virginia, was one of this most illus
trious band and this perilous march was for
him the beginning of an historical military
career in the service of his country. He
was a sergeant in Arnold's detachment
against Quebec; in the assault was the first
man to mount its walls, was there taken
prisoner of war and so held from Decem-
Der, ITS, to September, 1776. Upon ex-
change he was appointed q captain of Vir-
ginia volunteers, and in the spring of 1777
marched with seventy men to New York
and joined the Continental army under
Washington. He brought on the battle of
Brandywine, fought at Germantown and
Monmouth, and remained in continuous
active service until the winter of 1778-9. He
was then appointed commander of Virginia
regiment and subsequently quartermaster-
general of the State. While occupying this
position news was received of the siege of
Charleston. He applied for leave to march
to her relief and permission to do so was
given him by Gov. jefferson. His men
were not bound to leave Virginia, nor obey
his order to do so, but this obstacle was no
bar to Porterfield's impetuous patriotism.
He induced his men to voluntarily follow
him by disposing of his large private for
tune and devoting the proceeds to their
support. He started for Charleston, but
before his arrival the city was surrendered
to the enemy. He then attempted to join
NOl. ttuO was WltAll lb Udy . Lldl Ol
of him when that officers regiment was
surprised and almost annihilated. At his
own expense he maintained his men along
the borders until August, 1850, when on
the day of the battle of Camden he joined
the forces of Gen. Gates. In that terrible
battle he led the advance, two thirds of his
men were killed, he was mortally wounded,
and all his effects, money and papers, fell
int thn hands IF +bn In,
tion of these services, and as an induce
ment to such acts of valor, the State of
Virginia, at very early period of the Rev
olutior, contracted to give all who should
engage in her military service liberal boun-
ties in lands. Numerous acts to effectuate
this object were passed by her Legislature;
among others was one approved in Novem-
Der, 1881, setting apart for that purpose
''all that tract of land included within the
rivers Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee and
the Cl olina boundary line, )" which was all
of her territotory then left inappropriate.
Col Charles Porterfield left no wife or chill
dren, and his brother, Robert Porterfeld,
also Revolutionary soldier, became his
sole heir-at-l law. In 1882 the State of Vir-
ginia issued to said Robert Porterfield, as
heir law of his brother Charles and un-
der the said act of 17S1, warrant for 5000
acres. In 1888 another similar warrant
was issued to him as assignee of Thomas
Quarles for 2,6663 acres. With these war
rants and in supposed conformity with law
Robert Porterfield, in August, 1854, made
entry of certain lands in the district above
described amounting in all to 6,133aa acres.
Owing, however, to Indian troubles. and
by reason of adverse legislation of the
State of Kentucky, which State, carved out
of the Virginia territory, included said land;
Porterfield was unable to perfect his entries
until 1924, and patent was issued to him
by the governor of said State of Kentucky.
The land included in this patent is covered
by the wealthy and populous city of Padu-
cab. At the time of the passage of the act
of 1881 by the Legislature of Virginia, au-
thorizing these donations to Revolutionary
soldiers, it was supposed that by prior
act, that of 1910, all these lapds subject to
location by these military warrants-to-wit:
the land inclnded in the above specified
territory-had been removed from all pos
sible location by certain other kind of
warrant issued by the State and known as
s1and- office treasury warrants" But after
the issuance of his patent in 1924, Porter
field discovered that his land was in fact
covered by certain other entries made in
1880 and 17S1 by one George B. Clark with
some of these treasury warrants. The
Clark entries antedated those made by Por-
terfield; were prior in fact to the act OF
1871, under which Porterfeld claimed.
Porterfield was then an infirm old old man,
and, desiring to avoid all contention and
litigation, he presented to the Twenty
fourth Congress petition asking indemni-
ty for the lands to which he had thus
after SO many years obtained title, only to
find the same covered by prior rights. EN-
inent lawyers however, doubling the le-
gality of the Clark entries, and fearing that
Congress might not be disposed to grant
indemnity while that question remained
unsettled, and particularly as the property
had then become of great value, and was
covered by the city of Paducah, Porterfeld,
under the advice of the then Senator Leigh,
of Virginia, and others, filed bill in equi-
ty in the Circuit Court of the United States,
for the district of Kentucky, against the
guarantees of Clark. Extended and costly
litigation ensued, the bill was dismissed
with costs on the 18th day of November,
1851, and upon appeal this decree of the
Co,,rt x.,oc n od hxr tlo