Pension application of Palser Hammer 1 S6950 f15PA/VA
Transcribed by Will Graves 4/21/14
State of Virginia County of Pendleton: SS
On this 6th day of February 1833 personally appeared in open Court before the Justices of the County Court of Pendleton County now sitting Palser Hammer a resident of said County aged 78 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 he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers and
served as is herein stated.
Sometime in the month of June or July in the year 1776 he the said Palser Hammer
volunteered and served a Tour of two months in the Pennsylvania Militia in the 1st Battalion of the Philadelphia troops (he being at that time a resident of the City of Philadelphia) as a private in the Company of Captain Life, and Lieutenant Keoffer. During this tour he was marched from Philadelphia to Trenton New Jersey; from thence to Princeton, from Princeton to Brunswick, and from thence to Elizabethtown Point where they were encamped until the expiration of their term of service, when he was discharged, having served Two months and not having been engaged in any battle during that Tour. – In the month of December in the same year (1776) he volunteered again, and served as a private in the same Battalion of the Philadelphia Militia in the Company of Captain Keoffer and Lieutenant Shaffer, and continued in service two months. Near the close of the year aforesaid they were marched from Philadelphia and on the night of the 26th of December crossed the Delaware River to Trenton where they assisted in making prisoners of the Hessian Troops stationed at that place, On the 2nd day of January 1777 the British Army made an ineffectual attempt to retake Trenton, and on the succeeding night the American Army after having kindled large fires in their camp, marched under cover of darkness to Princeton where they surprised and captured the British Troops in that place. He the said Hammer was engaged in both the above mentioned Battles at Trenton and Princeton. After the taking of Princeton he was marched to Pluckemin and from thence to Morristown, where he was discharged after the
expiration of his two months term of service. He cannot now remember the names of any of the
Officers of the Regular soldiers with whom he served except the commander-in-chief General
Washington, whom he saw frequently. – Having afterwards removed to, and become an inhabitant of Virginia he was drafted from the then County of Augusta (now Pendleton) and served a Tour of three months against the Indians on the waters of the Monongahela in said state, as a private in the company of militia commanded by Captain Robert Davis. After having served out the three months, he was
discharged and returned home; the last mentioned tour was performed during the year 1778.
Afterwards in the summer of 1781 he was again Drafted from Augusta County Virginia and
served a fourth Tour of two or three months against the British in the lower part of said state, as a private in the company of Captain David Gwin during this tour he was marched from home by the way of Staunton, Charlottesville &c to Richmond, where, or near which place he was placed under the command of the French General Lafayette – and was marched up, and down, and
across the lower part of the State of Virginia, and underwent much fatigued from hard marching and want of provisions, and after having faithfully served out his term of service of at least two months, he was discharged. In all the four Tours aforesaid he is positively certain that he served at least nine months and probably ten. He has no documentary evidence of his service and does not know of any living witnesses by whom he can prove any of his services except the Tour of three months on the waters of the Monongahela. He hereby relinquishes every 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.
Sworn and subscribed on the day and year aforesaid
S/ Palser Hammer, X his mark
[Zebulon Dyer and Zachariah Reserode [?]2 gave the standard supporting affidavit.]
Virginia Pendleton County to wit
On this 7th day of November 1832 Michael Hoover came before the subscriber a justice of the
peace and made oath that during the Revolutionary war in the year 1778 he served a 3 months
Tour of Duty as a militia man with Palser Hammer on the waters of the Monongahela, that they
were both in the same Company, which was commanded by Captain Robert Davis & Lieutenant
Francis Evick, and at the time they perform said service what is now Pendleton County was a
part of Augusta County.
S/ Michael Hoover,3 M his mark
[Veteran was pensioned at the rate of $30 per annum commencing March 4th, 1831, for service as a private for 9 months in the Pennsylvania & Virginia service.]
1From an internet site, this veteran's name is given as Baldaser Hammen (Balser or Palser Hammer) http://boards.ancestrylibrary.com/localities.northam.usa.states.westvirginia.counties.pendleton/1904.1/mb.ashx There is an example of his signature in what appears to be German in the file of Michael Hoover S5560 posted in this database simultaneously with the posting of this transcript. That signature is indecipherable to me because I have absolutely no grounding in the German language.
http://revwarapps.org/s6950.pdf
