Pension File - Wayne County KY - 2 Sept. 1832 - Pension # S31, 243, North Carolina.
James McHenry said he enlisted in the army in 1776 when he was 15 and served under Captain John Saller or Satler. During his 18 month tour, he was a member of "the Horse Company", which was assigned to guard the frontiers of Georgia. He was under the command of Col. Baker part of the time.
He enlisted in Anson Co NC. His company marched to the Head of Little River and built Phillips Fort. They proceeded to Midway and then Savannah, where he was discharged and sent home to his mother in Anson County NC. James stayed home for about 1 year before volunteering again in 1780. This time he joined up with General Gates near Camden, where the British under Lord Cornwallis defeated Gate's army. James was taken prisoner and detained for about 4 months before he was allowed to return home. He volunteered again, and served under Capt James Fletcher.
James McHenry stated, " I was born in North Carolina, on a creek named Big Patentney (?), the name of the county not recollected. I have no education, but my mother told me I was born between OLD and NEW CHRISTMAS ( Sept 17 and Dec 25) and she believed in the year 1761.
From the commencement of the war, until a good many years after the war, I lived in Anson Co. N.C. I moved from there to Spartinburg, South Carolina on the Tiger River for 3 years (there in 1790), then to Montgomery Co. Ky. for 3 years, then to Wayne Co. KY., and have lived here ever since." He gave the names of his neighbors in Wayne Co. as the Clergyman, James Lear, and James White. He reported his discharge paper was destroyed when his house in NC burned.
Affidavit of Reuben Ard, 30 October 1833 in Wayne Co KY: Made oath that he was a half brother to James McHenry, who was an applicant for a pension for services in the Revolutionary War. Reuben said he was very young when his half-brother enlisted, but well recollects him coming home and telling his step-father and his mother that he had enlisted. His step-father (Mr. Ard), as well as he remembers, got James a horse to ride, and James was gone a considerable time before he returned home. "I heard him frequently talking of being in Flanders at Camden and many other places in the South and being in several skirmishes with the Indians and the British. I am now about 64 years old."
A statement from the Treasury Department Second Comptrollers Office dated 5 January 1844 declared "The Widow drew pension of $51.33 per annum under the law of the 7th of June 1832 and has been paid at this department from the 4 March to 12 November 1842." (Question: What widow? This statement indicates (1) James McHenry married again after Anney Spencer died ( before 1826) and (2) he died on or before 4 March 1842, and (3) his widow died on or before 12 November 1842 )
