Pension Application of Matthew Emacs (Amyx) S6501 VA
Transcribed and annotated by C. Leon Harris. Revised 1 Apr 2015.
[From Library of Virginia Legislative Petitions Digital Collection/ Botetourt County – Amox, Matthew]
To the Honourable the General Assembly of Virginia
The Petition of Matthew Amox of Botetourt County humbly sheweth, That your Petitioner, anxious to contribute all in his Power, to check the late rapid Progress of the British Army through our Southern States, did in the Month of February 1781, voluntarily march with the Militia of his County into North Carolina, and notwithstanding the many Difficulites that induced Numbers to return Home without a Discharge [see endnote], your Petitioner continued to do the Duty of a Souldier under Gen’l. Green [sic: Nathanael Greene] until the Guilford Battle [Battle of Guilford Courthouse NC, 15 Mar 1781], when he unfortunately recieved a Ball into one of his Arms by which the Bones were so fractured that he now dispairs of being again able to support his Wife and a Number of small Children which he had before maintained by cultivating his Farm; nor can he spare from the immediate necessities of his Family any thing to engage the Assistance of a Surgeon: So that, without your charitable interposition, he is left with his Family to suffer Nakedness and Hunger without the Prospect of being in better Circumstances. Your Petitioner, therefore humbly requests that the Sheriff of the County may be directed to pay him Annually out of the Public Taxes, so much as your Honourable House may judge to be reasonable Relief.
And your Petitioner, as in Duty bound shall pray, &c.
We the Subscribers, being neighbours to Matthew Amox, or having served with him under Gen’l.
Green at the Guilford Battle, do hereby certify that we know or believe the above Representation to be true; therefore we think the Prayer of the Petitioner reasonable, and that his good Character, as well as the indigent Circumstances to which he is reduced by serving his Country, entitles him to the special notice of the Legislature. [signed] Robert Baker
Henry Pawling Tho. Poage Will’m Fleming
Tolever Craig Wm McClenechan Joseph Richardson
Thos. Rowland Wm. Neelly John Neelly
Jas. Mason Tho Lewis Thos. Madison
Wm Walton Caleb Wallace And’w. Armstrong
I do hereby certify that I am acquainted with the petitioner & know that the Facts Contained in this petition are strictly true. Thos. Madison/ Delegate for Botetourt County, June 4 1782.
June 3d 1782 referred to Trade.
June 5th 1782 Reasonable
Allowed half pay for life from 1st April 1782 & £10 for expence attending the cure of Wound Reported
[The following are in the pension records of the Library of Virginia:]
May Botetourt County Court 1786.
Matthew Amacks made satisfactory proof to this Court, That he was wounded being a Soldier in
Capt. [Henry] Paulding’s Company of Militia, at the Battle of Guilford North Carolina and that the Detachment was commanded by Colo [Hugh] Crockett, which with a Certificate of Doct’r. William Fleming this Day presented in Court, are ordered to be transmitted to his Excellency the Governor.
[A Copy. Teste/ D. May C.B.C.]
This is to Certify that by desire of the Court of the County afores’d. I inspected the wounds of Mathew Emox which he received at the battle of Guilford and found that he had been wounded daingerously in the left arm, in consequence of which wound, the socket at the elbow was stiff and the sinues of his hand contracted and that a wound above the Elbow which is now closed, is apt to open & discharge matter, that he is rendered unable to carry on his business as a Farmer, that he can plow a little in old clear ground, but do little else, as he lives in my neighbourhood I know he has a large family to mentain, and that they are in distressed circumstances. May 19th 1786
Will’m Fleming
Gentlemen Please deliver Major Pat. Lockhart a Warrant or Warrants on the Treasurer for any Money due me as a Pensioner for being Wounded in the Militia Service Auditor of Public Accounts Matthew Emacs
Richmond
Botetourt Sc
Matthew Amacks personally appeared before me a Justice of Peace for said County and
Acknowledged the above order from under his hand this 12th [?] June 1786
Wm McClenechan
I do with the advice of Council hereby Certify that Mat’w Amicks, aged about 35 years, late a private in the Militia of Botetourt County, and whose pay when in service was at the rate of £24. per annum, was disabled in the service of the United States by a wound in his Left arm and that he is allowed the sum of Nine pounds yearly to commence from the first Day of January one thousand seven hundred and Eighty six.
Given under my hand as Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, at Richmond, this 16th of June 1788
T. Meriwether [signed] Edm. Randolph
A Copy Teste T Bowyer C.B.C.
[The file contains other similar documents, the latest one dated 14 Nov 1789.]
[The following are from the federal pension file.]
State of Kentucky
Cumberland County Sct
On this 16th day of December 1826 before me the Subscriber a justice of the peace for the said County of Cumberland, Matthew Amicks alias Amyx personally apeared and made oath, that he is the same person who formerly belonged to the Company commanded by Capt Henry Paulding in the
Regiment commanded by Colo. Charles Lynch [of the Bedford County VA Militia] in the Service of the United States, in the Revolutionary War, that his name was placed on the pension roll of the state of Virginia from whence he moved about eight years ago. That he now resides in the said County of Cumberland & State of Kentucky, where he intends to remain and wishes his pension there payable in future. His Certificate which is intended to be returned to the Office of the Secretary of War, is dated at Richmond 29 July 1789 and signed by Beverly Randolph & witnessed by Samuel Coleman, which is certified to be a true copy of the original by W. H. Cabell, on 24 October 1808 – that he last drew his pension at the Loan office in Richmond from the 4 September 1821 to 4 September 1825
Matthew hisXmark Amyx Sr
We Joel Owsley and Michael L Stoner Practicing Physicians and Surgeons in the County of Cumberland and State of Kentucky, hereby Certify, that after a careful examination in the case of Matthew Amicks, who is now on the pension roll of the state of Virginia, we are of Opinion, that his disability does still exist viz. The wound seems to have been made by a Ball, which renders the arm almost entirely useless, the wound is situated between the Shoulder & Elbow Joint and further that the degree of disability under which he labors at present is not less than the original degree of disability for which he was placed on the pension roll, Given under our hands this 11 day of May 1826.
Kentucky Cumberland County Sct.
We Joel Owsley and Michael L. Stoner practicing Physicians do hereby Certify that we have examined Matthew Amicks and find that he is totally disabled from manuel labour by a wound which he has heretofore received in his left arm, and which he says, he received in the revolutionary war with Great Britain – Given under our hands this 16th day of April 1831
NOTES: Many of the Botetourt Riflemen deserted just before the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. See Harris, C. Leon. 2007. The Botetourt Riflemen on 1781: Brief but Bellweather. Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution, Vol 4, pp 60-63. Campaign Newsletter
In a separate document in the federal file Amyx gave the following reason for moving to
Cumberland County: “that his Son Matthew had Remov’d there and he wished to Remain with him.”
A Treasury-Department document states that the children of Amyx received the final pension
payment up to the date of his death on 12 Mar 1832.
https://revwarapps.org/s6501.pdf
