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Facts and Events
Military Service
- American Revolutionary War Veteran
Revolutionary War Pension Information
Information from “Virginia/West Virginia Genealogical Data from Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Records”, Vol. 3, compiled by Patrick G. Wardell, Lt. Col. U.S. Army Ret. :
McCormack, William - entered service in Berkeley County, Virginia, for Revolutionary War; entered service 1781 & 1792 in Sullivan County, Tennessee against Indians; died 1818-19 "some distance from home"; married 2/14/1782 or 2/10/1783 to Nancy ____, Berkeley County, Virginia; widow applied for Pension at age 78 in Overton County, Tennnessee in 1844; Pension application rejected, insufficient proof of 6 months service & marriage; applied for Pension again there in 1852 & Pension application rejected; 12 children mentioned but not named; power of attorney in 1857 in Adamsville, Georgia, to agent by son Alexander to prosecute interest in mother's claim; query letter in file in 1926 from great granddaughter Myrtle McCormick, Shoals, Indiana. F-R6648, R1671
References
- .
- Graves, William T. Southern Campaign Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters.
Pension Application of William McCormack (McCormick)
R6648 Transcribed by R. Neil Vance
[p. 5]
State of Tennessee
Overton County
On this 18 day of April 1844 personally came before me Richard Copeland a Justice of the peace in and for said County Nancy McCormack aged seventy eight years having no record of her age and after being duly sworn according to Law for that purpose makes the following Declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provisions made by the act of Congress passed the 4th day of July 1836 that she is the widow of William McCormack the identicale [sic] William McCormack who served as herein after stated she states that she was married to her said husband on the 14th day of February 1782 the marriage was celebrated by one McNight a prisbetiean minister in the County of Berkley State of Virginia has no record of the marriage after the marriage and after he was don[e] serving in the Revolutionary war he removed to Sulivan County [Sullivan County] Tennessee from there he removed to Blount County Tennessee thence to Green thence to With County State of Virginia thence to Berk County [Burke County] State of North Carolina and from thence he removed to Overton County Tennessee where she now lives she states that in or about the year 1818 or 19 he left this county and went to the south west called North Alabama to one of his daughters and then to Illinois to Fort Mapack[?] and from there started to the south took sick and died of a fever as she is creditable in formed about 4 or 5 hundred miles from here but cant give the day or the month or the year but thinks it was about the year 1819 she states that she received one or two letters from his eldest Daughter stating the time and place of his death but they are all distroyed as to his services in Revolution prior to their intermarriage she has but little knowledge but the information given by her husband and others of his acquaintances have often told her that he served a long time and was in many Battles six or seven she can’t give but a very imperfect account of the touers she states that she heard hir husband say that he served six months as a Lieutenant under Col Dark [possibly William Darke] as a volunteer turned out from Burkley County[Berkeley County] State of Virginia under Capt Burdinger1 and served his time of six months does not know what became of his commission or discharge if he had any she thinks he was in a battle or small scirmish at New Jersey and one at fort pitt with the Indians and British, she heard him speak of a number of three months touers and that he always went out as a volunteer in the years of 1777 and 78 and 79 but after this date she became acquainted with him and he went with some adventurers to cumberland to make a settlement he then Returned back to Sullivan County East Tennessee in the year the Battle of Kings Mountain was fought [1780] he turned out under Capt Pemberton [John Pemberton] as volunteer and was commanded by Col Shelby and was in the Battle of Kings Mountain as a private and after the Battle was over he Returned home again to Burkley County Virginia she thinks this touer was three months and he again turned out again under Col Morgan the Capt. not Recolected and was at taking of Corn Wallis [Yorktown] and then Returned home and the prisoners were marched to Winchester Virginia and hir husband and hir self then made there marriage contract he then turned out and went a volunteer to Winchester and stayed a while and then Returned back and on the 14th of February 1782 hir and hir said husband was married as before stated then about the 21st of said month he Returned back again to Winchester and remained some time and then came home a few days leaving a man in his place he then Returned back and Remained until the prisoners were released these touers were all performed guarding the prisoners at Winchester making in all three months as guard at said point[?] after the intermarriage she states that about three years after this time they removed to Sullivan County state of Tennessee and in the year 1791 there was a call for levies by order of the General Government consisting of companies from the counties of Sullivan Green Washington and Hawkins so there were three[sic] companies enlisted and filed [filled?] out for six months after the arival at fort washington the place of Rondavouz and her said husband was appointed Captain commissioned and mustered in to the service all under the command of Major Ray and from there was marched to mill creek and from there to the Big prarie on Big Miami where they erected a fort called Hamilton they then marched [?] served out his touer of six months this was called Indian Campaign as to the particulars of the campaign she refers the Department to the deposition of George Christian2 who was a soldier under him that touer who now lives in this county she further states that some time in the fall season of 1792 there as a call for men to go on defense of the frontier of Tennessee and her husband Capt McCormack raised a company of Voluntiers and went in command of his company to Southwest point and the Indians went back and they had no battle with them Returned home in six weeks so ended his services in the war she again states she can’t set out his old service before he removed form Burkley county state of Virginia but is well satisfyed from what she knows of hir own know[l]edge he must have served two years or upwards and six months of that time as a Lieutenant previous to the Indian Campaign. she states that his name is not on the pension roll of any agency in any state and hereby relinquishes every claim to a pension or annuity except the present and that she has never intermarried to or with any other man at any time that hir marriage did not take place at any time since or prior to but at the time above specified that this is the first application for a pension she states that she is old and blind and much loss of hearing and memory and is unable to appear in court to make a declaration therefore makes it before makes it before [sic] a Justice of the peace she knowes of no living witness by whom she can prove his first services.
Nancy McCormack
her mark
Sworn to and subscribed
Before me this 18th day of April
Richard Copeland {seal}
Justice of the Peace in and for the county of Overton state of Tennessee
[p. 9]
State of Tennessee
Overton County
The Deposition of George Christian a Resident of sd. county
April the 18th 1844
George Christian aged about seventy five years deposeth and saith that he has been acquainted with Captn Wm McCormack dcd whose widow has filed her papers dated 18th April 1844 asking a pension of government for services rendered by her late Husband in the revolutionary war and for services rendered subsequently as a captain in the army under Genl Arthur St Clair in the year 1791 --
I first became acquainted with Captn McCormack in 1790 in Sullivan County East Tenn. (at that time called the Territory of the United States south of the River Ohio) –
William Blount having been appointed Governor of the Territory was directed by Government to
order out four companies of troops from the counties of Washington Sullivan Green & Hawkins. those companies were if possible to be raised by enlistment on which Govr Blount called on the above named counties to [unreadable] offering commissions to such officers as would turn out to take the command of said troops upon which Captn William McCormack from Sullivan Captn Jacob Tipton3 of Washington Captn George Conway of Green & Captn Jas Cooper [James Cooper] of Hawkins presented themselves were commissioned by the Governor & Matthew Rhea of Sullivan was appointed Majr of the Battalion to be composed of the four companies above stated & the said troops were raised mostly be enlistment though some by draft. the men were required to sign their enlistment & sworn to comply with the rules & articles of war. Captns McCormack Tipton & Conway under Major Rhea marched their respective companies to Fort Washington where they were mustered into service for the Term of six months. I myself went out under Captn McCormack as a private soldier and continued in service untill we were discharged at Ft Washington after the defeat of St Clair.
After leaving the Regular Army at Fort Washington where we remained several weeks the Army removed to Mill Creek some four or five miles in advance of Ft Washington where after remaining a short time we removed to Ludlows still further out where we remained a few weeks from thence we marched to the Big Prarie on the Miami where we remained some weeks. Built Fort Hamilton and when all the Troops and baggage that were expected arrived the Army took upon a line of march for the Indian Country. I think this was some time in September. In the morning however after the Army paraded to march Capt McCormack recd orders from Col. Dark (to whose Regement I think we were attached) to take a detachment of [?] on pursuit of a number of deserters who had left the Army the night previous.
Accordingly myself & some others were detached by Capt. McCormack to go on said service
we pursued on into the old settlements of Kentucky upwards 100 or 120 miles partly as I suposed to endeavour to [?] those that had left and to deter others from making a like attempt. & after being engaged in this service some weeks we returned to rejoin the Army then far in the Indian Country. myself and some others got to Fort Hamilton but our Captn McCormack got as far as Ft. Jefferson which had been erected by the Army some 30 or 40 miles in advance of Fort Hamilton where he was met by the retreating army. whereas we all returned to Fort Washington (near Cinusati4) where we were mustered out of service & discharged.
As respects the service of Captn McCormack in the war of the revolution I know nothing of my own knowledge though from what I have heard and others say on that subject I have little doubt that a great part or all of what has been stated by the widow is true. particularly the Battle of Kings Mountain and at the siege of York & the taking of Cornwallis. I am fully confident that said McCormack was present on both these occasions and further as respects the services under Dark and Berdinger5 who was both on St. Clairs campaign and seemed to be old acquaintances of Mc Cormacks. The latter I have often heard speak of being in service with the former in the war of the Revolution. As respects the marriage between the parties above named I know nothing further than of there being anything wrong about it I would have heard something of it as the[y] lived several years and kept a publick House in less than one mile of where I lived on the main road between Knoxville & Abingdon. and having been acquainted with many of their friends & acquaintances I never heard of doubts about their marriage.
as respects the removals of their Familly mentioned by the widow I know to be correct chiefly.
Moreover, they had together to have near a dozen children. Capt W McCormack left his Family in Overton 1818 or 1819 on a visit to a daughter in Alabama from their it is understood he visited another daughter ([?]) at Fort Massnick from there he went down the Mississippi but as respects the time or place I have forgotten. But Capt. Andw Steel a Gentleman of my acquaintance informed me and others that he was at the House where Capt W McCormack and also the circumstance of his death ) but which has escaped my recollection.
Capt. Steel was well acquainted with W McCormack and being a man of unquestioned verasity left no doubt of the truth of his statement. so well as I recollect this must have happened about 1819 or 1820.
the widow McCormack above mentioned now lives in this neighbourhood with her youngest daughter is quite old & infirm is entirely blind & dull of hearing and I think for the services of her Husband well deserves some from her Country and further this deponent saith not
s/ George Christian
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 18th day of April 1844
s/Richard Copeland
Justice of the Peace for Ovt County State of Tennessee
[p 29]
State of Tennessee
County of Overton
On this twenty first day of May in the year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and fifty two personally appeared before me the undersigned a Justice of the Peace in and for the County and State aforesaid Nancy McCormick a resident of the County of Jackson in the State of Tennessee, aged about Eighty six years, who, being first duly sworn according to law, doth on her oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed July 4th, 1836, and the several other acts of Congress applicable to her case: that she is the widow of William McCormick, who was a private in the War of the Revolution in the army, in the Battle of King’s Mountain in the Regiment commanded by Col. Shelby & in the Company commanded by Captain Pemberton. The declarant does not remember the precise time or place at which he entered the service nor the period for which he served or the precise time he served as this service took place before her marriage with him but she has often heard him speak of of it and lived in the same County where he lived when he entered the service to wit Berkly County State of Virginia.
She has heard him and other acquaintances talk much of his service but from her age she has forgotten much of it; she does not recollect the precise places to which he marched. The declarant states that her said husband served another campaign in the Army under Colonel Morgan and was at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown during this Campaign. He was promoted to a Lieutenancy during one Campaign but whether this one or not she cannot positively state though she thinks it was this last one during which Cornwallis was taken; but she thinks he went out as a private. She does not remember where he entered the service, for what length of time or when he returned but she remembers that he returned shortly after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. She states that her said husband served again another Campaign in the year 1791 in the Regiment commanded by Colonel Dark and commanded a Company in said Regiment as a Captain. She does not exactly remember the time & place at which he entered the last service. She thinks it was at Jonesboro in the state of [left blank] in June 1791 but for the particulars in relation to this Campaign she refers to the testimony of George Christian Esquire of Overton County Tennessee, who was a private under said William McCormick in the said last campaign which she will be caused to be filed herewith.) Her memory has become somewhat dull recently and she is now unable to state the fact with that particularity which she could have done a year or two past. She states that she was married to the said William McCormick on the 10th day of February 17836 that is seventeen hundred and eighty three in Berkly County Virginia, after publication of the banns but she has no record evidence of the marriage having a few years ago accidentally got her family Bible containing the only known Record of her marriage destroyed. She further states that her said husband the aforesaid William McCormick died sometime in the year eighteen hundred and twenty or about that time but she has no record of the exact time of his death; and she states that she has remained a widow ever since his death as will more fully appear by the proof hereto annexed. She states that she is blind and too infirm in body to appear before a court of record. She states that she preserved all his discharges for many years after his death but being ignorant of their value they were neglected until they were destroyed and are not now to be found.
her
Nancy x Mc Cormick
mark
Sworn to and subscribed before me this day the day first above written
William Hardy Justice of the Peace for Overton County Tennessee
[p. 38]
State of Tennessee Overton County
At a County Court began and held at the Court house in the town of Livingston the same being the 7th day of June 1852 present upon the bench the worshipful Richard Copeland Chairman and Willis Holford[,] John T R Gerde[?], John Sevier[,] Jefferson Copeland[,] James E Lavidge[?], Adam Winningham[,] Noah W Lane, William Hardy & John S Bilyen[?] Esqrs acting Justices of the Peace for said County.
This day in open court it was proven by the oath of George Christian Esquire who is intitled to full credit that he became acquainted with Captain William McCormack at Blountsville Sullivan County in the State of Tennessee in the year 1791 and knew him from that time till his death which took place some time between the years 1816 and 1819 that said Christian entered the service in the Army of the United States under said William McCormack who was Captain of a Company in the Regiment commanded by Col Dark that said Company was raised in obediance to an order of the government to rais[e] four Companies of Militia to join the Army under General St Clair at Fort Washington that Captain McCormack’s Company at Fort Washington that it joined the Army under Genl. St Clait at Fort Washington, was at the time of Battle of St. Clair’s defeat by the Indians in December 17917 at Fort Jefferson and was afterwards mustered out of service that said McCormack acquitted himself in said campaign honorably. Said Christian further states that while he was under Captain McCormack in that campaign he heard much said by him and others who had been with him in the Revolutionary War about the services as a soldier in the Army of the Revolution of the said William McCormack among others he has heard Captain [blank] Nelson who was a soldier in the Revolutionary Army who is now dead and who was a man of the highest veracity talk of the services of said McCormack at the taking of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown he states that it was generally understood and believed that said McCormack was in the battle of Kings Mountain in the Regiment commanded by Col Shelby and that as he remembers in the Company commanded by Captain Pemberton and in several other Campaigns during the Revolution and had always acquitted himself honorably
Said Christian further states that he became acquainted with said McCormacks family in the year 1795 in Sullivan County State of Tennessee and has been intimately[?] acquainted with them from that time to the present that said William McCormack and Nancy McCormack (now his widow who resides in Jackson County State of Tennessee) then lived together as husband and wife and were always refered to as such by their acquaintances and he states that it is the reputation[?] in Berkely County State of Virginia that they were husband and wife that they at the time he first knew them had five children the oldest about 10 or 13 years of age that they lived together until the death of said William McCormack as husband and wife and raised a large family of children and that said Nancy still remains a widow
George Christian
[Other Information in the File
p.1 April 28, 1857 Alexander McCormack of DeKalb Co. Alabama gives power of attorney to Elisha King of Adamsville Georgia to pursue the pension application of Nancy McCormack, deceased
p. 37 March 17, 1852 George McCormick, no relation stated, signs as a witness a power of attorney by Nancy Mc Cormick
p.43 Aug. 24, 1926 Myrtle McCormick of Shoals Indiana, in a letter seeking information, states that she is the great grandaughter of the soldier, that her grandfather was also named William McCormick. She also states that her father told her that there was land grant, that McCormick was at some time a colonel, and that “he was in the memorable battle at Valley Forge”.]
______________
1 Possibly George Michael Bedinger W2992, see fn 5 below.
2 George Christian was possibly the son of Capt. Gilbert Christian. He is also possibly the son-in-law of William and Nancy McCormack. Bobby Gilmer Moss The Patriots at Kings Mountain p. 46.
3 Stephen Redman FPA R8644 states in his application that he was under Captain Jacob Tipton and Lt. Charles Robertson on this campaign
4 probably Cincinnati, Ohio, the present day site of Fort Washington
5 George Michael Bedinger (FPA W2991, fn1 above) states in his pension application that he was a Captain under
Col. William Darke at Yorktown, and also was a Major under St. Clair and Wayne after the Revolutionary War.
6 The earlier application of April 18, 1844 gives a marriage date of Feb. 14, 1782.
7 St. Clair’s Defeat was November 4 , 1791
http://revwarapps.org/r6648.pdf
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