Wednesday’s Words

Benjamin Hodge, the Patriot

Benjamin Hodge is my second great grandfather on my father’s family line. Daddy’s mother was Alice Lee; her father was William Alfred Lee; and his father was Benjamin Lee; and Benjamin’s father was Jordan Lee. Jordan Lee married Lydia Hodge daughter of Benjamin Hodge and Nancy Rains. Benjamin Hodge was a Revolutionary War soldier and served in Colonel Thompson’s Regiment in South Carolina. Revolutionary War pension files can be a gold mine of information for genealogists searching for ancestors from the Revolutionary War era. Benjamin Hodge’s pension application is full of such information.

If you have an ancestor who was born between the years 1726 -1767 then he possibly served in the American Revolution.  Not every Revolutionary War soldier who served in the war received a pension. The pension and bounty-land warrant application files contain mostly the records of enlisted men, not officers. The first pension act, enacted on August 26, 1776, allowed soldiers and sailors who were injured in the war to receive pensions. These were men who served to support the colonies. Due to their injuries they weren’t able to earn a living.

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[Methodology: Spelling, punctuation and/or grammar have been corrected in some instances for ease of reading and to facilitate searches of the database. Also, the handwriting of the original scribes often lends itself to varying interpretations. Users of this database are urged to view the original and to make their own decision as to how to decipher what the original scribe actually wrote. Blanks appearing in the transcripts reflect blanks in the original. Folks are free to make non-commercial use this transcript in any manner they may see fit, but please extend the courtesy of acknowledging the transcriber—besides, if it turns out the transcript contains mistakes, the resulting embarrassment will fall on the transcriber. I use speech recognition software to make all my transcriptions. Such software misinterprets my southern accent with unfortunate regularity and my poor proofreading fails to catch all misinterpretations. I welcome and encourage folks to call those and any other errors to my attention.]

State of South Carolina Richland District

Pension application of Benjamin Hodge W10115 Nancy fn61SC

Transcribed by Will Graves 1/5/11

On this 2nd day of October 1832 personally appeared in open Court before Josiah J Evans one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas & Sessions, Benjamin Hodge a resident of the district and State aforesaid, aged about eighty, but does not know his age precisely, who being 1st 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 7th 1832. That he entered the service of the State of South Carolina under the following named officers, and served as herein stated. He entered the service by enlisting in the Company of Captain Goodwyn in 1775, in Colonel Thompson's [sic, William Thomson's] Regiment, it being the 3rd Regiment of Rangers raised by the State of South Carolina; He enlisted first for 6 months & served his time out & after he had served out the six months he enlisted again under the same Captain & Colonel for fifteen months service; which time he also served out & obtained a discharge which has since been consumed by his house which was unfortunate[ly] burnt. During the six months’ service he was in the campaign called the Snow Camp in the Western part of South Carolina which was in the winter '75 – '76. He was in no battle but assisted to take Fletcher [sic, Thomas Fletchall] the Tory. They were stationed for some time at a place called the big survey. Then they went to Ninety [sic, Ninety-Six] and came on down with the prisoners, by Granby to Charleston & over to Sullivan's Island and they began to build the Fort and after it was finished they had the battle in it, called the battle of Sullivan's Island. The Fort was attacked by the British Fleet, Colonel Moultrie at the time commanded the Fort. The applicant was not in the Fort, but on the Island under Colonel Morrison who commanded the troops outside the Fort on the Island. He can't remember the day the battle was fought. After that battle he was sent away towards Savannah, his company after being in Savannah some time they went up to Augusta. At Augusta he got a furlough to come home which was then in the district & State aforesaid, and after his furlough had expired he went down to headquarters at a place called Nelson's Camps, where Colonel Morrison's Regiment was resting, not far from Eutaw Springs, or Nelson's ferry, at a place called Williams Branch, where there was good water. Here he was discharged which discharge has been burned in his house as stated above. Cannot remember the day of his discharge but he served the 15 months out for which he had enlisted the second time. He was under the same Captain all the time. He was in a skirmish against a body of Negroes & white men, in Georgia beyond Savannah at a place called the Thunderbolt on an Island between Sunbury & Savannah. After this, but he can't remember the year, but he did not stay at home long, before he went out again in the militia under Captain Craig, and under him (he marched he believed Colonel Wynn [Winn] commanded the troops) he marched around by Ninety-Six, Augusta, Orangeburg & then around home again. He was a volunteer in the militia & made several other matter excursions than those he has listed. He was born in Richland district South Carolina, has no record of his age, and never acted as a substitute.

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 to and subscribed the day & year aforesaid.

Sworn to in Open Court to October 1832

S/ James E. Guignard, Clerk S/ Benj. Hodge, X his mark

[fn p. 53: Benjamin Treadwell, a clergyman, and Doctor Samuel Green gave the standard supporting affidavit.]

[fn p. 54]

South Carolina Richland District: Personally appeared before me Major Hicks Chappell1, that he is old & very feeble & cannot conveniently attend at the Court of Common Pleas to sit at Columbia, the 1st Monday in October next & that he knew Benjamin Hodge during the Revolutionary War, & that he enlisted in 1775, in Captain Goodwyn's Company in Colonel Thomson's Regiment; – viz.: 3rd Regiment of Rangers, he enlisted for six months & served his time out & to the best of deponent's memory he thinks Mr. Hodge enlisted again for the fifteen months service: about this however he is not positive. He went up & served in the Snow Camps. These three Regiments were regulars raised by South Carolina. After serving the first six months out, deponent saw him once or twice still in the service, which he thinks was the fifteen months’ service & thinks he was still in Captain Robert Goodwin's Company under Colonel William Thompson.

1 Hicks Chappell W22758

S/ Hicks Chappell

Sworn to before me the 12th of September 1832

S/ James L. Clark, C. E. R. D. J. Q. U.

NOTE:  This is the part where the goldmine of information is and vital information for my family.

[fn p. 4: on October 13, 1847 in Richland district South Carolina, Trinity Martin, 64, wife of Joseph Martin deceased, daughter of Benjamin and Nancy Hodge, filed a claim for the pension due her mother under the 1836 act; she states that she files a claim on behalf of herself and her mother's other heirs, to wit, Sarah Grant, wife of Randall Grant deceased, Letty Lee, wife of Jordan Lee deceased, Lucy Sims, wife of John Sims, Rachel Martin, wife of Daniel Martin, Anna Cusad, wife of Reuben Cusad, Margaret Brown, wife of William Brown, and Zady Hodge; that her parents were married in 1778; that her father died in Richmond County on January 8, 1837 and her mother died October 10th 1845; that she has no record of either the marriage of her parents or the births of their children, but her oldest sister Sarah Grant, wife of Randall Grant, was born during the war.]

[fn p. 12: On September 29, 1847 in Richland District South Carolina, Anna Hodge, widow of Thomas Hodge, gave testimony that she is, she believes, 90 years of age; that she knew Benjamin Hodge and his wife Nancy, both now deceased; that they were married in 1778 and were recognized in society as husband and wife since that date.]

[fn p. 45: certificate dated January 17, 1848, from the South Carolina Comptroller Generals Office listing payments made to a "Benjamin Hodge" for him service during the revolution including 46 days’ duty under General Marion in 1782.]

[fn p. 50]

State of South Carolina Richmond District: Personally appeared before me Jasper Faust who being duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following statement, that he knew Benjamin Hodge deceased who was a pensioner of the United States and also his wife Nancy Hodge deceased both formally of Richland District State of South Carolina. That he knew them to be living together as husband and wife during the time of the Revolutionary War and that he knew them the aforesaid Benjamin & Nancy Hodge deceased to be living as husband and wife together before the aforesaid Benjamin Hodge left the service of the United States as a soldier in the Revolutionary War. This deponent further states that he himself is 87 years of age.

Sworn to before made this the 13th day of October A.D. 1847

S/ A. Fetch, Magistrate S/ Jasper Faust2

[fn p. 20: certificate of the South Carolina Comptroller General dated December 14, 1846 listing payments made to a Mr. Gasper Faust for military services during the revolution.]

[Veteran was pensioned at the rate of $70 per annum commencing March 4th, 1831, for one-year service as a private in the South Carolina Continental line.]

The information that I gleaned from this very important document gave me names, dates and places to allow me to further research the Hodge and Lee family lines. I have Benjamin estimated birth date and his wife's name. His children's names are in this document as well as their spouses. If the spouses were deceased he mentioned that also. I couldn't ask for much more than this in a record. 

NOTE:  I have the original pension application; however, this one is so much easier to read so I chose to use it instead.  You can check out the website below to learn more about this very useful resource for genealogists. 

Source

Southern Campaign American Revolution Pension Statements http://revwarapps.org