Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Scott County (Va.) Declarations for Revolutionary War Pensions, 1832-1844. Local government records collection, Scott County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, 23219.

Acquisition Information

These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Scott County.

Processing Information

Declarations for Revolutionary War Pensions, 1832-1844, were removed from the Scott County Court papers and processed by G. Crawford. Declarations were reprocessed and indexed by M. Long.

Encoded by G. Crawford: March 2012; updated by M. Long: July 2024.

Historical Information

Context for Record Type: In 1818, Congress passed the first of three major Revolutionary War pension acts. The act granted lifetime pensions to all men who had served as regular army soldiers in the Continental Line and who could demonstrate financial need. Prior to the passage of this act, pensions had been restricted to former soldiers who were no longer able to support themselves due to injuries sustained while in service. The second act, passed by Congress in 1820, required applicants to provide more concrete evidence of this financial need in the form of a certified inventory of his property and income. They also had to include an account of all members of the applicant's family, including their health and ability to contribute to household income. In 1832, the third act extended pension benefits to include soldiers who had served in the state troops or militia. Congress also passed a related act in 1836 granting pensions to the widows and orphans of Revolutionary War veterans.

Locality History: Scott County was named for Winfield Scott, a native of Virginia, in recognition of his victories during the War of 1812; he was later commanding general of the American army during the war with Mexico, 1846-1848. It was formed from Lee, Russell, and Washington Counties by a statute adopted on 24 November 1814. The county court first met on 14 February 1815. The county seat is Gate City.

Scope and Content

Scott County (Va.) Declarations for Revolutionary War Pensions, 1832-1844, primarily record the declarations of individuals seeking to obtain Revolutionary War pensions provided by various acts of Congress. The applicants present detailed testimony of their time of service during the Revolutionary War. Information found in the declarations include date and location applicants entered into service, names of military companies they served in, names of military commanders they served under, names of fellow soldiers they served with, length of service, their age, and their place of birth. The predominant portion of the declarations are narratives of their tours of duty during the Revolutionary War with emphasis on battles they fought. The declarations also include affidavits from witnesses who could verify information provided by applicants.

Notable records in this collection include pension papers for William Stewart, a soldier who extensively discussed the treatment of British troops taken prisoner by American forces Battle of King's Mountain, including executions and as sources to spread false information to British officers; Richard Standly, a captain of a company of men dedicated to "hunting out deserters" from the American forces; and John England, a soldier who gave a detailed account of the Siege of Yorktown and the process of "running the gauntlet", but also recounted several provably false stories of his time as a guard at the Albemarle Barracks.

Also included was a declaration of Thomas Gray, a soldier who did not serve during the Revolutionary War but instead enlisted after the war in a United States company that was dedicated to driving American Indian groups out of Russell County to make way for US settlement. He argued that this service was an extension of the Revolution, because American Indians living in the county had sided with the British.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into the following series:

Related Material

Additional Scott County Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."

Adjunct Descriptive Data