February
23, 1838 New
Madrid County Court, Missouri
Declaration
In order to
obtain the benefit of the act of Congress
passed June 7th, 1832
State of Missouri County of New Madrid
On the 23rd
day of Feb. in the year of our Lord 1838
personally appeared in open court before the
County Court of New Madrid County now in
session, Jacob Wheat a resident of New
Madrid Township in New Madrid County
aforesaid in state aforesaid aged
seventy-seven years who being first duly
sworn according to law doth on his oath
declare and 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 United States
under the following named officers and
served as served as herein stated.
My Captain was
Stephen Ashby, Benjamin Casy , first
lieutenant, Abraham Zaines (sic Zanes),
second lieutenant, Richard Raute, ensign,
M. Waggoner, Major, entered the Service in
September or October in the year 1776 and
left the same in Sept. in
the year 1780. Entered the Service as a
volunteer at Wheeling in the State of
Virginia, and was stationed there from that
time until sometime in the Spring following
when we were marched to the Army under
General Washington, then
Stationed at
what was called the Little Hills in the
Jerseys, in a few days after he joined the
Army under Washington, he went on a Scout
under Captain Drake to Amboy. There joined
the Twelfth Regiment Navel Colonel, Starling
General and had an engagement with the
British at the Ash Swamp, and fell back on
the Main Army. Marched with the Army to
_____ River in New York, and from thence
was marched back to the Delaware, and then
was engaged in the Battle of the Brandy
wine, and thence , to the best of my
recollection, in August in the year of 1777
returned to my fathers at Wheeling on furlow,
he stayed but a short time at his fathers
when he was persuaded by Captain Benjamin
Harrison to join his Company in the
Thirteenth Regiment. Then stationed at
Pittsburgh being advised by Capt. Harrison
that it made no difference, so that he was
in the Service of the United States, and
being also advised that Harrisons Company
would soon march to the Main Army, where to
could join his own company and he joined
Harrison’s Company, Hand was the General ,
Gibson Colonel., ? Rich’rd ? Harrison
Lieutenant, stationed at Pittsburgh.
Continued in the thirteenth regiment until
about the first of
January (sic 1778) ,
after when I was party of twenty five men
under the command of Captain James Willing,
I was informed and believe, to take twenty
five men from the Thirteenth Regiment to go
on some business to New Orleans and be one
of the number who went with him to that
place, arrive in New Orleans sometime in
March 1778 and in September next after, left
New Orleans to return to Pittsburg, under
command of Capt Robert George and Lieutenant
Richard Harrison, Returned as far as
Kaskaskia, where he and his Company joined
General Clark. and continued with then Army
under General Clark and their movements in
the North Western Territory, Was engaged in
the battle with the Indians at Pickaway
Towns. Continued in the Army under general
Clark until September 1780 when he was
discharged at the Falls of the Ohio and the
---------- he has not made ---------
application for a pension that he had
informed that no person was entitled to a
pension unless he was poor and destitute of
property and this was not the fact with him
for though not rich yet he had sufficiency
of property to live on with his personal
--------- and further states from his age
and infirmaties he may be mistaken in dates
but thinks he is not, he has --------
--------- -------- ------- and knows of no
person whose testimony he can procure who
can testify to his services he humbly
relinquishes every claim whatever to a
pension or annuity except the present, and
declares that his name is not on the pension
role of the agency of any states.
“Signature” his X mark Jacob Wheat.
Sworn to and
subscribed in open court Feb 23, 1838
Richard Barkley, Clerk
Mr. Richard
Phillips and Mr. H.D. Maulsby residing in
the County of New Madrid aforesaid hereby
certify that we are well acquainted with
Jacob Wheat who has subscribed and sworn to
the above ------- that we believe him to be
seventy-seven years of age, that he is
respected and believed in the neighborhood
where he resides, to have been a Soldier of
the Revolution and that we concur in that
opinion, we have heard no one doubt the fact
of his having been a Soldier of
Revolution and
the Said Court do certify and affirm their
opinion after the interrogation of the
Matter and putting the interrogations
presented by the War department, that the
above named applicant was a Revolutionary
Soldier, and service is as he States, and
that the court further certifys that it
appears to them that Richard Phillips and
H. P. Maulsby are ______ of Good
-------------, and
credible persons and that their statements
are entitled to credit
|
“Signatures” Rich’d Phillips and
H.D. Maulsby
Sworn to and subscribed in open
court Feb 23, 1838 |
Interrogations
(From the Pension Papers)
1st
What and in What year was you born ?
Answer,. I was
born on the 15th day of November
A. D. 1760 in Frederick County, Maryland
2nd
., Do you have any record of your age, and
if so where is it?
Answer, I
have a record of my age at home.
=============================================================Voyage
Of the Rattletrap, 1778 By
Olin L. Hupp
James Willing was a
member of a prominent Philadelphia family
and brother to a member of the first
Continental Congress. Beginning in 1774, he
lived and worked in Natchez along the
Mississippi River. Willing was considered an
average merchant, slowly frittering away his
fortune and growing in debt. He was also an
agitator for the Revolution.
Willing returned to
Pennsylvania in 1777, and early in the fall
had several conferences with the Commerce
Committee of the Continental Congress.
Reportedly, Willing drew a vivid picture of
the probability of Loyalist activity in the
Natchez district, warned that the
Mississippi River would be closed to
American traffic and suggested an expedition
to the lower Mississippi to enlist or compel
the support of West Florida. The Commerce
Committee, without the general knowledge of
Congress, commissioned Willing a captain in
the navy and assigned him the expedition.
Willing's instructions
were to deliver some dispatches for New
Orleans, to bring up the Mississippi and
Ohio part of the stores Spain had agreed to
deliver at New Orleans for the use of the
United States, and to "capture whatever
British property he might meet with".
After receiving these
instructions, Willing proceeded to Fort
Pitt. The armed boat Rattletrap was assigned
to his command. On January 10, 1778, with a
crew of about thirty men, he set out on the
westward voyage, down the Ohio River.
Members of the volunteer crew were:
Crew of the
Rattletrap Capt. Thomas Love;
Sgt. John Marney; Levin Spriggs; John
Walker; Richard Murray; Mark Foley; John
Ash; Daniel Whittaker; Lazarus Ryan; Philip
Hupp; John Gouldin; Lawrence Kanan; Samuel
Taylor; John Hanwood, and James Taylor from
Capt. Harrison's company of the 13th
Virginia regiment. Greenberry Shores,
Nathan Henderson, Richard Rody, Henry Haut
and Tobrar Haut of Capt. Sullivan's company. Sgt. Thomas Beard;
Nathaniel Down; James King; Alexander
Chambers; William White; and John Rowland of
Capt. O'Hara's company. James Ryan,
Reuben
Hamilton and James Cordonis of Capt. Heth's
company.
Note: The Olin L. Hupp list above was not
complete. Thanks to Google Books on
line, a full list of the crew is now
available on line. Our Jacob
Wheat is there plus some of his West Augusta
neighbors. Click
here.
The
Frenchman Rocheblave, commander for the
English at Kaskaskia, upon hearing of the
expedition believed that Illinois was to be
attacked. Traveling down the Ohio, Willing
did seize the Becquet brothers and their
peltries and Mr. La Chance and a cargo of
brandy. Rocheblave interpreted these
seizures as a sign of what he might expect
should the Americans come to Illinois in
greater numbers. Willing, at any rate,
achieved enough notoriety along the Ohio
that when Hamilton heard of Clark's capture
of Kaskaskia be believed the captors to be
from Willing's flotilla assisted, perhaps,
by the Spaniards.
By February 16th or
17th the expedition reached the plantation
of Anthony Hutchins, a short distance above
Natchez. Hutchins was made prisoner, his
slaves and some other property seized.
Afterwards, they proceeded on to Natchez.
On the afternoon of
Friday, February 19th, Captain Willling and
his command disembarked at Natchez. Orders
were sent to all parts that the residents
should convene the following morning to be
made prisoners of war and that he would take
possession of the jurisdiction. Mindful of
their remoteness from protection, the
residents proposed that they would not take
arms against the United States, nor help to
supply or give assistance to it's enemies if
their persons, slaves and other property
would be left secure.
On February 21, Willing
signified that, with the exception of every
public official of the crown of Great
Britain who holds property, he was in
agreement. The property of all British
subjects not resident in this district was
likewise excepted.
Most accounts of
Willing's expedition say that his force
embarked on a "career of confiscation and
cruelty" as they moved south beyond Natchez.
At Manchac, on February 23, an advance party
captured the Rebecca, "mounted with sixteen
guns, four pounders, beside swivels". The
Rebecca and the Hinchenbrook had been sent
to scour the inland passage and frustrate
rebel attacks.
The American's went on
to seize other boats, raid plantations on
the Mississippi, Thompson's Creek and Amite,
and even followed some settlers into Spanish
territory taking their property. Excesses
and wanton destruction accompanied the
seizures. Hogs were shot, cattle killed,
bottled wine broken and dwellings burned.
Along the lower Mississippi, Oliver Pollock
organized volunteers from New Orleans that
cooperated with Willing's men in plundering
the British.
Willing foster the
impression that a large army under General
Clark was advancing on the colony. Instead
of the thirty men who had started out on the
Rattletrap, instead of the hundred or more
of plunder-seeking adventurers that had
joined along the way, the West Floridians
estimated the American forces at five to
eight thousand.
By March, Willing had
reached New Orleans. Estimates of the
plunder vary considerably, ranging from
$15,000 to $1,500,000. Pollock reported that
Willing had got 100 slaves worth 140 pesos
each and that proceeds from these and other
plunder amounted to $25,000. Another $37,500
was assigned for the Rebecca, which was
armed as a war vessel, not sold. The damage
done by the forces was much greater than the
meager profits secured.
The Americans presence
in the Spanish owned New Orleans became a
problem for Governor Gálvez. The British
protested Willing's plundering on the lower
Mississippi claiming it was Spanish
territory. British war ships were sent to
New Orleans to reclaim their property and
defend British subjects. As a result, of
British reinforcement of West Florida and
the establishment of a virtual blockade of
the river, Willing was stopped from sending
supplies upstream to the revolution and the
English bank of the Mississippi was lost
back to England.
With his avenues north
endangered and having overstayed his welcome
with Gálvez and Pollock, Willing became an
annoyance to the Spanish government.
Willing's stay stretched into months.
Pollock wrote the Congress expressing
concerns about Willing's judgment and began
developing ways for Willing and his men to
return north, part by land and part by water
through the Spanish Territories.
On July 14, Governor
Gálvez issued a letter to the Spanish
commanders along the Mississippi to allow
Willing and twenty-five American to pass.
But with the settlers so angry, the journey
north was too hazardous and no one took
advantage of the opportunity. A month later
Lieut. Robert George requested permission to
lead the men north through Spanish
territory. Gálvez, upon receiving an oath
that they would follow his route and not
offend any English subjects along the way,
gave his permission. They traveled north by
way of Opelousas, Natchitoches, and the
Arkansas. Then to St. Louis where they were
placed under the command of Gen. George
Rogers Clark.
Willing finally got
away by sloop for Philadelphia. His journey
home was an unfortunate one. The sloop was
captured and Willing was taken prisoner to
New York. Toward the end of 1779 he was
exchanged for British Colonel Henry
Hamilton.
Willing's actions
succeeded in temporarily crippling the
British naval forces on the Mississippi and
interrupted the flow of supplies, mainly
lumber, from Natchez to Pensacola and
Jamaica.
(Except as noted, the
information in this article is based upon
research presented in The Louisiana Historical Quarterly entitled Willing's
Expedition Down The Mississippi, 1778; by
John Caughey in January, 1932)
My
note: The secret records of the Continental
Congress, may be lost forever, but the
secret of this expedition, is mentioned in
these excerpts.
Click here
My Note: Historians from Louisiana
(West Florida) and historians in the 13
Colonies, then and now have a different spin
on our real history.
WEB MASTER
Roster of the Capt. Willing's Crew of the
USS Rattletrap January to June 1779
Click |
Most of the original spellings were
preserved. Some portions of the handwritten
document were not legible Feb 1838
Jacob Wheat is about 78 yrs, 3 mon
old. He states he was born
15 Nov 1760 in Frederick County, Maryland,
Jacob entered this service at age 15 and
10 months. He had been in prior service at
age 14 in Dunmore's War.
Americans badly defeated at Brandywine,
heavy losses.
January 1778
Jacob is now 17 yrs old
Pickaway = Pequa, OhioClark's raids on
the Shawnee tribes near Pequa
to destroy their homes and food crops. This
was a good strategy to keep them busy
searching for food , instead of raiding
Kentucky for the British.
The
Louisiana
Historian did not include the British and
Mercenary Troops that were deployed here
from other areas to "protect" the West
Florida District |
