Horatio Jones, Musician, Pennsylvania Troops, Revolutionary Pensioner

HORATIO JONES, -MUSICIAN, PENNSYLVANIA TROOPS , REVOLUTIONARY PENSIONER. PERSONAL ACCOUNT OP HIS SERVICES AND CAPTURE BY THE INDIANS, AS SET FORTH PROM ORIGINAL RECORDS IN THE PENSION BUREAU .* CONTRIBUTED BY MRS. HARRY ROGERS, S P State of New York, Livingston County. On this twenty -seventh day of January, 1834 personally appeared in open Court before the Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the County of Livingston aforesaid now sitting Horatio Jones, a resident of the Town of Genesee, in the County of Livingston aforesaid, aged seventy years, who being first 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 was born at Great Valley in Chester county, in the State of Pennsylvania, in the year 1763, and that he has no written memorandum of the time of his birth nor does he know of any. That according to the best recollection and belief of this deponent he entered the service of the United States in character of a Musician , being then a fifer, in the autumn of the year 1776, that he volunteered into the company of Rifle Men commanded hy Captain James Parker, in the Regiment commanded by Col. John Piper, and that he resided at the time of his so entering the said service at a place called the Old Fort Littleton, in Bedford county, and State of Pennsylvania, and that he joined the company in that neighborhood ; that they were immediately marched to Philadelphia and from thence, after a short space, to Trenton, and finally to Princeton in New Jersey, where they were quartered for the winter ; that this deponent was quartered iu the college at Princeton where he remained till in the winter, when, being attacked by the Small Pox, he was removed to a Pox hospital some two miles from the college, where he remained being confined with that disease ; the said deponent recollects that while he was quartered at the College, General Putnam was at that time in command at that place, had his quarters a shoxt distance, perhaps a mile, from the college, and this deponent used very frequently to see General Putnam and his aid whose name this deponent believes was Humphrey ; that this deponent has often been present when scouting parties received their orders or license from General Putnam, and the said deponent further saitb that he remained till spring or early summer when the Regiment was discharged, and this deponent returned home having but barely recovered from the effects of the Small Pox. This deponent further saith that the time which he actually served during this time of duty was, according to his impression, nine months, but that he actually served at this time six months he has no doubt. G - * File Number 2327,8. ( 273 ) 1929 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol X No.3 274 Horatio Jo-nes , Musician> Pennsylvania And the said deponent further saith that after his return from this expedition he was previous to the Expedition of Col, Broadbead engaged in three several tours of duty in the service of the United States, in each of which he volunteered On one of these occasions he went as one of a company to guard the Public Stores which were sent from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and another of these occasions he was employed in guard ing the Tories who had been imprisoned in Bedford Jail ; in both of these engagements he was employed six months In the spring of the year 1776, the said deponent entered the said service again as a volunteer near the Borough of Bedford aforesaid, in the State of Pennsylvania, where he then resided ; that he volunteered for six months according to his best recollection and belief under Captain John More commanding a company of rangers, or spies, as they were called, and this deponent supposes the company was Pennsylvania Militia ; that soon after entering the said company they were marched to a Block House on the Prankstown Branch of the Juniata River in the State of Pennsylvania, where the company was stationed to keep the Indians back from the frontier settlements ; that they were frequently engaged in scouting parties, and remained in the service during this engagement, according to the best recollection and belief of this deponent, nine months, and that he is positive that he served at this time six months when he with the said company returned home And the said deponent further saith that he was next, to wit, in the summer of the year 1779, enlisted under Captain Irwin, whose Christian name the deponent does not recollect ; that the Captain Irwin did not accompany the Company in the service which immediately followed this deponent 's enlistment, but that he well recollects that John Jemison, first Lieutenant, and Henry Armstrong, seeond Lieutenant, were in Command in the said company in which the deponent enlisted and served ; that he enlisted in the Borough of Bedford aforesaid for nine months and served out fully the period of his enlistment, and that he joined the company at the place of the enlistment, which was also the plaee of his residence, and immediately marched to Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania where the Regiment assembled and were under the Command of Col Broadhead ; they remained at Pittsburgh several weeks, from thence they marched up the Alleghany River, and at the Broken straw maraons on the Alleghany River a skirmish was had with the Indiana in which several of the Indians were killed ; from thence they marched to the Towns of the Sen ecas and Delawares on the head waters of the Alleghany River and de stroyed their houses, grain, cattle, etc ; from thence the Regiment returned to Pittsburgh, but the company to which the deponent belonged stopped at Old Fort Katanion above Pittsburgh, where they remained under Lieutenant Jemison as a frontier guard till in the winter, when they descended the river to Pittsburgh ; from thence they were marched to a plaee called Hannocks Town where they remained till spring, the snow was unusually deep and the winter remarkably severe ; in the spring this deponent returned home, having fully performed the tour of duty for which he enlisted. The said deponent further saith that afterwards, and either in the early part of the summer of 1780 or 1781, and in which year he is unable . - P . G S . . . 1929 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania - PGM Vol X No.3 Troops , lievolutionary Prisoner , 275 now to recollect, being at his Father ’s house in the Borough of Bedford aforesaid where lie then resided, information was given that a small party of Indians had within a few miles attacked and killed two men and carried off one woman captive. Captain John Boyd of the United States Army was then at Bedford in the recruiting service, and imme diately upon receiving this information called for volunteers to join the twelve recruits then under him to go in pursuit of the Indians. Twenty persons, of which number this deponent was one, immediately volunteered to go undeT the said Captain Boyd ; they immediately commenced the pursuit, and during the next day arrived at the Block House on the Frankstown branch of the Juniata, where this deponent had previously been quartered as before mentioned, being about forty miles from Bed ford ; here they remained till early the next morning when they continued the pursuit, and about four miles from the said Block House met with a body of 83 Indians under the direction of several of their chiefs, who immediately commenced a vigorous attack and , after Killing Fight of the whites and taking seven prisoners and disbursing the residue of the company, immediately removed with this deponent, who with Captain Boyd and five others were prisoners, over the Alleghany Mountains to Caneadea on the head waters of the Genesee River in the State of New York After many perils and severe trials, this deponent was adopted into the Indian nation Captain Boyd was delivered over to the British and this deponent detained till after the peace, and, in fact, this deponent remained a prisoner with the Indians till after the Treaty of Fort Stan wick and was not given up by them with the others, in pursuance of that Treaty, but remained till the year 1785 before he got clear of the Indians. And the said deponent further saith that he has no documentary evidence to show' the performance of the before mentioned services or his enlistment or discharge from such service ; that his Brother John H Jones, whose affidavit is hereto annexed, was personally Knowing to this deponents having left his home and been absent in his country ’s service at the times hence before mentioned, and who also is Knowing to the time w'hen this deponent was taken prisoner by the Indians and the length of his Captivity, and this deponent further saith that the Indian Chiefs of the Seneca Nation , To wit, Sun Fish, Big Snow, Blue Eyes and Cal Ballard, were each of the Indian party that made this deponent a pris oner, and can state that they Know of his captivity and the length of his detention among the I ndians, and this deponent further saith that in each of the services before mentioned he served in the character of a private That he has set forth the names of several superior officers under whom he served as far as he recollects the same and the periods of the Revo lution in whieh he served, and that, never having returned to Bedford since his captivity, he does not know of any person living other than his Brother John H. Jones and another Brother, who resides in the State of Indiana, who can testify to his services And the deponent further saith that since the Revolution he has re sided as follows, to wit : during about two years immediately after the declaration of peace he remained a prisoner with the Indians, that imme diately after leaving them he resided at Geneva, in the County of On . S . P - G . - . - . - - 1929 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol X No.3 276 Horatio Jones, Musician, Pennsylvania tario ancl State of New York, where he remained till the year 1790 when he removed to the Genesee River in the Present town of Genesee in the County of Livingston & State of New York, and that he has since that time continued to reside at the same place And to the particular interrogatories of the Court the said deponent answers that he was born in the year 1763 at a place called Great Valley in the county of Chester in the State of Pennsylvania, and that he has no record of his age ; that when he was first called into the service of the United States in the Revolutionary War he resided at a place called Old Port Littleton in Bedford County in the State of Pennsylvania, and that he resided near Bedford Borough at each other time when he went into the said service ; that he volunteered on all occasions when he went into said service, except once, and then be enlisted under Captain. Irwin, but owing to the fact that Captain Irwin did not take command of the com pany in the expedition he does not recollect his Christian name ; but at that time he enlisted , whether into the Pennsylvania line or United States Troops, he cannot say, the commanding officer was Col Broadbead. With regard to the names of the regular and other officers whom he recollects, he states that he was acquainted with General Putnam at Princeton, Col. John Piper of the Rifle Regiment, Captain James Parker, Col Broadhead, Captain John More, Captain Irwin , Lieutenant John Jemison, Lieutenant Henry Armstrong, Captain John Boyd That with regard to any discharge, does not recollect if lie ever had one nor what has become of it That he is personally well Known to the Hon. Willard H Smith, first Judge of this court, and also to the Hon William Finley, another Judge of this court, also to Charles II Carroll, Esquire, Col. Wil liam Fitzhugh, James Wadsworth, Esquire, Calvin E. Bryan, Daniel H Bissell, who resides in his present neighborhood, and who can testify to the character of this deponent for veracity and their belief of his services as a soldier of the Revolution ; that with most of them he has been acquainted many years and with some for near forty years ; and 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 . - P . . S . . . . G . . . State of New York, Livingston County. John H. Jones of the Town of Genesee in the County of Livingston and State of New York being duly sworn, saith that he is now sixty -three years of age and is a brother of Horatio Jones, named in and who is the applicant for a pension men tioned in the annexed papers, that he, this deponent, resided in his father ’s family in the year 1776, and at the several times when his brother Horatio was absent on Military duty, as set forth in bis annexed declaration, that he well recollects the time when the said Horatio Jones first went into the service of the United States in the Revolutionary War, that they then resided at Old Port Littleton in Pennsylvania, that the said Horatio, as this deponent understood and verily believes, went with a Regiment of Rifle Men, in Captain Parker ’s company, in Col. Piper ’s Regiment, and that he left home some time in the fail of the year 1776 and went to Philadelphia, and thence to Princeton in New Jersey, where he remained through the winter, that he remembers to have heard much - 1929 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol X No.3 Troops , Revolutionary Prisoner. 277 said about the said Horatio having the Small Pox while in the said service, and that he recollects that, when he returned home in the Spring or early in the Summer he then had the appearance of having suffered much by the Small Pox, and further this deponent saith that he recollects Captain Parker, mentioned by the said Horatio, and this deponent further saith that the said Horatio was absent during one season under Capt John More on an expedition into the Indian country with a company of Spies and was, as he understood, stationed at the Block House on the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata in Pennsylvania, and that he was absent at that time according to the recollection of this deponent Six Months, and this deponent further saith that he recollects the time when the said Horatio wcut into he service again under Lieutenant Jemisou and Armstrong, that this deponent well recollects the said Lieutenant Armstrong and that he then understood, and now believes, the said Horatio went to Pittsburgh, and thence to the Indian country, and was gone all winter and part of the fall & spring, and that it was under Col Broadhead that afterwards this deponent recollects the time which this deponent thinks was in 1781 when the said Horatio left home with the troops under Captain Boyd, and that soon after some of the company returned with information of the Indian engagement & that the said Horatio was either Killed or taken prisoner, and this deponent further saith that this deponent never saw the said Horatio afterwards till in the year 1788, when this deponent met the said Horatio at Geneva, and further he saith that he has full confidence in the statement made by the said Horatio hereto annexed, it being substantially what he has for many years heard as the true events of his life Sworn and subscribed this 27th day of January, 1834 . S P . . . We severally certify that we were of the party of Seneca Indians that took Horatio Jones, Now living in the town of Genesee & county of Liv ingston in the State of New York ; he was taken on the waters of the Juniata in the State of Pennsylvania and fighting under Capt John Boyed in the Revolutionary war ; we also certify that he was Kept a prisoner among the Indians about four years. G - . hl>3 (Signed ) SUNFISK BIG SNOW CAL BALLARD BLUE EYES + mark Ms + mark his mark his mark State of New York, Livingston County. Horatio Jones, Jr, being duly sworn, saith that he saw the above named Indian Chiefs, to him well known, subscribe the above paper, To wit, Sunflsh, Big Snow & Blue Eyes, and at the time the same was explained to the Said Indians and that they understood the same. ( Signed ) H JONES, JR. 27 January, 1834. . 1929 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol X No.3 Horatio Jams, Musician, Pennsylvania 278 Livingston County, State of New York* On the first day of February, one thousand eight hundred & thirty four, Majour Moses Van Campen of the Village of Dansville, in said county, personally appeared before me, Russle Day, a Justice of the peace in said county and , being duly sworn, saitli that in the war of the revolution he commanded a detach ment of riflemen and that, on the Sixteenth of April, one thousand seven hundred & Eighty two, he met with a party of Eighty five Indian War riors on the waters of Baldcagle Creek, West branch of the Susquehannah, then Northumberland County, State of Pennsylvania ; that his party was killed Excepting himself and nine of his men, were taken prisoners, and taken to the Head waters of the Genesee River and thence down the same to a place called the pigion woods, where lay a large party of War riors, and some Hundreds of Indians, Men, women and children , catch ing of young pigeons, at which place this deponent saith he was separated from his party, and taken to the camp of warriors above mentioned, where he was soon surrounded by a large number of savages, and under stood a prisoner was sent for to Examine him, and this deponent saith that he found the prisoner was Capt Horatio Jones, now' of Livingston County, State of New York , who had been taken prisoner as a volunteer in Capt John Boyd 's Company of Riflemen, Bedford County, Pennsyl vania, in April or May, one thousand seven hundred & Eighty one, and had learned to speak their language, and he the said Jones was the In terpreter, and saith that the said Jones knew that the deponent had been a prisoner before with the Indians and had killed the party, which he the said Capt Jones kept as a secret from the Indians and was the means of saving this deponent 's life This deponent further saith that the said Jones was kept a prisoner among the Indians from the Spring, one thousand seven hundred and Eighty one, till after the close of the war P . . - - S . . G . 1929 Copyright The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania PGM Vol X No.3