I'm a direct descendant of a Rifleman who served under Daniel Morgan at the battle of Cowpens.
More to follow.
Later,
Chrome...
I was told that a "rough copy" of the Dill family tree was upstairs at my parent's house. What I found was a friggin book and a family tree that goes back to 1585. Yes, 1585 and it's a "rough" draft.
Anyways, looking it over a piece of paper falls out reading:
Quote
Reps Mabry, PVT Rev. War
Born in Virginia 1755. Married Honor Phillipls. Enlisted in Warren Co. NC Spring of 1776.
Paid March, 1777 to March, 1780, allowed pension of $8 a month, 6/18/1818, age 63. S-41809 pension claim #
In the Co. of Georgia Battalion under Capt. Isaac HIcks.
Taken prisoner at Savannah, escaped after 6 months.
In the Engagements of Cowpens 1/17/1781 under Daniel Morgan in 3d Ga Continental Line as well as Eutaw Springs
Okay. My family has always been the type to not talk about things, but come on. No one thought they should mention this to me? Some quick and dirty google-fu confirms a lot of things, but leaves some things open.
It looks like the 3d Georgia Regiment was recruited out of North Carolina and was one of three regiments in excess of Georgia's quota that was raised out of state. This brings the first complication. I've seen the 3d Georgia Regiment/Battalion used interchangeably. It looks like it refers to both an infantry as well as an artillery company. More on that in a bit.
His name appears in two different spellings (Reps and Repps) in a roster of Georgia's Contiental Army as well as other lists and documents, but does not appear under the muster roll for his Regiment. However, it looks as though the muster roll was taken while the bulk of the men were listed as prisoners of war. The date is 8/2/1779 (eight months after Savannah fell, remember he was a POW for six months as he could recall 40 years later)
Another complication is that at some point for some reason some Georgia regiments ended up in North/South Carolina and kind of did thier own thing so records are likely nonexistant. But, this brings up a great letter I found written by Daniel Morgan 13 days before Cowpens (written 1/4/1781) addressing the Georgia refugees to form back into detachments so that he could command them effectively. After the letter, it seems they formed under Maj. John Cunningham and reported directly to Morgan's Camp on the Pacolet River.
It goes on to say that Cunningham was positioned with his Georgia RIFLEmen at the 150 yards ahead of the line on the left flank. This is important for two reaons. One, the British army wheeled right directly into thier fire that Morgan described as a "heavy and galling fire." And secondly, it described them as riflemen. Why would riflemen be in an artillery reigment like I questioned about earlier.
I do have quite of bit of officer's names from various sources. Hopefully, I can find records on them and track where thier paths would have crossed.
Obviously, I've got a ton of reading to do. As I sit here, I've been reading nonstop for the last 5 hours. Hopefully, more reading will answer more questions. There's also a book, considered to be the best list of who was at Cowpens, in the Library of Congress that's only 3 hours away.
Maybe It's time for a roadtrip.
If any of you guys are knowledgeable about Cowpens or the Georgia Contiental Line, feel free to share what you know or point me in the right direction.
Later,
Chrome...
Very cool link to our history.
My forbears were all in Norway till after the American Civil War/War Between The States. I like to think we would have been on the right side in the Revolution, if we'd gotten here in time.