Supplementing National Archives Records:
William Keyser’s Revolutionary War Service
PUBLISHED IN THE "MAGAZINE OF VIRGINIA GENEALOGY [VOLUME 40, #1]" IN 2002
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A copy of this document is available for download on William's Document page.
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By William W. Reynolds*
Many genealogists know the difficulty of determining the details of an ancestor's Revolutionary War experience based on records typically available from the National Archives. Pension applications and military service records seldom provide the detail we would like, forcing us to use other sources to determine what our ancestor did or in what actions he participated. The following example indicates how the limited records in the Archives can be supplemented to provide a more comprehensive description of one Revolutionary soldier.
William Keyser, 77, applied for a pension for his Revolutionary War service on 9 October 1832 in Bath County summarizing his service as follows:
He states that he enlisted in the service of the United States in the regular army for a term of three years and served out a second term of three years. He enlisted in the County of Gloucester in the state of VA but the time of his enlistment he does not at this time recollect. He enlisted under Captain Thomas Baytop in Second VA State Regiment. He then marched to Hampton, NJ after he was inoculated for the small pocks. He afterward was marched to the Valley Forge where he joined the army under General Washington at which place he remained all winter. The next summer he was marched after the British and under the command of Colonel Charles Dabney. He overtook the British at Monmouth Church, and was in an engagement with the British one whole day and lay on his arms all night expecting to engage again on the next day, but on that night the British got on board their ships. He further states that he was in a skirmish with the British at Saw Mill River Bridge near Fort Montgomery under the command of Colonel Samuel Griffith [unreadable] and in that skirmish twenty-eight men and two officers were taken by the British. He further states he was in another engagement and was in front of the army in taking Stoney Point Fort under the command of General Anthony Wayne at which engagement General Anthony Wayne received a small wound in his temple and then Colonel Febiger took the command. Colonel Fleming was the commander of the vanguard. He received no wounds.*1
This statement is further supplemented by William Keyser's service record which covers the period March 1778 to November 1779 *2 and by a land bounty warrant dated 12 May 1784 which indicates that William Keyser served three years as a private in the Virginia State Line *3. A study of these documents along with other accounts of the Revolution for the period in which Keyser served allows the development of the following more detailed account of his service.
William Keyser enlisted in the 2nd Virginia Regiment in Gloucester County, *4 Virginia around 1 March 1775 *5 at the age of 21 or 22. This was one of three such units of regular soldiers authorized by the General Assembly in December 1776 and raised for local (i.e., within the state) defense. The regiments were stationed in the fortifications at Williamsburg, Portsmouth and Yorktown *6. However, as Keyser indicated in his pension application, this unit went first to Hampton for inoculation against smallpox before going on garrison duty.
Despite the fact that the three state regiments were raised for in-state service, within a year of their formation the Virginia General Assembly had to place two of them in the Continental Line. This resulted the capture of most of the 9th Virginia Continental Regiment at Germantown on 4 October 1777, after which the 1st and 2nd Virginia State Regiments were to join Gen. Peter Muhlenberg's Brigade *7. As Keyser noted, the regiment arrived at Valley Forge in time to spend the entire winter there, indicating that they probably arrived in late December *8. Muhlenberg’s Brigade was quartered on the southeast edge of the encampment, a quarter mile south of the Schuylkill *9. Here the 2nd Virginia Regiment endured the bitter weather and privations described by many writers.
When the British evacuated Philadelphia on 18 June 1778 and moved towards New York, Washington followed with the Continental Army. The Americans caught up with the British army near Freehold in Monmouth County, New Jersey on June 28 and there fought what is now known as the Battle of Monmouth. At the end of that day, the Continental Army was positioned to renew the attack on the British early on June 29. However, as Keyser described, the British army withdrew during the night toward the coast and eventually sailed from Sandy Hook to New York on July 5 *10. Following the battle, American troops marched northwest to New Brunswick, New Jersey and then up the Hudson to a point opposite Westchester County, New York. Keyser’s contingent crossed the Hudson and went into camp at White Plains *11.
The 2nd Virginia State Regiment remained at White Plains at least until 8 September 1778 during which time William Keyser is shown as being assigned to the light infantry *12. Early in 1778, after a successful experiment with a light infantry brigade under General William Maxwell in 1777, Washington had recommended the formation of light infantry companies in each regiment. They were to be comprised of the best men; the most hardy and active marksmen, commanded by good partisan officers. During a campaign, all the light companies were to be organized into a corps to operate together, as they would at Stony Point in 1779 *13. In 1778, a new light infantry organization was created effective June 15. Initially it was placed under command of Gen. Charles Scott, though later Gen. Anthony Wayne took over its command *14. During the July-September period, the infantry was responsible for patrolling the area between the two armies. The skirmish at Saw Mill River was one of many such engagements in Westchester County arising when these patrols resulted in American reconnaissance parties encountering the British.
Early in the morning of 16 September 1778, British Lt. Col. J. G. Simcoe, supported by Lt. Col. Banastre Tarlton and Lt. Col. [Andreas] Emmerick, surprised a Continental force under Col. Mordecai Gist at the bridge over the Saw Mill River near the Hudson in what is today Yonkers, New York *15. This skirmish ended in an American retreat westward across the Saw Mill River with the loss by capture of 35 men, approximately as Keyser recalled the event 54 years later. The British report on this skirmish mentions the presence of 230 “select” Virginia riflemen, undoubtedly the light infantry in which Keyser was serving *16.
In preparation for winter, Washington split his army into three parts, with that containing the 2nd Virginia State Regiment going into camp at West Point, where they had located by October 1 *17. About this time the regiment received a shipment of clothing from Virginia which allowed the enlisted men to have a uniform of “french-made coats faced red, red waistcoats, breeches of blue, green or red, silver gilt coats and vest buttons, white linen shirts, single and double knit caps, hats, black socks and hose” *18. In November, it moved south to Middlebrook (now the town of Bound Brook *19), New Jersey where it spent the winter. Keyser's records indicate that he was at Middlebrook from November 1778 through May 1779,
The British went on the offensive first in 1779, leaving New York on May 28, taking the American forts at Stony Point, New York, on the west side of the Hudson and at Verplancks Point on the opposite side of the river on June 2. The right wing army of Washington’s army was at Smith's Cove, about 14 miles west *20 of West Point, where Keyser’s regiment was camped June 2. It was still there on July 9, just six days before Washington launched his daring night raid to retake Stony Point. On July 15, American light infantry under Gen. Anthony Wayne left their camp south of West Point around noon and marched south, paralleling the Hudson River to just west of Stony Point, By 11:30 that evening they were in position and at midnight, using unloaded rifles equipped with bayonets, they stormed the fort successfully. The tactical commander was Col. Christian Febiger, and leading the vanguard on right was a picked force of 150 men, among them William Keyser, led by Lt. Col. Francois Louis de Fleury *21. In 30 minutes the fort was in American hands and Gen. Wayne dispatched the following note to his commander:
“Dear Gen'l: The fort & garrison with Col. Johnston are ours. Our officers & men behaved like men who are determined to be free" *22.
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Washington came from West Point on July 17 to see the spoils of war and to review the light infantry,23 who were to be "shavd and made clean as circumstances will permit” *24 for his visit. Keyser along with the other light infantry troops saw the Commander-in-Chief at close quarters that day.
Stony Point was not a large battle but it was the only American military success of 1779. It provided an enormous morale boost for the Continental Army by proving that Americans soldiers could defeat British regulars in the kind of combat the latter considered their specialty.
The 2nd Virginia State Regiment was at Camp Ramapan on August 3, *25 from which it returned to Smith’s Cove by early September. The regiment remained with Washington's army through November, departing with the other Virginia regiments about December 11 for the South. Their route of march was through Trenton, Philadelphia, Lancaster, York, and Frederick, Maryland, to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where they had arrived by early February. Most of the Virginia Continental regiments were being sent to strengthen American forces at Charleston, South Carolina (only to be captured when that city fell to the British on 12 May 1780). The two state regiments, many of whose enlistments would expire by 1 March 1780, were reluctant to go to Charleston and were allowed to remain in Virginia *26. William Keyser’s Revolutionary service ended on or about that date, as did about 280 others in his regiment *27.
William Keyser’s whereabouts immediately following his discharge from the 2nd Virginia State Regiment are not definitely known. On 24 May 1782 he was among 116 petitioners of Hanover County who objected to the proposed drafting of militia instead of recruiting for the army by using bounties or other inducements *28. Over half of these men had already served in Continental regiments, or in other state or local units, *29 so their objection seems justified.
He lived in Hanover County until he moved to Bath County about 1795 *30. He remained in the latter county until his death in December 1837, He left a list of his children and their birth as follows: *31
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Polly: b. January 24, 1782, m. December 3, 1800 to Robert Surber [sic?]
John: b. October 10, 1784
William, Jr.: b. November 20, 1785, m. February 6, 1827 to Rebeckah Stowers
Elizabeth: b. October 13, 1787, m. December 2, 1805 to Robert Brinkley
Christopher: b. May 30, 1789
Catherine: b. January 26, 1792, m. December 22, 1813 to Roland Burns
Fleming: b. January 26, 1794, m. October 15, 1819 to Nancy Morris
David: b. July 30, 1796, m. May 21, 1819 to Margaret Morris
James: b. May 1, 1799
Sally: b. September 13, 1801, m. September 29, 1821 to Jacob Karnes
* Orlando, Fla. Mr. Reynolds interest in discovering more than the “bare bones” of his ancestor's military experience led him to a number of interesting and useful supplementary sources.
1 William Keyser (Keziah Keyser, widow) No. W3427, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900. M804, National Archives.
2 William Keyser, 2nd Virginia State Regiment, Compiled Military Service Record of Revolutionary War Soldiers, M881, National Archives.
3 Samuel MacKay Wilson, Catalogue of Revolutionary Soldiers and Sailors of the Commonwealth of Virginia to Whom Land Bounty Warrants Were Granted by Virginia for Military Services in the War for Independence (Baltimore: Southern Book Company, 1953), 43.
4 Research into the few surviving colonial records of Gloucester County, as well as nearby counties, has yielded no additional information on Keyser or his family, No evidence has been found that Thomas Baytop served in this regiment* although John Baytop did, according to the Harriet Dickins Wight Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. However, Thomas Baytop may have enlisted men in the 2nd Virginia Regiment as well as other regiments.
5 William Keyser, Compiled Military Service Record, Revolutionary War List, dated 8 September 1778 indicates that he was to serve until 1 March 1780, Since he served three years, his enlistment was around 1 March 1777.
6 E. M. Sanchez-Saavedra, A Guide to Virginia Military Organizations in the American Revolution 1774-1787 (Richmond, Va.: Virginia State Library 1978), 109.
7 Sanchez-Saavedra, A Guide to Virginia Military Organizations, 110-111
8 Washington arrived at Valley Forge on December 19. Keyser’s compiled military service record begins in mid-March 1778, so he was certainly at Valley Forge by then.
9 John F. Reed, Valley Forge Crucible of Victory (Monmouth Beach, NJ: Phillip Freneau Press, 1969), 5, 21 5,21.
10 Samuel S. Smith, The Battle of Monmouth (Monmouth Beach, NJ; Phillip Freneau Press 1964), 5, 24. Keyser’s reference to Monmouth Church was to St. Peter's Anglican Church, which, according to Smith, is the only building still standing in Freehold that was there during the Revolution.
11 William Keyser, Compiled Military Service Record, Revolutionary War, List dated 8 September 1778 at White Plains. The next muster roll is dated 1 October 1778 at West Point.
12 William Keyser, Compiled Military Record, Revolutionary War, Muster Roll for July 1778 which was August 4 at White Plains. Keyser’s record shows that he was definitely in this unit by August 1778 and had probably joined it in July when he is shown as being “on command.”
13 Since Keyser was carried on the muster rolls of the 2nd Virginia throughout this period, the light infantry evidently functioned as a unit only during active campaigning; during the winter months its members encamped with their original regiments.
14 Harry M. Ward, Charles Scott and the "Spirit of 76" (Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1988), 52-3. Further description of the light infantry is in John W, Wright, “The Corps of Light Infantry in the Continental Army” The American Historical Review, 31 (1926): 454-6.
15 Ward, Charles Scott, 56 and Otto Hufeland, Westchester County During the American Revolution 1775-1783 (New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1926), 261-3. The Virginia troops were on the slope of the hill where Oakland Cemetery is now located.
16 The Col. Samuel Griefs mentioned in Keyser's pension application has not been identified in spite of a search for surnames such as Greaves and phonetic variants. [Bridget Keyser believes she has identified him as Captain Samuel Griffith.]
17 Keyser's compiled military service record shows he was at White Plains as late as September 9.
18 Military Collector & Historian, 17 (1965): 86.
19 Douglas S. Freeman, George Washington, Vol. 5,(New York: Scribners, 1952), 88 (note 10).
20 Freeman, George Washington, Vol. 5, 109 (note 12).
21 John R. Sellers, The Virginia Continental Line (Williamsburg: The Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, 1978), 54. As can be seen from William Keyser's statement, he correctly recalled the names of his commanding officers, and thereby corroborated his own about being at the head of the troops which took Stony Point.
22 Henry P. Johnston, The Storming of Stony Point on the Hudson, Midnight, July 15, 1779 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1971), 72-85.
23 Freeman, George Washington, Vol. 5, 114.
24 Sons of the American Revolution Museum collections, Unland Diaries, entry for 17 July 1779.
25 William Keyser, Compiled Military Service Record, Revolutionary War, muster roll for August 3 gives this location, which was probably Ramapo, New York, about a dozen miles west of Stony Point.
26 Mrs. Catesby Willis Stewart, The Life of Brigadier General William Woodford of the American Revolution (Richmond: Whittet & Shepperson, 1973), 1122-54
27 Harriett Dickins Wight Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, contains a list of the officers of the 2nd Virginia State Regiment. It states that these men were discharged in April and May, 1780. As noted above, records for Keyser’s service indicate that his service would have expired 1 March 1780.
28 Legislative Petitions, Hanover County, 24 May 1782, Archival and Information Services Division, Library of Virginia.
29 Based on a comparison of the names on the petition with those in John H. Gwathmey, Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution (1938; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1973)
30 Bath County, Virginia, Deed Book 1, pp. 244-5.
31 Revolutionary War Pension Application W3427. This includes a statement by Fleming Keyser that his father had lost the original list of his children's birthdates and had created a new list based on the birthdates of his neighbor’s children. Hence the approximate nature of these dates.
32 Marriage information was taken from Bath County bonds and ministers' returns.
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Transcription of Kesiah Keyser Pension Proceeding 1841
A copy of this document is available for download on William's Document page.
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In October, 1841, Fleming Keyser appeared in court in Bath County, Virginia, to enable his mother Kesiah Keyser to receive William's pension benefits due to her as his widow. Below is a transcription of this proceeding. The original document is available for download on William's Download page.
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This day Fleming Keyser personally appeared before the undersigned justice of the peace for the said county of Bath sitting in open court who make out that he is the son and executor of William Keyser deceased late a pensioner of the United States; that the paper hereto assessed was found by the applicant among the papers of the said William Keyser deceased after his death carefully filed among his important papers and that the said paper has been in possession of the applicant ever since.
The applicant further made oath that the said paper purporting to be a register of the births of his children commencing with “Polly was January 26, 1782” and ending with “Sally was born September 13th, 1806” is the handwriting of the said William Keyser deceased. The applicant further made oath that he has often heard his father say that he had lost the original register of his children’s births and that many years ago he had obtained from his neighbor Richard Sneed a register of the births of his own children which he had set down on a piece of paper and that on the opposite side of the same paper he had made a register of the births of his own (Keyser’s) children which he was only enabled to make out by a comparison between the ages of his own children and those of the said Richard Sneed. The applicant further made oath that his deceased father had the children enumerated in the said paper to wit: Polly, John, William, Elizabeth, Christopher or Kit, Catherine, Fleming, David, James and Sally; that he had often heard his father say that he annexed register of the births of his children having made out many years ago after the children were born in consequence of his having lost the original register that it was not entirely accurate and was only an approximation to the true period of the births of his children. The undersigned further certify that the said Fleming Keyser is a man of truth and that full faith and credit are due to his declaration made on oath. In whereof we have hereinto set our hands and annexed our seals this 12th day of October,1841."
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Transcription of Kesiah Keyser Pension Proceeding 1843
A copy of this document is available for download on William's Document page.
State of Virginia, Bath County to wit
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On this tenth day of May in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty Three personally appeared before the undersigned a Justice of the Peace in and for the said County of Bath and state of Virginia aforesaid, Kesiah Keyser, a resident in the said County of Bath, aged Seventy Eight years, who being first duly sworn according to law, doth on her oath make the following declaration, in order to obtain the benefits of the provision made by the Act of Congress passed on the 3rd of March One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty Three, granting pensions to widows of persons who served during the Revolutionary War: That she is the widow of William Keyser, who was a private soldier in the army of the Revolution the evidence of whose service and the regiment in which he served is now on file in the War Department at Washington and that she has received a pension of Eighty Dollars per annum commencing on the fourth day of March 1836 and terminating on the fourth day of March 1841 amounting to Four Hundred Dollars which she received under the Act of July 7th, 1838. And she further declares that she is still the widow of the said William Keyser and that she has not intermarried with any other person since the death of the said William Keyser.
Sworn to and subscribed John W. Brockenbaugh.
Kesiah Keyser
X
Her Mark
Sworn to and subscribed on the day and year first above written before me a Justice of the Peace in and for the County of Bath and State of Virginia aforesaid.
Wm. W. Shields
State of Virginia Bath County to Wit
Stephen A. Porter, Clerk of Bath County Court in the State of Virginia, certify that William W. Shields is a magistrate and justice of the peace as above stated and that the foregoing signature purporting to be his is genuine. In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my seal of office and subscribed my name this 10th day of May 1843.
S. A. Porter, Clerk of Bath County Court
William W. Shields, as Magistrate and Justice of the peace in and for the County of Bath and state of Virginia do hereby certify that I have known Mrs. Kesiah Keyser the widow of William Keyser Dec’d personally and well for several years past given under my hand this 27th day of September 1843.
Wm. W. Shields
State of Virginia Bath County to Wit
I Stephen A. Porter Clerk of the County Court of Bath County in the State of Virginia certify that William W. Shields whose name is annexed to the above certificate is the same whose name is annexed to the first certificate and that he is a Magistrate and Justice of the peace as above stated and that the foregoing signatures purporting to be his are genuine. In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my seal of Office and subscribed my name this 28th day of September 1843.
S. A. Porter Clerk of Bath County Court
Virginia no. 7085
Kesiah Keyser widow of William Keyser who died on the [?] day of December 1837 of Bath Co. in the State of Virginia who was a private in the company commanded by Captain Baytop of the Regiment commanded by Col. Dabney in the Virginia line for 2 years.
Inscribed on the Roll of Richmond at the rate of 80 dollars [no] Cents per annum, to commence on the 4th day of March 1836.
Certificate of Pension issued the 13th day of March, 1843 and sent to H. H. Stuart
Arrears to the 4th of
Semi-annual allowance ending
$400
Revolutionary Claim Act July 7 1838
Recorded by Clerk
Book A Vol 2 Page 181
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