Samuel Guinn of Greenbrier County VA

Samuel Guinn Revolutionary War Pension Record

State of Virginia
Greenbrier County

On the 12th day of March 1834 personally appeared before me Henry Erskine, a Justice of the Peace in and for said? County Samuel Guinn a resident of said County and State aged 82 years who being first 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 entered the service of the United States under the following named officers and served as herein after stated.
1st In the year 1771 or 2 he served a three months tour under Capt Laughridge was drafted in Augusta County Va and was stationed at Clover Lick on the head waters of Greenbrier in Augusta County and was stationed at that place to guard the frontier settlements against the Indians, during this time there some skirmishing, he served out three months and was discharged at Clover Lick. 2nd He entered the Service as a volunteer he thinks in May or June 1774 in Capt Laughridges Company in the County of Augusta to go against the Indians and was marched to Fort Union (now Lewisburg) where he joined the main army under Gen’l Andrew Lewis and was marched from Fort Union to Point Pleasants on the Ohio River and was in the memorable Battle which took place on the 10th Oct 1774 at Point Pleasant, which lasted from Sunrise until Sunset, after the Battle was over the Army under Gen’l Lewis crossed the Ohio River and joined Dunmores Army near the Pickaway Plains where peace was made with the Indians and that he was discharged on the 1st Nov 1774 at Point Pleasant and returned home to Augusta County Va after having served five months. 3rd In the year 1776 he moved to Greenbrier and was clased(?) in the Militia to serve tours as called on and he was called on he thinks some short time afterwards to serve a tour and was marched to New River and was stationed on New River with several others whose business it was to act as Scouts and Spies to reconnoiter the country on New River where the Indians were in the habit of Crossing and to give information to the settlers if any Indians made their appearance. That they were under no regular officers – That the Captains Company to which he belonged was Capt Glass, That he served three months on this tour as a Scout and Spy. That at the time he was detailed for this service he was Forted at Thompsons Fort and had been Forted there for some time. A short time afterwards he served another month as a scout and Spy and after he returned and was Forted at Thompsons Fort news reached the Fort that Donnellys Fort was attacked when he with many others marched all night to get to their aid and got to the Fort during the attack succeeded in getting in to the releif [sic] of the few that were in the Fort who must inevitably have been taken as the numbers of the Indians were said to be about three hundred and the Fort only defended by about twenty men that he was employed in this service five days and he was afterwards at Vanbeven Fort Stationed and Forted there for two months That he was Stationed and served in Arbuckles Fort in 1776 five months In Thompsons Fort in 1777 five months in Vanbevens Fort again in 1778 or 9 Two months that he was Forted in different Forts and places and was frequently called on to go in Small Scouting Sorties the amount of which services he cannot bring to his recollection. But with perfect safety to himself and doing ?? to his condition(?) he is well satisfied that he was stationed and served five months in Arbuckle Fort Five months in Thompsons Fort four months in Vanbevers Fort at Two different times besides four months as a scout and spy and his services of five months in 1774 and his three months services in 1771 or 2 with the five days at Donnellys but these five days are included in the time he was in Thompsons Fort. That he hereby relinquishes every claim to any Pension or annuity except the present and declares that his name is not on the Pension Roll of any Agency of any State and that he has no documentary evidence that he knows of no person whose testimony he can procure who can testify to his services.
Sworn to and subscribed before me the 12th day March 1834 Henry Erskine
[signed] Samuel Gwinn

At the bottom of the testimony of John Matthews, aged 65 and Thomas Creigh, age 68, where they’re swearing they Know Samuel Guinn and testifying to his veracity, there are the following questions, and I’m assuming they apply to Samuel Guinn:
1. Where and in what year was [sic] you born?
Augusta County VA I think in 1752
2. Have you any record of your age
I have not only I know I was about twenty three in 1774 when I went in the campaign against the Indians at Point Pleasant
3. Where were you living when called into service; where have you lived since the revolutionary war and where do you now live.
I lived in Augusta County Va when called into service in 1771 or 2 & 1774 & afterwards moved to Greenbrier and lived there during the balance of my service and have lived there ever since
4. How ere you called into the service. Were you drafted. Did you volunteer or were you a substitute and for whom.
I was first drafted in the tour at the head of Greenbrier 2nd I was a volunteer against the Indians in the campaign of 1774 in the other duty I was drafted to serve as a spy it coming to my tour to do so and had to serve in the different Forts from necessity to protect myself and family and guard the inhabitants from the Indians.
5. State the names of some of your regular officers who were with the troops, where you served, such Continental and Militia regiments as you can recollect and the General circumstances of your service.
In the campaign of 1774 Gen’l Andrew Lewis was Commander in Chief. Col Charles Lewis served as a Col under him and was killed at the Battle of the Point Capt John Stuart of Greenbrier was likewise in that engagement. Together with several or many other officers that I could name in the other service there were no regular officers and the statements made in my declaration gives the general circumstances of my service.
6. Did you receive any regular discharge from the service and by whom was it given and what has become of it.
I never received any written discharge that I now recollect of.
7. State the names of persons to whom you are known in your present neighborhood and who can testify to your character for veracity and their belief of your service as a soldier of the revolution.
John Matthews & Thomas Creigh. I am know by and can testify as to my character for veracity and their belief of my service in the revolutionary war.
Signed by Samuel Gwinn [Guinn?]

[He was allowed a pension on his application 12 Mar 1934, then a resident of Greenbrier County VA. His name was dropped from the pension roll, 9 Mar 1835 as upon the reexamination of his claim, his service was not considered in an embodied military corps, during the War of the Revolution, which was required by the pension law. A letter from the archives to a requesting genealogist, 17 September 1934, says that Samuel Guinn referred to a wife and two children moving with him to Greenbrier County, but he gave no names.]