Peter Parchment

Declaration in order to be placed on the Pension List under the Act of the 18th March 1818.

County of Allegheny
State of Pennsylvania: SS

On this second day of May 1828, personally appeared in open court ( being the court of Common Pleas in and for said county) Peter Parchment, resident in said county, aged about seventy three years, who being first duly sworn according to Law, doth, on his oath, make the following declaration in order to obtain the provision made by Acts of Congress of the 18th March 1818, and the 1st of May 1820; That he the said Peter Parchment enlisted for the term of three years, in the year 1776, in the state of Pennsylvania in the company commanded by captain Sullivan, in the Regiment commanded by Colonel Gibson in the line of the State of Virginia, on the first continental establishment, that he continued to serve in the said corps until sometime in the year 1778, when he was discharged from the service at Pittsburgh in the State of Pennsylvania, in consequence of wounds received while in the service and in the line of his duty; That he hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension, except the present; that his name is not on the roll of any state, except Pennsylvania; that the following are the reasons for not making earlier application for a pension;--Having been the owner of two tract of land for a considerable time, nearly thirty years, situated in the county aforesaid, containing about two hundred & seventy five acres, which were sufficient with common industry for the support of himself and family;...

Peter Parchment was at Fort Laurens despite the fact he never mentions the fort in his pension application. In a letter to General McIntosh from Fort Laurens Commander, Col. John Gibson, dated 13 February 1779, Gibson writes, ìthat on the 27th, the same rascals returned again to Cooshacking and were seen by the Indians—that Killbuck brought them into town, called a council, and that after he had scolded them, they promised to return the things and went off for that purpose. But one of them hid himself on the road from the Moravian Town to Cooshacking, and as Peter Parchment and another soldier of the 13th Regt. were returning from the Moravian Town to Cooshacking in sight of the last mentioned place, he fired on them, the ball broke Parchment’s arm entered his breast, but has since been taken out. Parchment ran a few yards, being obliged to drop his gun; the Indian took up the gun and was going to fire again, but was prevented by Capt. Johnny, who happened to be coming along the road, who hallooed at him not to shoot.

Peter Parchment was born in Virginia about the year 1754. At the beginning of the Revolution he enlisted in Gibson’s regiment for three years, and served until the wound received at this time made it necessary for him to be discharged at Pittsburgh. Although his arm was crippled as a result of the wound, he was much engaged in Indian wars. He went out on Crawford’s expedition in 1782; in 1793 he served under Wayne as a captain of militia. He was a companion of Brady in scouting expeditions and in Indian adventures. See an interview with his son in Draper Mss., 3S112-6. He died at an advanced age in Allegheny County, Pa., having for some years drawn a pension. On the wounding of Parchment see Heckewelder, Narrative 208.

Peter Parchment’s wife was Mary POWELL. His residence at the time of his death was Wilkins Twp., Allegheny Co., PA. Pension file no. W-3713. Buried at Beulah Church Cemetery, Wilkinsburg, Allegheny County. NSDAR.

Peter Parchment’s pension application is from the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and provided to the Friends of Fort Laurens Foundation on 23 July 2002, by Fetzer, Richard, Auroa, OH; Genealogist, Ohio Society Sons of the American Revolution.

Kellogg, Louis Phelps, ed. Frontier Advance on the Upper Ohio 1778-1779. Publications of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Madison, WI., 1916. A Facsimile Reprint, Heritage Books, Inc. Bowie, MD., 1994. 224-225.

Myers, Paul W., compiled by. Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Revolutionary War Soldiers. Closson Press, 2nd Printing. Apollo, PA. 1988. 60-61.

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