Pvt., John Goe
Goe, Pvt. John
State of Kentucky
Shelby County
On this 23rd day of October 1834 appears before me a justice of the peace in and for said county of Shelby and ask of the judge of the county court for the same and after being duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefits of the act of Congress passed the 7th of June 1832.
This declarent states that he was residing in Fayette County then State of Va since thrown into the state of Pennsylvania when he entered the services of the United States and served therein states and under the following named officers.
That in the winter of ’75 & ’76 he the said declarent with the others was ordered out, being drafted, under Capt. Freeman to guard the magazine at Brownsville, then called red stone old fort and protect it from the tories, here he remained Two months under Col. Brown at the expiration of which time he was verbally discharged by the Col. And returned home, and in the following spring a call was made for volunteers to guard the frontiers at a place on the Ohio river called Logstown that he volunteered for one month and served that tour under Capt. Crow in guarding the frontier against the incursions of the Indians at the expiration of which tour he returned home, being verbally discharged, where after remaining a few days he became a substitute for his Father who had been drafted into the same kind of service for the one month but being of a feeble constitution and not very able bodied he the said declarent did become a substitute in his stead & served this tour of one month in guarding the frontiers s before under the same Capt. Crow there being no higher officer than Capt. He was again verbally discharged & returned home where he remained until about the 10th of the following Oct. when he was drafted for a tour of two months & was sent on to join Gen. McIntosh who was then erecting a fort on the Ohio river called Fort McIntosh, here he & his party which consisted of about 30 men joined the party under Gen. McIntosh where they remained until the fort was completed when they were marched about 30 miles back into the country to erect another fort, this was thrown up on the waters of the Tuscarora [Tuscarawas] & he thinks the fort was called Fort Tuscara or Tuscarawrway [actually the fort was named Ft. Laurens], in erecting this fort they endured great hardship & excessive fatigue laboring under the disadvantages of having the timer for the fort to carry, there being no possible chance of hauling having no horses. After the completion of this fort he was verbally discharged by his officer & returned home a few days before Christmas.
He states he has no documentary evidence of his service nor knows of any living witness by whom he can prove his service. From old age and bodily infirmity he is unable to appear in open court to make his declaration.
He hereby relinquishes every claim what ever to a pension or annuity except the present & declares his name is not on the pension roll of any state or territory.
Subscribed & sworn to before me the date before given.
Henry Bohannon
Answers to the interrogatories prescribed by law.
I was born in Prince George county state of Maryland in 1760 as left on record in my Father’s register at the age of twelve years I was taken with the rest of the family by my Father into Fayette county state of Pennsylvania where I was living when I entered the service & where I remained until the year 1780 when I came to Shelby county, Ky. Where I lived until a short time past when I moved to Oldham County Ky where I now live. I was twice drafted into the service for two months each time. I volunteered for a tour of one month & was a substitute one month for my Father. One my first there was Col. Brown. On my second and third there were no officers than Capt. & I was under Capt. Crow, I have forgotten the others names on my fourth & last tour. I was under the immediate command of Gen. McIntosh I do not recollect any other officers I was always discharged verbally by my officers. I will name Nathaniel Dowden & John Metcalf who can certify to my character for veracity & their belief of my services as a revolutionary soldier.
We, John Metcalfe Clergyman & Nathaniel Dowden residing in the immediate neighbourhood from which John Goe has recently moved & who has subscribed & sworn to the above declaration, say we are and have been for a number of years well acquainted with him & we believe him to be 74 years of age and to have been a soldier of the revolution he is reputed & believe in his neighbourhood to be a man of strict veracity & a soldier of the revolution & we concur in the belief of his neighbours.
Nat Dowden
John Metcalf
On October 27, 1834, Justice of the Peace and County Judge, Henry Bohannon of Shelby Co, KY issued his opinion that John Goe was indeed a soldier of the American Revolution. Goe’s pension application would be submitted to the U.S. government for approval.
Goe’s Federal pension number is S.30,436 and is on file at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. He was most likely a private in the Westmoreland or Fayette County, PA militia.
Initial information regarding Pvt. John Goe and his role at Ft. Laurens was obtained by Shemenski, Pat of Canton, OH and submitted to the Friends of Ft. Laurens Foundation on 5 June 2008.
Pension application transcribed by Fisher, Scott, Friends of Fort Laurens Foundation, 1 January 2009. Copy of the pension was obtained from www.footnote.com Revolutionary War Pensions.
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