Pvt. Henry Huffman
Huffman, Pvt. Henry
State of Virginia
Pendleton County
On the 3rd day of October 1832 personally appeared in open court before the justices of the County Court of Pendleton now sitting, Henry Huffman a resident of said county in the state of Virginia, aged 75 years, who being first duly sworn according to law, doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed Jun 7 1832. That he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers and served as is herein stated--He was born in the county of Rockingham Virginia in the 1757 and he entered the service of the said County on or about the 8th of January 1778 as a substitute in the room of John Armentrout a private who had been drafted to perform a tour of three months against the Indians on the frontier settlement in a company of militia commanded by Captain Robert Cravens. He was marched with said company to Tygarts Valley, where they were stationed in a fort at or near where the Town of Beverly now stands in the County of Randolph Va. He entered in that neighbourhood assisting to guard the settlement their against the Indians until the expiration of three moths term of his service, when he was discharged; and Captain Cravens immediately proceeded to raise a Company of Volunteers to serve for the term of --- months in the same service into which Company sd. Huffman volunteered after serving in the same neighbourhood about three months the company was sent home and them ordered to equip and clothes themselves and prepare to march immediately to join the forces under Genl McIntosh then about to undertake an expedition against the North Western Indians and the British fort at Detroit. He remained at home about two weeks engaged in preparing for McIntosh's Campaign and marched again sometime early in the month of July 1778 under Captain Robert Cravens Lieutenant William Herron and Ensign George Mallow, Capt. Benjamin Harrison and Major William Old also accompanied and commanded the Battallion or Regiment to which his company was attached. They were marched down the south Branch of Potomac to a place near the Maryland line where they were joined by a body of Militia of Hampshire and perhaps the adjoining Counties under the command of Colonel Vanmeter. From there the two Battalions or Regiments crossed the Allegany Mountains and at the Monongahala River near Pittsburg, they were joined by and placed under the command of Colonel Campbell, who he supposed was an officer in the Regular service, as he sometimes wore a red coat. From thence they were marched to the Ohio River which they crossed at the mouth of the Big Beaver, and on the opposite shore they joined the forces under Genl. McIntosh, the commander in chief of the expedition. At this place he assisted to build Fort McIntosh and where (in about three weeks the Fort was nearly completed a Garrison was left there under Col. Campbell and the remainder of the troops both Regular and Militia were marched to the Tuscarora River a short distance above its junction with the Muskingum; there they built another fort called Fort Lawrence. After it was completed and a garrison left there the winter coming on and their provisions nearly exhausted; it would seem that the expedition against Detroit was abandoned. The remainder of the troops were marched back to Fort McIntosh where they arrived sometime on December 1778 about three days after their arrival there the company of Captain Cravens in which he had continued to serve during the whole of the time was pardoned at the For McIntosh and discharged. The other companies of militia having as he believes been all discharged a day or two before. He immediately set out together with the balance of Capt. Cravens Company on their return from and reached his place of residence in the county of Rockingham early in the month of January 1779 having served under the last engagement as a volunteer fully nine months and under the first engagement three months making in all twelve months service during which time he suffered almost incredible hardships in consequences of want of provisions and having to make his way home from For McIntosh in the Ohio to his residence in Rockingham in the depth of winter and through an almost uninhabitable wilderness. The names of the only regular officers which he can now recollect in addition to Genl McIntosh the commander are Colonels Campbell Broadhead, Crawford and Morrow. Those officers he served with and believes they were from Pennsylvania and belonged to the regular Army, but the names of the regiment he cannot now recollect, nor does he know whether they were state troops or Continentals but thinks they were the latter. He has no documentary evidence of his service never having received a printed or written discharge but believes he will be able to prove nine months service by Henry Mallow of this county who served with him during all of that tour. He hereby relinquishes every claim to a pension or annuity except the present and declares that his name is not in the pension roll or the agency of any state. Sworn to and subscribed the day and year aforesaid.
Henry Huffman
X
His mark
I Henry Mallow do solemnly swear that I am well acquainted with Henry Huffman above named and that I of my own personal knowledge having served with him all the time am positively certain that as regards his engagement of nine months as stated and ascribed by law in declaration is correct and that I served with him during the whole of the time that Captain Cravens company was stationed in Tygarts Valley three months and afterwards in the campaign of Genl. McIntosh which occupied as near as I can recollect at least nine months more from the time we marched from home until we returned making the time as stated by Henry Huffman as near as a can remember at least nine months during which time we marched across the Ohio and built Forts McIntosh and Lawrence and I as further certify that I believe the said Huffman to be 73 years of age, that he is reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resides to have been a soldier of the revolution and that I concur with that opinion and also believed he served three months tour as he states in addition to the sworn 9 months in which I served with him sworn to and ascribed in said court the day and year aforesaid and the said court do hereby declare their opinion that the above named (Henry Huffman) applicant was a revolutionary soldier and served as he states.
Transcribed from Microfilm Record of Pendleton County Records: V150-206 (from Heritage Quest) http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wvpendle/penpens.htm
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