As we move toward our nation’s semiquincentennial, I continue researching the Revolutionary War effort of attaining independence and the related contributions and connections of families of the Fork, the Knox County lands between the French Broad and Holston rivers.
Since Halloween is upon us, perhaps this is the time to discuss some of the gruesome and costly aspects of war that our Fork veterans and their Revolutionary War ancestors endured. It certainly wasn’t all valor and glory.
Today, when people see a high-priced item, they might quip, “I’ll bet it cost a war pension!” A Revolutionary War pension was initially given only to veterans who had served in the Continental Army under George Washington or were disabled during their service. Even after benefits were expanded in 1818, veterans still had to prove their financial need and military service, often without discharge papers or other documentation. Not until 1832 was the required length of service lowered to six months, which allowed local militia to be included. By that time, most surviving Revolutionary War veterans were at least 50 years old, and many were in their 80s. Fires and moves from place to place meant documents often were forever lost. Witnesses, who usually included clergymen who would vouch for an applicant’s integrity, were interviewed to determine whether a man’s story of being a veteran was true. For verification, he had to recall the names of his leaders and where and when he served.
List of Knox County Revolutionary War pensioners, 1841
A pensioner might receive today’s equivalent of about $3,000 to $7,000 annually, depending on his rank and length of service. By the time the signature ink of approval dried on his paperwork process, which could take many months of recorded testimonies and supportive documentation (such as finding a family Bible to prove their age), the back pay due him might be a substantial amount. Though an annual rate was usually only enough to cover the cost of food and shelter, it would go further on land purchases. Despite the qualifying range of pension recipients being extended over the years, the emotional and physical cost of that pension was beyond the act of service.
The atrocities they witnessed or the brutality they experienced in war would easily constitute what we now call the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that affects modern soldiers as well. For instance, well-known war historian Rick Atkinson states in his book, The British Are Coming, that American homemade bullets were often so jagged that they “left hideous, ragged wounds.” And mercy often was not given to the defenseless, weak, and wounded on either side. While the British were better outfitted with issued muskets with bayonets, the Americans often carried whatever firearms they could find, along with pitchforks or other farm implements, whittled pointed pikes, and the tools of their trades, such as hammers. The resulting inflictions were gruesome.
Remember, it was a civil war, not only the paid Continental soldiers against the career British regulars, but neighbor against neighbor, rebel Patriots against loyalist Tories in the same communities. The British soldiers were trained but didn’t always have much experience. The Patriot militia usually fought with whatever they had on hand, but they often had the advantage of being familiar with the territory and were fueled with the fury of protecting their homes and families, who were sometimes slain as well.
Neither side had the luxury of appropriate medical aid or the leisure of decent burials. Amputations were sometimes the quickest approach to splintered appendages. Regiments not only saw their comrades maimed and killed beside them, but they also came across dead soldiers as they traveled, often finding them stripped of their weaponry and clothing. And even those who had a grave were sometimes soon exposed by the animals and elements in their resting places of fields and woodlands, ribs and skulls poking from the soil. Such sights were seen for years in the countryside, as the grounds slowly gave up their dead.
While land grants were awarded, lots of veterans resorted to selling them for less than they were worth, rather than moving. It was just one more form of injury.
Despite the remembered connections that Revolutionary War veterans have to the Knox County lands and people between the French Broad and Holston rivers, much of the extensive sacrificial price of a Revolutionary War pension that helped bring them here has been forgotten in the Fork.
Jan Loveday Dickens is an educator, historian, and author of Forgotten in the Fork, a book about the Knox County lands between the French Broad and Holston Rivers, obtainable by emailing ForgottenInTheFork@gmail.com.
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