Military Monday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers for bloggers to post their images, stories and records of their ancestors’ service in various branches of the military.
Sooo, you think your ancestor was on that boat with
George Washington breaking through the ice of the Delaware River. Or you heard
stories that your ancestor was with George Washington at Yorktown when
Cornwallis surrendered.
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Letter dated 1911 inquiring about service of Richard Gaines
Fold3.com |
Please inform me if the records of your office contain
anything with regard to the Revolutionary services of RICHARD GAINES and
MICHAEL CLORE (sometimes spelled GLORE).
Family tradition states that Richard Gaines, born 1752,
died 1837, was with General Washington at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at
Yorktown. He belonged to Captain Pearson’s company at one time, though he
served more than one enlistment. He was also with Washington when he broke the
ice and crossed the Delaware River, surprised the British at Trenton and
captured a thousand Hessians. Was also at Egg Harbor. He was buried at Poplar
Springs, S.C., having removed there from Virginia, with his father, after the
war.
Such are the stories passed along to descendants of
Richard Gaines (1752-1837), the man who married the somehow-related-to-me
Frances Jolly of Culpeper County, Virginia.
I have bad news for some of the Gaines descendants who
have been enjoying the trickle-down glory of having a hero in the family who fought
alongside George Washington. The facts just don’t support it. Just ask Richard
himself.
It’s easy to see how family lore gets confused and
exaggerated over time. Even documents that spell out the truth can be
misinterpreted by those reading them. It doesn’t help matters when several men
share the same name. The DAR website includes five Virginia patriots named
Richard Gaines. That does not mean they were the only men with this name. It
means women of today have joined the DAR by tracing their lineage to only these
five.
Three of the Richards served in their local militia. The
other two, who were about 25 years older than the young soldiers, provided
material aid and supplies.
The Richard who was married to Frances was a private in
the Culpeper County Minutemen. He was born in Culpeper County in 1752 and died
in Laurens County, South Carolina 9 November 1837. Two wives were listed:
Elizabeth Flint and Frances Jolly. The majority of DAR members tracing lineage
to this Richard Gaines do so through James, a son by Frances Jolly.
I then checked Fold3 to see if there is a record of
service, pension applications, and so forth. And yes, there is. There are
records also for the Richard Gaines who spent his entire life in Albemarle
County, Virginia as well as the Richard Gaines from Charlotte County who
migrated to Kentucky. Service records for Sergeant Richard Gaines are available
too, but this rank does not match any of the Richard Gaines listed with the
DAR.
And that is where the family stories lose a little of
that glamour and excitement surrounding an ancestor rubbing elbows with ol’
George.
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from Richard Gaines' pension application of 1832
Fold3.com |
In his application for a pension, Richard described his
own service:
…. That he enlisted in the army of the United States in
the year 1774 or 1775 with Capt. John Jamison and served in the first
Continental Regiment of the Virginia line under the following named officers,
viz: Col. Laurence Taliaferro, Major Alexander Spotswood, Capt. John Jamison,
Lieut. Gabriel Long and Ensign David Jamison. That he was discharged and left
the service on the [ blank ] day of [ blank ] 1776 or 77, that he resided at
the time he entered the service in Culpepper County in the State of Virginia.
That he enlisted for two years, and was at the siege of Little York
Norfolk.
As it turns out, his application was rejected for failure
to actually PROVE service for six months. Furthermore, the rejection was based
on not serving in an “embodied corps.”
Besides service records and pension applications, my
Richard’s file at Fold3 contains letters of inquiry to the Pension Board and
War Department. In 1853, James Gaines, son of Richard and Frances, appealed to
the Pension Board on behalf of his surviving siblings claiming their father did
not receive all that he was due from service in the Revolutionary War. He
claimed his father had been a sergeant in his company but did not report it
with his original application for a pension in 1832 because according to the
Act of 7 June 1832, he was not required to report all the details of his
service.
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Response to James Gaines
Fold3.com |
The reply from the Pension Department was essentially, “Nope.
Sorry.” While they granted that Richard Gaines certainly knew his own service
and that his children might have also been aware of it, he never claimed to
have been a sergeant. Furthermore, the pension payments for the only Richard
Gaines who had been a sergeant had gone to the one who served through 1781.
James’s father himself said he served only two years. Available records just did
not match the claims; therefore, the appeal was rejected.
That did not stop the family from believing it though. On
Richard’s tombstone is etched his entire war career which unfortunately is most
likely a mélange of service performed by at least 2 if not 3 men named Richard
Gaines.
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Tombstone of Richard Gaines
Findagrave.com
courtesy of MJ |
Richard Gaines
Married
Miss Francis Jolly
Soldier in
Revolutionary War
Sergeant in
Col Holt Richeson’s Co
In 5th VA Reg with
Gen Washington at
Surrender of Cornwallis
At Yorktown, VA
Also at
Battle of Trenton, NJ
And at Egg Harbor
And Other Battles
Minute Man with Captain
John Jamison Col Lawrence
Taliferro’s Reg at Siege of
Norfolk, VA 1775
Richard’s own words did not include serving under Col.
Holt Richerson or being at the Battle of Egg Harbor which took place in 1778,
long after Richard supposedly completed his duty. The Richard who advanced to
Sergeant served under Richerson, that’s a fact. But if we can trust MY Richard
Gaines’ own memory, he served only two years. Had he been in Trenton or
Yorktown, those would have been far more worthy of mention than the Siege of
Norfolk.
Possibly the wording was provided by Richard’s
great-grandson “L. P. Gaines,” author of one of the letters that spelled out
the family story that Richard had served with George Washington. Was he trying
to set the record straight, the record as he knew it, that is?
It is clear the tombstone was not commissioned at the
time of Richard’s death, judging by the genealogy on the back.
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Back of Tombstone
Findagrave.com
courtesy of MJ |
Genealogy
Richard Gaines 1686 – 1755
Father of
Henry Gaines 1731 -1837
Richard Gaines 1752 – 1837
James Gaines 1791 – 1866
Reuben Gaines 1815 – 1899
L. P. Gaines 1845 –
Jim Gaines 1878 –
Reuben Gaines 1911 –
While the abbreviated genealogy is mostly correct, the
family trees created on Find A Grave through links to parents and siblings are
a complete mess. For example, in the list of siblings is Francis Gaines whose
link goes to a memorial in which his parents are named Hierome Gaines and
Margaret Taliaferro. My Richard was son of
Henry Gaines and Mariah Woods.
The trees at Ancestry are not much better. Several link
pension records to this Richard and Frances Gaines that actually belong to the
Richard Gaines who lived his entire life in Albemarle County, Virginia. Now if
you’re looking for a claim to fame, THAT Richard had it: he was employed by
Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.
Sources:
Compiled Service Record of Gaines, Richard (Sgt, Third
and Seventh Regiment, VA) digital images, Ancestry.com’s Fold3 (http://www.fold3.com:
downloaded 25 September 2016); imaged from Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, National Archives microfilm publication
M881 [roll number 0971].
Record of Gaines, Richard (Pvt., John Jamison’s Co., 1st
Continental Regt, VA) pension application 3866; digital images, Ancestry.com’s Fold3 (http://www.fold3.com:
downloaded 25 September 2016); imaged from Revolutionary
War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, National
Archives microfilm publication M804 [roll number 1041].
Record of Gaines, Richard (Pvt., Landon Jones’ Co,
Albemarle Co., VA Militia) pension application 8546; digital images,
Ancestry.com’s Fold3 (http://www.fold3.com: downloaded 25 September
2016); imaged from Revolutionary War
Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, National Archives
microfilm publication M804 [roll number 1041].
Wendy
© 2016, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
