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INDEX

Guideline for Submissions and Resources Useful in Making Transcriptions

As part of our mission of sharing information about the Revolution, C. Leon Harris and I (Will Graves) embarked on the creation of this website for the posting of transcriptions of pension applications filed by veterans of the Southern Campaigns of the Revolution and their widows.  Such veterans have been defined as anyone who was living in Virginia, Georgia, North or South Carolina at the time they rendered any service during the Revolution regardless of where such services were rendered; AND veterans from any State who rendered service in any of the four above named Southern States at any time during the Revolution.  Everyone is invited to submit their transcriptions of pension applications for posting on the website. I am the administrator of the site. I reserve the right to edit the submissions to assure that the contents thereof will be searchable, but transcribers retain the right to object to any such editing and to require that their transcriptions be deleted from the database.  By submitting your transcripts for posting in this database, you do not forfeit or give up any control or ownership rights you might have in the transcripts made by you. 

Please review and edit your submissions as thoroughly as possible: they will only be as useful as they are accurate.

To assure that the transcriptions are as useful as possible, the following guidelines for submissions are suggested:

  1. Correct the spelling of proper names of people and places to reflect the modern spelling. This should be done by inserting the modern spelling in brackets after the name as spelled in the original. For example: “…Col. Thomas Brannon [sic, Brandon] commanded the regiment.” It is important, however, to preserve the original spelling in order not to compromise the authenticity of the transcript of the original and as a safeguard against misinterpretation by the transcriber.
  2. Indicate whether or not punctuation, grammar and/or spelling have been modified from the pension application originally filed with the War Department.
  3. Begin each submission as follows: "Pension Application of [insert the name of the soldier using first name, middle name or initial, if any, and last name]: [insert the applicable National Pension Claim number]: transcribed [and annotated, if applicable] by [insert the name of the transcriber]."
  4. In the event of submission of more than one transcription of an application, the submission judged to be the most complete and accurate will be posted and substitution of more accurate or complete transcriptions of already posted applications will be made when deemed appropriate.
  5. Each transcription should be in Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or a "text rich" format and submitted to Will Graves by email at revwarapps@carolina.rr.com with the words "Pension Application" in the subject line.

All submissions will be converted by Will Graves to Adobe PDF format prior to posting.

Annotated transcriptions are particularly welcomed. Help make these valuable sources of eyewitness accounts more readily available and usable.

PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROJECT AND URGE YOUR FRIENDS TO DO LIKEWISE.

Below are some resources which C. Leon Harris and I have found particularly useful in transcribing applications of interest to them:

Leon's favorites include:

Fredriksen, J. C. Revolutionary War Almanac. New York: Facts on File, 2006. [Includes a chronology and encyclopedia articles. Useful in spite of errors.]

Gwathmey, J. H. Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution: Soldiers Sailors Marines 1775-1783. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. 1979. [reprint of 1938 edition. This book, and many others, are on a CD-ROM entitled Virginia Military Records: Colonial Wars, Revolutionary War, War of 1812

www.genealogical.com/products/Virginia%20Military%20Records%20Colonial%20Wars%20Revolutionary%20War%20War%20of%201812/7121.html]

Harris, C. L. Revolutionary Warriors & Widows of Henry, Franklin, Patrick & Floyd Counties of Virginia. Athens GA: New Papyrus, 2008. [Includes a chronology of Virginia in the Revolution.]

Heitman, F. B. Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution, April 1775, to December, 1783. Washington, DC: Rare Book Shop Pub. Co. [reprint by www.library.cornell.edu. Also available on Google Books. The original of this book was used by the Pension Office to verify Continental officers in applicants’ declarations.]

McAllister, J. T. Virginia Militia in the Revolutionary War. Westminster MD: Heritage Books, 1989. [Originally published in 1913. A version with many corrections is available at http://lib.jrshelby.com/mcallister-harris.pdf]

O'Kelley, Patrick. Nothing but Blood and Slaughter: The Revolutionary War in the Carolinas.

Volume One: 1771-1779. Lillington, NC: Blue House Tavern Press, Booklocker.com, Inc., 2004

Volume Two: 1780. Lillington, NC: Blue House Tavern Press, Booklocker.com, Inc., 2004

Volume Three: 1781. Lillington, NC: Blue House Tavern Press, Booklocker.com, Inc., 2005

Volume Four: 1782. Lillington, NC: Blue House Tavern Press, Booklocker.com, Inc., 2005

Sanchez-Saavedra, E. M. A Guide to Virginia Military Organizations in the American Revolution, 1774-1787. Westminster MD: Westminster Books. 2007. [reprint of Library of Virginia edition, 1978. Available on Google Books.]

Will's favorites include:

Bill Anderson's wonderful American Revolution Sites, Events, and Troop Movements website at http://elehistory.com/amrev/SitesEventsTroopMovements.htm

Lawrence E. Babits & Joshua B. Howard. "Fortitude and Forbearance" The North Carolina Continental Line in the Revolutionary War: 1775-1783, Raleigh NC: Office of Archives and History North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 2004 [no longer in print]

Mark M. Boatner, III. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 3rd ed., 1994 (Will finds this edition more useful than the more current edition for quick references to identify the major officers, battles, etc.)

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ga/county/taylor/rev/garevroster.htm for Georgia veterans of the Revolution.

Bobby Gilmer Moss. Roster of the Loyalists in the Battle of Kings Mountain. Blacksburg, SC: Scotia-Hibernia Press, 1998

...The Loyalists in the Siege of Fort Ninety Six. Blacksburg, SC: Scotia-Hibernia Press, 1999

...Roster of the Patriots in the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, Blacksburg, SC: Scotia-Hibernia Press, 1992

Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1983

...The Patriots at the Cowpens, Revised Edition, Blacksburg, SC: Scotia Press, 1985

The Patriots at King's Mountain.  Blacksburg, SC: Scotia-Hibernia Press, 1990

...The Snow Campaign 1775: First Land Battle of the American Revolution in South Carolina, Blacksburg, SC: Scotia-Hibernia Press, 2007

…& Michael C. Scoggins. African-American Patriots in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. Blacksburg, SC: Scotia-Hibernia Press, 2004

............................................African-American Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution, Blacksburg, SC: Scotia-Hibernia Press, 2005

 

The American Revolutionary War website at http://myrevolutionarywar.com/index.htm

Websites of John Robertson including http://gaz.jrshelby.com/ (his Global Gazetteer –'place finder') and http://lib.jrshelby.com/ (his online library of books, articles, etc. dealing with the Southern Campaigns)

William Thomas Sherman. Calendar and Record of the Revolutionary War in the South: 1780-1781, (n. p., Sixth Edition, 2009), http://www.angelfire.com/d20/htfh

Kenneth Kellow's wonderful American War of Independence—At Sea site http://www.awiatsea.com/Index.html

J. D. Lewis's sites covering actions fought in North Carolina posted at http://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/NC_Revolutionary_War_Known_Battles_Skirmishes.htm and South Carolina posted at http://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/SC_Revolutionary_War_Known_Battles_Skirmishes.htm

Thanks!

Will Graves