Brandywine Soldiers » 3rd Virginia Regiment

Norman, William

admin — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:56:52 +0000

William Norman enlisted in the Virginia Continental Line on Feb. 1, 1776. He was assigned to Capt. George Stubblefield’s Company of the 5th VA Regiment, commanded by Lt. Col. Josuah Parker. In June, 1776, he was transferred to Capt. Philip Richard Francis Lee’s Company of the 3rd VA Regiment, commanded by Col. Thomas Marshall. His name last appears on the payroll records February 16, 1778.

William often told the story to his children and grandchildren of his trials of the War. He said that he was standing near Gen. LaFayette when, after dismounting to rally the troops, the General was shot in the leg. This would place William near the top of the 2nd Colonial hilltop position retreating from the oncoming British and back up the small hill. William was shot in both knees and crippled for life. He was taken to Bennett Farm for treatment. It has been passed down in the Norman family that LaFayette intervened in the amputation of William’s legs due to “the patient’s stubborn resistance to the surgeons…” William Norman was listed on the muster roles as “absent and wounded” until February 1778. His name last appears on the payroll February 16, 1778. No record could be found of his discharge. The British bullet and a piece of bone from William’s knee were kept in the Norman family for 150 years. One of William’s gg-grandchildren remembers seeing them in his grandfather’s home in Hamburg, Arkansas. William was known to celebrate the date of the battle every year with friends and grog.

SUBMITTER INFO:
Liz Nash
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~lincolncountynormans

Horton, Robert

admin — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:22:28 +0000

Robert Horton: December 26, 1751, Christened St. Sepulchre, London, London, England to Drayton and Ann Horton. Bet. 1769 – 1770, Robert Horton arrived in Am. as emigrant in Bondage aboard the Justitia. February 09, 1776, Enlisted with 3rd VA Regiment in Captain John Thornton’s Company. Bet. 1776 – 1778, Served in Battles of White Plains, York Island, Brandywine and Germantown. February 1778, Discharged at Valley Forge in PA. November 1778, Married Jaley Underwood. April 10, 1818, While resident of Culpeper County VA, he was allowed a pension at age 66. April 13, 1820, Died in Culpeper County VA. 1837, Jaley, wife of Robert Horton, was last “heard from” in an application for Robert’s pension filed from Falls Township, Muskingum County, Ohio. She possibly was living with one of their daughters, Mary (Mrs. Elsey) Anderson.

SUBMITTER INFO:
Randy Horton, randyh@hertland.net
William F. Horton, wfhorton@hertland.net
William A. Horton, bshorton@heartland.net

Horton, Robert. Drummer – 3rd Virginia Regement, Captain John Thornton’s Company.

Holyfield, Daniel

admin — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:16:36 +0000

I am a direct descendant of a soldier who fought at Brandywine Battlefield on Sept. 11, 1777. His name was Daniel Holyfield, but his last name is spelled on his Feb.1777 pay record as mine is now, which is Holifield. I don’t believe he knew how to write, so the spelling of his last name was at the discretion of the writer of the record. He was a private and was paid about 16 dollars a year. The average wage for a farmer, which he was, was 18 dollars a year at the time. He enlisted in Loudoun County,Virginia in Feb. 1776 in Capt. Charles West’s Rifle company, which was the 3rd Company of the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line and seemed to live at his Grandfather’s Valentine Holyfield’s farm in Goose Creek. He was born in either 1753 or 1757 which would make him either 24 or 20 years old when he fought there at Brandywine Creek. He survied the battle and the Revolutionary War and apparently finnished a 2 year enlistment which would have ended in Feb. 1778 at Valley Forge. The previous battles of the 3rd Virginia Regiment were,”Harlem Heights-Sept.16,1776;Trenton-Dec.25-26,1776″. He married in 1778 to a woman by the name of Mary Pye and had some 8 children. He went on to acquire land grants as a benefit of the U.S. government for his service. The Land grants were in North Carolina,Georgia & Alabama and totaled over 800 acres. He last settled in a new county called Sumter,Alabama established in 1832 in a town called Belmont. The land he last acquired in a land grant there in Belmont,Alabama still has the log cabin that he lived in with his daughter Jemima & her husband Caldwell Estes. Today it is privately owned and rented out for hunting and used on weekends by family & friends of the present owner’s. He last attended and is buried at Old Belmont Church, which was then a Methodist Church. It is still used today and the town is still very small with only one stop sign, two families mainly and one telephone number listed in the directory for Belmont. He died on Oct.11,1834 there in the log cabin he lived in just 2 years after moving there. His headstone reads in part “Daniel Holyfield, Aged about 78 years which would put his birth at about 1756. I am the 6th generation descended from Daniel Holyfield/Holifield through his son,Willis, then Wiley H. Holifield, then Wiley Henry Holifield, then Herbert Joseph Holifield, then James Edward Holifield and my name is James Alan Holifield.

SUBMITTER INFO:
James A. Holifield
Pensacola, Florida
Light_n_me@juno.com