York County PA Archives Military Records.....Adlum, John November 1, 1833
Revwar - Pension 
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Pension Application Of John Adlum, Natl Archives Microseries M804, Roll #__, Application #S11944
District of Columbia, Washington County, November 1, 1833, John Adlum, aged 74 
years: “That he was a volunteer in the militia of the state of Pennsylvania, 
and was afterwards attached to what was called the ‘Flying Camp.’ That he 
volunteered in the Yorktown militia consisting of 4 companies under the 
command, in the first instance, of Colonel James Smith. That the deponent was 
in the company commanded by Captain Charles Lukens, who was the Sheriff of the 
county. The other 3 companies were under the command of Captain William Bailey, 
Captain Rudolph Spangler and Captain Michael Hahn. Besides Colonel Smith, the 
field officers were Lt. Col. Joseph Donaldson and Major Michael Swopes.”

 	“That the deponent joined his company on the 7th of July, 1776. After 
the militia was formed into a Flying Camp, Major Swope became the colonel, as 
Colonel Smith was a member of Congress. Robert Stephenson was appointed Lt. 
Col. and Captain William Bailey was made Major. That when the said militia was 
formed into the Flying Camp, deponent was attached to Captain Stokes company as 
a corporal, though he did the duty, generally, as a sergeant. The whole militia 
consisted of 3 regiments, and was commanded by brigadier general John or James 
Ewing of York County, PA.”

	“That the deponent marched from Yorktown for the camp on the 11th of 
July, 1776. That on the 16th of November, 1776, he was taken a prisoner at the 
battle of Fort Washington and was carried by the British to New York, where he 
was kept until July 1777, when he was released on parole and returned to 
Yorktown, but was never discharged from the service. The officers of the 
company to which he belonged after the companies were formed into the Flying 
Camp, were Captain ?Stokes, Lieut. Sheriff, who was afterwards appointed 
Brigade Major, St. Holtzinger, and Ensign Barnitz. “

	“That the deponent served with the regiment of militia from Cumberland 
County, PA commanded by Colonel Watts; also with the regiment from Chester 
County, commanded by Colonel William Montgomery. That the brigade in which 
deponent served was sent to the North River before the evacuation of New York, 
and began the erection of Fort Lee, which was laid out by Colonel Putnam, as he 
believes. General Greene commanded Fort Lee afterwards, and the deponent was on 
duty about 20 miles from the camp there, at a bridge over the Hackensack River.”

	“That after the deponent’s return to Yorktown on parole, he was not 
notified to do militia duty until sometime in 1780, when he complied, and never 
received any notice of being discharged or exchanged in service. That the 
deponent was in the Battle of Fort Washington and was taken prisoner on the 
16th of November, 1776. That he knew General Greene, who commanded at Fort Lee, 
and also Colonel M____?, Colonel or Major Glover of the regulars, who came with 
the New England troops under General Lee.”

	“That the militia marched from Yorktown in Pennsylvania to 
Philadelphia, from thence they went by water to Trenton, and thence to Newark, 
9 miles from Paoli’s Hook, and thence to Bergen in Jersey, where they did duty 
some time, and thence to Fort Lee…”

Interrogatories with answers:

First, where and in what year were you born?
“I was born in the town of York in Pennsylvania on the 29th  day of April in 
the year 1759.’

2nd, Have you any record of your age, and if so, where is it?
“The time of my birth is written in my late father’s Bible, where I remember to 
have often seen it. This Bible is, I presume, either in the hands of my 
brothers or sisters now living in Muncy Township or its neighborhood in 
Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.”

3rd and 4th, where were you living when called into service, where have you 
lived since the Revolutionary War, and where do you now live? 4th, how were you 
called into service, were you drafted, did you volunteer, or were you a 
substitute, and for whom?

“I was living with my father at Yorktown, above-mentioned, when I volunteered 
to go with the militia to camp. Independence was declared on the 4th day of 
July 1776, and on the evening of the 6th of July following, the honorable James 
Smith our neighbor (and one of the signers of said declaration) with Captain 
Francis Wade and a Doctor Young arrived at Yorktown to see how the good people 
of the town and its vicinity relished the said declaration. Accordingly, on the 
7th day of July, the 4 companies of the town militia was paraded. Mr. Smith was 
the colonel of the militia regiment. When the Declaration of Independence was 
read, Mr. Smith made a speech, as did Captain Wade and Doctor Young, pointing 
out the advantages it would be of to our country, and etc. Mr. Smith made a 
short concluding speech, and then threw up his hat and hurrahed for liberty and 
independence. The militia on parade and others attending followed this example.”

“There was then a proposition of, who will go to camp? When I believe everyone 
on parade without an exception volunteered to go, and of which I was one. But 
it was thought prudent to retain and keep those at home who was more than 40 
years old, to take care of, and guard the town. And on the 11th day of July, we 
marched for camp. The 4 companies of the town were commanded by Captain Charles 
Lukens (the sheriff of York county) and to which I belonged, Captain William 
Bailey, a respectable man, a coppersmith, Captain Rudolph Spangler, a ?
silversmith, and Captain Michael Hahn, I am not certain as to his occupation, 
but I believe it was a smith, and it was generally believed that he was the 
most sensible and smartest of the 4 captains.”

“Lt. Col. Joseph Donaldson and Major Michael Swopes commanded the militia of 
Yorktown and its vicinity, on their way to camp and while at camp until what 
was called the Flying Camp was formed. Mr. Smith, the colonel, was then a 
member of Congress. Major Swopes was then appointed the colonel, Robert 
Stevenson the lieutenant colonel, and Captain William Bailey was appointed the 
major of our regiment. Colonel Watts of Cumberland County was appointed the 
colonel of the regiment from said county, and William Montgomery, esquire, was 
appointed the colonel of the regiment from Chester County. I do not recollect 
who was the lieutenant colonel of Watt’s regiment, but his major’s name was 
Galbraith, and who had, as I stood informed, about 140 men of the regiment with 
him on the day we were taken prisoners, but being a prudent man, he kept them 
out of harm’s way, except a few of his men, without orders, ran to where the 
fighting was and acted like men and soldiers, and no doubt they all would have 
done so if their officers had led them on.”

“Lt. Colonel Bull commanded Colonel Montgomery’s regiment from Chester County. 
I do not recollect of seeing Colonel Montgomery at camp. Colonel Bull was a 
Quaker gentleman, and as brave a man as was in the army. I saw him ride along 
the whole front of a British regiment, within eighty yards of them, when they 
were firing visibly, and it appeared to me that he done it to show the men whom 
Colonel Swopes and others were rallying that the firing of the enemy was not so 
dangerous as might be apprehended. These three regiments were commanded by 
Brigadier General John or James Ewing of York County, PA.”

“As to where I was born and my marching with the militia is answered above. But 
I was a corporal in Captain Stokes company of the Flying Camp and generally 
done the duty of a sergeant, when on guard. Our adjutant, who on the march 
acted in the place of  our Brigade Major, ?Lieu. Sheriff, generally placed me, 
when in the parade, on the right of the sergeants, and gave me a separate 
command, and sometimes I was sent a considerable distance on command for 
several days at a time. On the 16th day of November, 1776, I was taken prisoner 
at Fort Washington, and taken into New York, and sometime in the month of 
February, 1777, I got a parole to go home. But, being a prisoner, I did not get 
a commission of ensign as I expected, and most of all the officers, with 
scarcely an exception, were superceded.”

“I stayed at Yorktown with my father until April 1781, when I went to 
Fredericktown, Maryland, where I resided until after peace was proclaimed, and 
in 1784 I went to Northumberland County in Pennsylvania, where I followed 
surveying and called Northumberland County my home until Lycoming County was 
cut off of a part of it, when I called Muncy in said county my home. In the 
year 1798, I moved to the neighborhood of Harbridegrace? In Harland County, 
Maryland, and in the year 1814, I moved to the neighborhood of the District of 
Columbia, and in October 1816, I moved where I now reside, at the Vineyard in 
District of Columbia.”

Question 5-State the names of the regular officers who were with the troops 
where you served; such continental and militia regiments as you can recollect 
and the general circumstances of your service.

“At this distance of time, I cannot recollect the names of many of our own 
officers, even in the regiment I served in, which I suppose is owing to their 
having seldom appeared on parade. Of our regiment, there was Captain Stoke to 
whose company I attached myself. His subalterns were Lieu. Sheriff who was 
appointed Brigade Major, and who had been a schoolmaster at Yorktown; Lieut. 
Holtzinger, a brother-in-law to Colonel Hartley who commanded one of the 
Continental regiments during the Revolution (Holtzinger was a fellow ‘prentice 
with Simon Snyder, afterwards governor of Pennsylvania); and Michael Doudle [or 
Dowdle], a tanner. Captain Smiser, I only recollect of him and Zachary Shugart, 
his first lieutenant. I do not recollect any of Captain Nelson’s subalterns, 
and of Captain Trent’s company, I only recollect Ensign Myers, a blacksmith, 
and who was the most uncouth looking man in the army and one of the greatest 
dunces.”

“Ensign Jacob Barnitz of Stoke’s company was shot through both legs and lay on 
the field of battle all night, naked, having been stripped by the Hessians on 
their trolls. He was taken up the next day after the battle, by those appointed 
to bury the dead, and carried to the hospital in New York, where one leg was 
cured and he would not suffer the British surgeons to amputate the other. He 
carried the bal a little below his knee for 32 years, when it became so 
painful, he was obliged to have his leg amputated above his knee.”

“In our brigade, the sergeants and etc,   with but few exceptions, were the 
most talented and efficient officers in the brigade.”

“Before New York was evacuated, by our troops, our Brigade was sent up the 
North River where we began to erect Fort Lee. Colonel Putnam, who I believe was 
a nephew to General Israel Putnam , was the engineer who laid it out. I think 
this was toward the last of the month of September, and after the Battle of the 
White Plains, General Greene assumed the command, and if my memory is correct, 
he brought two, or a part of two brigades with him, of the new England troops. 
I think one was called Glover’s, and I recollect a Colonel ?Meigs? I do not 
recollect any of the names of the other officers of these brigades.”

“When General Lee assumed the command of the troops at Fort Lee, I was out on 
command about 20 miles from the camp at a bridge over Hackensack River where 
there was a commissary store, and to intercept deserters from our camp. And 
while I was there, and before I had ever seen General Greene, an Irishman named 
Kilpatrick (and who had been in the British service, and who came over to us 
while our troops lay before the city of Boston. Note-when any of the British 
deserted and joined our army, which they generally did, it was called ‘coming 
over to us’ as it was a great insult to ask them if they deserted) was the 
sentry on the bridge. Kilpatrick observed, ‘Here is a gentleman who says he is 
General Green, and your orders to me is not to let anyone pass into the country 
that has the appearance of a soldier,’ and etc. I felt very much confused, not 
to say frightened, but I handed him my orders which was written by Brigadier 
Ewing and endorsed from one sergeant to another. General Greene read them, and 
then handed me a letter from General Putnam introducing him to a gentleman in 
the country, a few miles from the bridge. I told the sentry to let him pass.”

“After he had passed the bridge, I told Kilpatrick he had got me into a pretty 
hobble, as I was afraid the General might not be pleased with my conduct, or at 
being stopped. But Kilpatrick answered with, “This will be the making of your 
fortune, you may depend upon it that the General will rather approve of, than 
censure you,” and he added, “Now we must be prepared to receive him on his 
return in the best manner that we can.” We accordingly dressed ourselves as 
well as circumstances would admit of, and as we saw the general returning, we 
formed, and when he came up to us, we presented our arms.”

“He told me to bring the men to an order. He then asked me a number of 
questions as to whether any disaffected people were in that neighborhood and 
what supplies might be got on an emergency, and etc. To all which I could give 
him tolerably satisfactory answers. There was an intelligent farmer who lived 
within forty or fifty rods from the bridge who was in the habit of coming and 
sitting with me in the evenings, and he gave me a history of the neighborhood 
for several miles round, with the real or supposed disaffected with its 
resources, a thing which should probably not have thought of enquiring after, 
if this old gentleman had not communicated them to me. This command always 
lasted for a week. General Greene, after this, always took note of and 
frequently spoke to me when I chanced to meet him in camp pr otherwise.”

Question 6th-Did you ever receive a discharge, and if so, by whom was it given 
and what has become of it?

	“I was taken prisoner at Fort Washington on the 16th day of November 
1776, and I got a parole to go home in the month of February following, and I 
was not notified to do militia duty until some time in the year 1780. I went 
and mustered once, and I then desired the Captain to inform me what evidence he 
had of my being exchanged, and he had none, but that he supposed from the time 
elapsed since the capture of Fort Washington, he thought it very probable that 
an exchange of prisoners had taken place. I told him that whenever he could 
satisfy me that I was exchanged, I would be ready to perform militia duty and 
until he could do that, I would not again attend parade, and I never was again 
called on to do militia duty.”

To an officer? To this I answer that I expected to receive an ensign’s 
commission on the 1st day of January 1777, as I understood on that day the 7th 
Pennsylvania Regiment was to be organized and to be commanded by Colonel Magaw, 
who at that time commanded the 4th Pennsylvania regiment and the times of 
service of the men of the said regiment, as I understood, expired on the 1st of 
January 1777, and of course to be discharged, except the re-enlisted, when 12 
regiments were to raised in Pennsylvania and to be newly organized on that day, 
but the unfortunate affair at Fort Washington deranged the whole business, and 
the Council of Safety of Philadelphia superceded and appointed officers in the 
place of almost all those that had the misfortune to be prisoners to the enemy. 
I know of but one exception, and that was Major Otho Holland Williams, 
afterwards General Williams, but there may have been others that I did not know 
of.”

	“Colonel Rawlings, who was colonel of the Maryland Rifle Regiment, and 
Major Williams superior was superceded. Colonel Rawlings was one of the 
handsomest as well as one of the bravest officers in the army, for he, with 
Major Williams and 309 men of their regiment, a piquet guard of 100, and a 
captain’s guard of 40 men repulsed near ten times their number at least twice, 
and the enemy acknowledged the loss of 600 men, and if it had not been for the 
British Light Infantry who formed in the rear of the Hessians and drove them on 
our troops with their bayonets, would have been beat to a certainty. This I 
mention with some hesitation, as Major Williams did not attend to it [in his 
writings] or know anything about the British that charged on the Hessians, and 
I was within five yards of him when he was wounded. I saw Dr. McHenry, 
afterwards Secretary of War, cut out the ball with which Major W. was wounded 
as he was sitting on a rock exposed to all the fire of the enemy, and but a few 
minutes before the British charged bayonets on the Hessians...”

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