1837 James Gaston Pension Application

In 1832 the Congress of the United States passed legislation giving pensions to living veterans of the War for Independence.  In order to qualify, a veteran had to appear before a probate judge in his county of residence with witnesses and assert in writing the facts of his service.  I found James Gaston's pension application that he made in 1837.  Ironically, or not, he made the application on the anniversary, 6 August 1837, of the Battle of Hanging Rock (6 August 1780) in which he was taken prisoner and three of his brothers, Ebenezer, Robert, and David, were killed.  Another brother, Joseph, was severely wounded at Hanging Rock and nearly died.  A good portion of his face was blown away and the wound never healed. The family farm was 2 miles east of the battlefield.  James was 76 years old at the time of the application.  James Gaston is my 4th Great Grandfather.  He was one of nine sons of John "Justice" and Esther Waugh Gaston, "Patriots of the Revolution."  James Gaston fathered  Thomas Gaston who fathered James Monroe Gaston who fathered Lloyd Ulysses Gaston who fathered Nellie Elizabeth Gaston.  Nellie married Russell H. McCullough Sr., my grandfather.  Their son, Russell H. McCullough, Jr. was my father.  Here is the transcription:

Declaration by James Gaston in Order to Obtain the Benefit of the Act of Congress of the

7th of June 1832

State of Illinois

County of Wayne

On the sixth day of August in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty Seven: Personally appeared in open court before the Probate Judge for the County of Wayne and State aforesaid James Gaston a resident of the county and state aforesaid aged seventy six years who being first duly sworn according to law doth make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provisions by the Act of Congress passed June the 7th 1832.

That he Entered the service of the United States in the latter part of the summer of 1778 as a draughted (drafted) man served in the regiment commanded by Col. Joseph Carhaw in the company commanded by Capt. John Marshall [? ?] was Charles Robinson.  Gen. Benjamin Lincoln was the commanding general.  Was in the Battle of Hanging Rock (SC) and was taken prisoner there, and was confined in the Camden Jail (SC) two months and nineteen days when he was paroled and returned home.  When he was paroled he left John Adair, John Moor, and Alexander Brown in jail.  On his arriving at home he found his Father's Farm and everything there destroyed.  (He then) threw his parole in the fire and turned out volunteer in the company of Capt. William Ingram with whom he served until Christmas when he joined (?) company of Capt. William Nesbit (spl?)  for three months, where he served until the first week of May in 1781.  He has mentioned no written discharge.  He was born in the Sate of Pennsylvania, Lancaster County, the 24th of July 1761.  His father moved from Pennsylvania when he was about six years old to the State of South Carolina.  Settled 28 miles north of Camden, two miles east of the Hanging Rock where he (James) resided nearly 40 years.  From there he moved to Christian County, Kentucky in the year 1805.  (He) lived there two years.  He moved to Illinois where he has resided up to the present time.  That Alexander Clark, John Clark, Vaughn Stuart, and (Marby (?) Staton are persons residing in his present neighborhood who will testify to character for veracity on his behalf of his services as a Soldier of the Revolution.  (Signed and attested, etc.)

19th Century lithograph of what James Gaston called "The Hanging Rock"  It is here where the wounded were brought for shade and care during and after the battle, 6 August 1780

James Gaston's resting place in Wayne County, Illinois.  Image courtesy of "Find a Grave"

Hugh Gaston - American Patriot

Ruins of Ballywallin Presbyterian Church, County Antrim, Ulster Plantation, ca. 1748 – Image Courtesy Ballywallin Presbyterian Church

Five generations ago, Hugh Gaston risked it all…and paid it all.  He fled home, hearth, church and family risking everything for the freedom of reading, teaching and living the precepts of the Holy Scriptures.  After attending an annual conference of ministers in 1766 he disappeared for nearly four months.  Suddenly he reappeared in South Carolina, sought out his brother, John “Justice” Gaston of Chester County and set out for the back country to begin a new ministry.  He preached just one or two sermons, then fell ill with the measles.  He was dead within a month of his arrival.  He is buried next to his brother and sister in law in Burnt Meeting House Cemetery just an hour’s drive south of Charlotte, NC.  John wrote a letter home to his widow, Mary Gaston, and children telling of Hugh’s tragic demise.  Hugh’s family stayed in Ulster and never came to America, but Hugh’s book DID come! 

These freedoms that Hugh risked everything for had eluded the Gaston family for generations.  Long before Hugh was born the Gaston family searched for the truth of the gospel with the Huguenots of France.  Roman Catholicism was the state religion there in the 16^th century.  The Gaston’s, under persecution from Rome, fled France for Scotland where they associated themselves with the Reformed Presbyterianism of John Knox.  Here too, they faced persecution, not from Rome but from London.  The English, having subdued Scotland, were determined to force the Scots back into Romanism under Queen Mary and then into Anglicanism under Elizabeth I and James VI.   Scotland was under the boot of the tyrannical English, land was scarce and times were hard.  After several generations, the family sought a better life across the Irish Sea in what was then called Ulster Plantation, now known as Northern Ireland.  Here they found more, better and cheaper land. However, they did not find the religious freedom that they so desperately longed for.

Ulster Plantation was designed by the English as an enclave where both Scots and English would settle Irish Catholic lands and eventually cause the Irish to give up their resistance to English rule.  The plan backfired and the repercussions of this 400 year old plan are still resounding today in the streets of Northern Ireland.  The Gaston’s faced the hatred of the displaced Irish Catholics and the persecution of the English Anglicans.  It was literally a “stress sandwich.”  However, early in the 18^th century, these displaced Ulster Scots began immigrating to a new land that promised it all – freedom of religion, free land and unbridled prosperity in a land “flowing with milk and honey,” AMERICA.  John and Esther Waugh Gaston along with two small daughters came to Pennsylvania before 1740.  By 1754, the expanding family found their way south through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, through the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina, ending up in the rolling piedmont hills of upstate South Carolina.  John became the top law officer on the frontier, the so-called “Kings Justice.”  He also became the most successful surveyor of land in all the upstate.  Here they would prosper in freedom and liberty.  John and Esther would eventually have 13 children, all of which lived to adulthood, a blessing unheard of in that day and time.  The only thing they lacked in the upstate were trained preachers for all the Scot – Irish, as we are called here in America.  Hugh Gaston was not only a trained minister, he was the most brilliant Presbyterian scholar of his age.  No amateur, Hugh was trained at the University of Glasgow as was his physician brother, Alexander.  No wonder John was so excited to greet his brother on his way to Chester from Charleston when he arrived in 1766.

Hugh Gaston was a dangerous man to the English, perhaps the most dangerous man in all of Scotland and Ireland.  Why?  Hugh had in 1763 published a book, a book that threatened every Catholic and every Anglican in Ulster.  It was book that, for the first time, provided the common man the tools needed for deep Bible study.  Now the Ulster ploughman could within a very short period of time, know more Bible than any Catholic or Anglican “clergyman.”  It was simple, yet brilliant.  The book was a combination systematic theology, concordance and topical Bible.  It became a bombshell!  The name of the book?  A Scripture Account of the Faith and Practice of Christians.   Detailed knowledge of the Scriptures not only spoke of salvation, they shed the light of truth on all other aspects of life.  Scot-Irishmen learned self-reliance, self-government, morality, virtue and courage.  They also learned that the rights of man descended, not from the king, but from God Himself!  They then began to “proclaim Liberty throughout the land!”

The publication of this book apparently cost Hugh everything.  By 1766 he found himself broke and disgraced.  Because he so soon died upon arriving in the new world, he left no information as the exact circumstances of his sudden departure.  One thing is for sure.  This book cost Hugh everything.  He lost his family.  He lost his position.  He lost his wealth.  He lost his life.  He lost these things so that anyone could study the Bible for themselves.

Hugh Gaston gave everything so that others could take that journey as well.  He was a man of great passion and love for the truth.  Though Hugh was an “American” for less than six weeks, few others made such an impact.  His book was republished numerous times for nearly 100 years after his death.  Countless thousands of everyday people learned to read and study the Bible for themselves, no longer having to rely on government preachers to tell them how to live and believe. Every man, woman and child became his own priest before God.   Gaston’s Collections as the book came to be known, taught its readers to become truly free, truly responsible and truly patriotic.

Now, one year shy of 250 years, the passion of Hugh Gaston has been replaced by passivity.  “Christians” today have grown passive, lazy and unconcerned with the study, the teaching and the living of the Scriptures.  Bibles sit unopened on the shelf or travel without use in the back seats of automobiles.  People today are passive towards the claims of Holy Scripture and are ashamed of what it says.  What Hugh Gaston died for in 1766, people in 2015 could not care less about.  How about you?  Are you passionate or passive?

Hugh Gaston is my great uncle, five times removed.  John Gaston is my great grandfather five times removed.  John and Esther gave four sons in death during the War for Independence.  They also gave up their home, their possessions and their freedom.  Three of their sons died on the same day at the Battle of Hanging Rock, 6 August 1780.  Ebenezer, Robert and Dave Gaston gave their all just a few miles from the family farm on Fishing Creek.  In fact, all nine of John and Esther’s sons served the cause of liberty.  Hugh and John’s brother, Dr. Alexander Gaston, was murdered by the British in Newbern, NC in the presence of his wife and young son.  At 80 years of age, John Gaston died in his sleep, still being pursued by the English.  He had two loaded pistols under his pillow and a loaded musket at this bedside as he passed into eternity.  The year was 1782.  Esther joined him in death seven years later in 1789.  On their tombstone is one simple inscription – “Patriots of the Revolution.”

The Gaston’s learned that “freedom isn’t free” from reading, studying and living the precepts of Holy Scripture.  Hugh Gaston left a legacy of light and truth that still burns bright today.

-          Russ McCullough – Mint Hill, NC – 21 May 2015

 

A Bitter Sweet Visit

Today I visited the grave of my 5th great grandparents, John "Justice" and Esther (Waugh) Gaston, "Patriots of the Revolution" for the very first time.
 

It was a bitter sweet moment.

Sweet because after 6 years of searching, I finally found them.  (It wasn't easy)  Bitter because their grave has been all but forgotten save some very recent grave violators.  The slab was moved about 8" in an attempt to push it aside.  Apparently too heavy to slide further, the desecrators dug down and opened the tomb from the side.  I called the local police and reported the crime but never heard a word back. 

In 1789 everyone in Chester revered the Gaston's. 

The top slab you see today is not original. It was placed there by local patriots ca. 1900 when their memory was still very much alive. Today, no one remembers and no one seems to care.

Prior to my photograph, the last known photograph of their resting place was in 2006.  The grave was compromised sometime between then and now.  Here is what it looked like in 2006:

Photo via "Find a Grave"



In 1782, the Gaston's were the most notable, significant and important people in all of upstate South Carolina.  John had rallied the entire population of Scot-Irish Presbyterians to oppose the brutal English invasion by force.  They suffered much and paid dearly for their patriotism.  All their worldly possessions, save the family Bible, were destroyed by the English.  The two loving parents of 13 children were chased all over South Carolina by the enemy.  John's brother, Dr. Alexander Gaston, was murdered in cold blood by Tory thugs as his wife and son looked on in horror.  They lost a son in the war due to smallpox and lost three more on a single day in a single battle, the "Battle of Hanging Rock."  Ebenezer, Robert and David Gaston all perished on 6 August 1780, just a few miles from home.

Now lying in desecration, John and Esther rest in what is now called "Burnt Meeting House Cemetery."  The graveyard is located very near to Richburg, SC in Chester County.  Sometime before the end of the War for Independence the Lower Fishing Creek Meeting House burned and was abandoned.  However, for perhaps another 100 years or more, the local Presbyterian community continued to inter decedents here.  The cemetery is enclosed by a chain linked fence and is accessible via a high power voltage line easement.  Other notable people rest here as well including the oldest daughter of John and Esther as well as John's brother Hugh who died of the measles ca.1766.  Their graves, however, are either unmarked or unidentifiable.

For their selfless service, the community honored John and Esther with the largest tombstone and the highest elevation resting place in the cemetery.  Time has nearly erased the memory of these great patriots.  May their memories be rekindled once more by a new generation of patriots!



The Battle of Polk's Mill

Photo of modern day Dellinger Grist Mill dating from ca. 1901. Precious little remains of Polk's Mill.  This photo is illustrative of what it "may" have looked like on or about 7 October 1780 (1)

A Chapter in the Forthcoming Book by Russ McCullough; 1780 - The Year The Presbyterians Saved America

"...the counties of Mecklenburg and Rowan were more hostile to England than any others in America."
- Banastre Tarleton

In the whole scheme of man's 6,000 year history being 232 years removed from 1780 seems insignificant. That assumption will not hold water. 1780 in the Carolina's had more in common wth 1,500 B.C. than it does with 2012! Grain was ground pretty much the same way as it was in antiquity. Corn was not harvested in July like it is today but rather in October after it had dried out on the stalk. The only thing that was different was the plenitude of much water here in the Catawba River Basin. A stream would be dammed up with a spillway for overflow. The water would flow through a culvert, or flume as it was called, to the side turning a water wheel. The water wheel would turn two large grist stones against one another, in between which the dried corn would be turned into meal. The bottom stone was called the bedstone and it was stationary.  The top stone was called the running stone and moved around on the bedstone.  Grooves allowed the corn to enter and the flour to exit. This technology prevailed until electricity became prevalent in the early 20th century. Once electricity became available the old mills fell into disuse, were torn down and the dams and spillways destroyed. Such was the fate of Polk's Mill. Greater Charlotte today is urbanized, industrialized and digitized 180 degrees from the wild and woolly wilderness that was 1780 up and down the Catawba River Basin. Of the 24 operating grist mills in Mecklenburg County in 1780, none remain today.  The closest thing?  The ruins of a mill on the campus of Myers Park High School in Charlotte, the 1857 Issac Newton Alexander Mill.

Europeans had been in these parts of the Carolina's for only about 30 years in 1780. They were almost all Scot-Irish, almost all Presbyterian and almost all displaced from western Pennsylvania. The British ran as many Presbyterians as they could out of Scotland and Northern Ireland in order make subjugation and tyranny easier. They had, at first, been warmly received by the Quakers. The Presbyterians served as a buffer between the coastal dwellers in and around Philadelphia and the Indians still roaming the forests in far western Pennsylvania and Ohio. It was a flawed plan. The Scot-Irish flourished and threatened to become more numerous than the Quakers themselves. Soon they came under persecution. Their solution? Move as far away from "civilization" as they could without moving further west, a fatal solution had it been tried due to the fact that western migration was outlawed at the time past the Appalachian Mountains into was then solid Indian territory. The Shenandoah Valley was a natural highway and brought the Presbyterians to the Catawba. The Carolina foothills, therefore, became home to the Presbyterians. Even today the largest concentration of Presbyterians in the South live within a 50 mile radius of Charlotte. The lay of the land reminded them of their ancestral home, had wild life in abundance and plenty of rivers, streams and creeks. Along these waterways sprung up numerous grist mills providing food and economic growth for the newcomers, both man and beast.

Picture taken from the likely location of Polk's Mill. Scene is looking east down a steep bank to what is now known as Irwin's Creek. The mill, blockhouse, dam and spillway disappeared sometime after 1904. Image by JTC Media.

The last thing the Presbyterians wanted was another confrontation with the brutal English. The so-called "revolution" was another mans fight, not theirs. Isolation, self government and self reliance was all that any of them wanted. Charlotte Town, Lord Cornwallis, the Presbyterians and 1780 converged to change everything about their wishes. Charlotte Town was occupied, the country side was pillaged to feed the British army and the Presbyterians awoke to fight. So fiercely did they fight back, in these parts, the American Revolution is known as the Presbyterian Rebellion. 1780 was quite a year.

Looking north from the Remount Road bridge onto the likely ruins of both the dam and spillway of Polk's Mill. Image by JTC Media.

The occupation of Charlotte Town began on 26 September 1780. (2) The English were hungry and so were their horses. In order to procure enough food, Cornwallis unleashed his forces to occupy and confiscate the various grist mills around Charlotte Town. In fact, so abundant were these grist mills, their presence became the singular drawing card for Cornwallis.  One such mill was Polk's Mill. In addition to stealing the Presbyterian's corn, Cornwallis planned on using the mill as a staging point for horse mounted foraging, another word for theft. (Cornwallis would pay hard money for any forage "IF" the owner would surrender his rifle and sign a loyalty pledge to the king!) Polk's Mill was quite the prize. Cornwallis seized some 28,000+ lbs. of grain upon arrival as it was "corn pickin time." Polk's Mill was located on the west bank of what is now known as Irwin Creek just north of Remount Road and just west of Interstate 77. It lies just inside what is now Revolution Park in Charlotte, NC.

Col. Thomas Polk was Charlotte Town's leading citizen. He lived in what was called "the only painted house in town." (3) It was certainally the nicest! Cornwallis chose it as his headquarters. In addition to Polk's Mill, Polk owned two others as well. (4) In May of 1775 it was Polk that called the for the meetings that would, on the 20th of that month, produce the Mecklenburg Declaration now known simply as the Mec Dec. As the closest printing press was all the way on the coast at New Bern, no copies of Mec Dec are now extant. (5)

Image of the West Point Mill dam and spillway in Durham, NC. The dam and spillway of Polk's Mill likely looked much like this. Image via: http://www.enoriver.org/eno/parks/WestPoint/westpoint.html.

Being just 2 miles away from Charlotte Town, Polk's Mill was very quickly taken over. A very young officer, Lt. Stephen Guymon, effectively occupied and defended Polk's Mill with a force of about 60 men. Guymon commanded the 23rd Regiment of Foot - Royal Welch Fusiliers. Making up that command was a core of 20 Welsh guards with the remainder being Tories of various sorts. Sadly, the capable, gallant and brave Guymon would perish a year later at Yorktown. (6)

Records are scant and there are conflicting dates for the battle of Polk's Mill. October 7, 1780 is the most likely point in time. The overall commanding officer opposing Lt. Guymon was a Col. Philip Taylor, assisted by Maj. William Hunt. The Patriot force was a combination of a new unit, the Granville County of Mounted Volunteers Militia and the North Carolina State Cavalry - Western District Regiment. under the command of the much acclaimed Maj. Joseph Dickson who was very likely not present that day. (7)

Looking west from the likely location of Polk's Mill up the knoll to a clump of trees where the blockhouse was likely located. Image by JTC Media.

Taylor rounded up a substantial force of 120 men on horseback that circled Charlotte Town looking for pickets, supply trains and couriers. The disruption to the British was intense. Guymon had the mill grinding night and day for the army had to be fed. The Patriot force surrounded Polk's Mill and engaged the enemy. Guymon took his entire force and placed them in the loop hole block house building up the hill from the mill itself. In the Catawba most mills had been built with these small fortress to protect the Presbyterians from Indian attacks, attacks that were common up through the 1760's. Polk's Mill was no exception and, even though outnumbered 2 - 1, the British held their position. Pension petition accounts from the 1830's indicate that Taylor was unaware of regular troops on station, thinking initially he was dealing only with Tory militia. The blockhouse provided a superior field of fire with little likelihood that return fire would have any effect. The Patriot's, however, were not without some success. One British picket sentinel and 7 Tories were captured. Taylor's force lost one dead and one wounded. The dead patriot was a man by the name of Hugh Gray. William Husbands also took a severe wound to the leg, Being obvious that they could not take the fort by assault and that a siege was not possible due to the mill's proximity to Cornwallis' main force just 2 miles away, Taylor withdrew. But...the Americans were not through with Polk's Mill that day! That same night, they came back and carried off 50 horses, leaving the British no choice but to withdraw back to Charlotte Town. (8) 

All that remains of Polk's Mill are two millstones  set in concrete on display at Revolution Park in Charlotte.  As there is not a historical marker, these "likely" are the two millstones removed from the mill when it was torn down sometime after 1904 when it was last known as "Wilson's Mill."  Image by JTC Media.

The Battle of Polk's Mill is a memory disappeared in the minds of most. However, the intense resistance of the Presbyterian Patriots to the invaders of the Catawba was such that Lord Cornwallis withdrew from the area in a little over 2 weeks. Within a year he would surrender his army at Yorktown. That surrender took place, in part, because the Presbyterian Patriots of the Catawba denied him the grain he needed from Polk's Mill on October 7, 1780. In fact, Col. Tarleton later recalled that Rowan and Mecklenburg counties in NC resisted the British more than any other counties in all of America!

Standing here one would hardly know that anything happened here on the banks of Irwin Creek in 1780, or at any time for that matter. Other than the two millstones, nothing remains of either the mill or the blockhouse. The last we hear of the mill is in 1904 when it was last known as "Wilson's Mill." The blockhouse was likely located at the top of the ridge which now contains a playground, a parking lot and a tennis court. In addition to the park, I look around and all I see is little more than a big urban drainage ditch, a noisy road, and the skyline of Charlotte (Town), NC. Then...I open my eyes and I see what is really here, a beautiful tile in the precious mosaic of liberty, the War for Independence. Huzzah! Their sacrifice is our legacy, let's not let it slip away.

Though not as old the Issac Newton Alexander Mill on Briar Creek is representative of what was Polk's Mill.  Check out this video as it is quite informative:

Russ McCullough - 19 April 2012

(1) Photo courtesy of: http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=ush-mail&va=dellinger+grist+mill (2) http://jrshelby.com (3) Ibid. (4) Ibid. (5) Ibid. (6) Ibid. (7) http://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/revolution_polks_mill.html (8) op. cit., jrshelby.com 

Russ McCullough is a historian, writer and speaker on all things War for Independence in the Carolina's. Contact him at russellwrites@hotmail.com for the presentation needs of your church, school or civic organization.  His services are made available to the public by JTC Media.