General Statement of Service
State of Alabama}
Talladega County}Page 1
On this 4th day of April 1851. Personally
appeared, Isaac Brewer, before me Jonathon B. Starnes, one of the Justices
of the Peace in and for the County and State aforesaid, being a resident
of the said county and state and after being duly sworn deposith and saith
, that his services as well as he can recollect, as a soldier in the
defense of this our common country is as follows. He was raised in North
Carolina and was there in the ending of the revolutionary war, and toward
the latter part of it was in the service himself. He says he was, as he
learned from his parents, born in the year 1763 on the 15th day
May, and was first taken to the war by his uncle John Brewer. That he went
with him to gratify curiosity and went with him wherever he went. That he
went with him to a place called the Pine tree on the Catawba River in
South Carolina, but soon after and ever since called Camden. He says he
arrived there about 3 weeks before Gates defeat and was ignorant of the
way people down in the wars, but they gave him a gun and he mustered with
them, answered to his name and obeyed orders. Soon there was preparations
making among them for a battle and in about 3 weeks from the time he
arrived there the battle came on and the clash of arms and the struggle of
death (cont.)
Page 2
took place in which our people were defeated, many
of them slain, but many more ran and he is sorry to have it to say of his
uncle John (peace to his ashes) that he ran, and affiant was induced to
run too because uncle John ran. He and Uncle John however were taken
prisoners & after serving in the sepulture of the dead they were turned at
Liberty. From there they got into their company again, in a few days and
marched to and fro south country and finally got in a few miles of
Guilford courthouse N. Carolina at the time of a battle which took place
there, fought by Genl. Green. They could not get there in time to be in
the battle and our men again got whipped. From there they ranged about as
before a short time, said were permitted to go home, the time that he was
in that service he supposes to be 6 or 7 months but was under, or was
mustered by different officers, the names of which with much that occurred
he has now forgotten. He says that families were all on the stroll from
place to place and his father’s family was there living in Chatham County
North Carolina and in a few months from the time of leaving the service
above he went under a call, which was a sort of call or draft for soldiers
to meet the exigency of the troublesome time then existing, under this
call (cont.)
Page 3
He went for 3 months that being the term that calls
were generally made for those parts at that time. Under Colonel Dick
Literal and Capt. Martin Nalls, which service was performed in scouting
after the Tories principally in the said Chatham County. He says he felt a
degree of hardy hand which prompted him to go into the service without his
Uncle John and upon his own hook. Then at the expiration of the 3 months,
joined in again for 3 months and went to the barracks in Chatham Co. near
Haw River and worked till that time expired under the same commanders. The
next was 3 months under Col. Bill Gholson in the same County, and Capt.
Martin Nalls still continuing to be the Capt., this service was performed
in the scouting after the Tories in the same and adjoining counties. The
next he volunteered under Col. Bob Maburn or Mayburn for 3 months service.
Capt. Bill Smith was the Capt. and served this tour out in scouting in the
same and adjoining counties. The adjoining counties alluded to are Orange,
Moore, Randolph, Franklin & Wake Counties.
Page 4
And at the expiration of this service, he
volunteered under Col. Lee of the horse. The balance of the names not
remembered nor does he recollect the name of the Capt. In this service.
This service was done in scouting in many counties. He served some 2
months in this service and was granted a furlow to go home, and the other
month of the service was not required in any other way than to rest and
refresh up. The next he joined under Col. Bob Mayburn again as a
volunteer, Capt. Bill Smith still the Capt., for another 3 months, the
object of this was to prevent the Tories from taking Hillsborough in
Orange County. This was done as the others were in scouting after Tories,
he says he had been in the service about 5 weeks and a battle came on at
Lindleys Mills on Cane Creek in Orange County N. Carolina. In this
engagement Mayburn had, or was said to have had between 4 & 500 men & the
Tories was said to have over 900, the battle lasted some 3 or 4 hours, and
the Tories were commanded by old Hector McNeil and David Fannin or so they
were called. They ultimately (cont.)
Page 5
proved too hard for our men and were slaying our
ranks down by scores. Col. Mayburn thought it best to order a retreat
instead of being taken and did so. The result of which was that they mowed
us down more rapidly than before. In carrying out this order the Affiant
Declarant says that he received a ball or shot of some kind in the back
after which he ran about a ¼ of a mile and fell and there was a John
Carigan who was there issuing commissary of powder & shot & the doctor of
the company whose name he thinks was Whulington or something like it. They
turned him over on his back and it was said a gallon or more of blood ran
out. He was then soon put on a litter and carried away about ___ miles &
stayed under another doctor for 9 or 10 weeks until he recovered. This
service took place not long from the time of the battle at Ransoms Mills
in Lincoln County in N.Carolina. But whether prior or subsequent the
Affiant does not now recollect. He returned back no more to the war until
he heard peace was made which ends his service in the revolutionary war.
Page 6
The Affiant Declarant states in addition, that he
never knew by what authority this service were called for, it being his
rule to go and do service when it said was needed, it was not a question
to him who called or by what authority so the service was necessary and
the country protected. He says further that there was not much system or
regularity in these matters at that time, that Companies were many times
only parts of Companies, Battalions & Regiments more frequently only a
fractional part and knows better by such a Colonels regiment, such a
Majors Battalion, or a Capts. Company than any number, letter or initial
of any kind nor was it customary to have these corps. regularly offered.
Sometimes a commissary would be lacking, sometimes a doctor or surgeon,
sometimes one or another and rarely a full set of officers or men. But
paymasters especially were hard to find; the result of which was they
served for the glory, for it was seldom they got anything else. He
remembers the name of persons who were in the same services with him. Some
of whom were 1. his father Howell Brewer 2. his uncle Bill Brewer 3. uncle
John 4. Henry Bagly 5. Bill Buckhannon 6.N___ Powell 7.Jacob and Andy
White 8. J__ Kirk & all these are dead as he has understood & (cont.)
Page 7
Has reason to believe, he does not know any living
witness and it was not a custom for soldiers to take certificates of
discharge in those days, for himself he had never one in all his service
in the revolutionary, nor does he remember the exact dates of the battles
he was in or of those in the region round about, but says that he was but
a boy when he performed the service alluded to, his age during said
service was about 16-17 & 18 years old, of country life and uniformed.
He further says that he ranged about among his
rotation, lived at his father’s until about 1791 or 2 and then came to
Georgia, and the Creek Indians being troublesome or as well as other
Indians he was induced to enlist at Greensboro, Georgia under Capt. Martin
his last name forgotten and Major Call his first name not known of the 4th
regiment of _______ of the term of 3 years actually served two years & 6
months, then hired a substitute by the name of John Codi or Cody not
recollected which, who served out the balance of the time, as well as he
can recollect he was Second Sergeant in the Company which was called the
Yellow _______ or Company Y.
Page 8
This service was performed in guarding the frontier
between the Creek Indians and the whites up and down the Oconee River and
said state of Georgia. The Indians being very troublesome it was necessary
every year & spring in particular to split up skirmishing parties, the
affiant says that he very soon found it necessary to join in these
services and did so under a Col. Thomas Lamar and Capt. Hugh Horton of the
Militia and served about 2 months, then the next spring continued the said
service under Capt. Mark Sanders and Major Adams of the Militia for about
2 months. Then volunteered under the same commanders for two years as an
Indian spy, all which service he actually performed within the frontier
country up and down the said Oconee River and all about wherever ordered.
Then rested a few months & again volunteered under Capt. Ben Harrison of
the militia in Washington County Georgia, for 3 months and still performed
the service in skirmishing about. And in the spring of the year the
(cont.)
Page 9
dates of the year not recollected. His Company had
an engagement with a party of Creek Indians at a place called the Sand bar
on said Oconee River not far from Sandersville Washington County, in which
they killed 9 of the Indians, but he in a ____ contest with one of them
received two severe stabs or wounds with a butcher knife which went
through the thick part of his left thigh which weakened him and thr___ him
under the power of the Indian but the Capt. came to his assistance & they
dispatched him. In this encounter he also received a severe cut on his
left hand. At the same time, many others of his company were wounded but
none died of wounds. It was several weeks he lay under the Doctor and
never did recover his strength and action as well as before. In these
skirmishing parties there was but little military order about them and
there was but little formately in mustering in or out, certificates and
discharges were not expected, but every one did the best he could to
combat the Indians who were very troublesome and expect in these
excursions many of them killed as to prisoners there was no use for them.
Page 10
Some 3 or 4 years after the last mentioned service,
he volunteered under Col. Newman of Georgia in Warren County for 3 months
to go against the Seminoles, and did go to the Apalachi cola Bay and
performed the service in the regiment of horse, the Captains name he does
not recollect, among the affairs there was one Capt. White, there was also
a Capt. Gray & a Major Ramsy that he recollects & this service he thinks
was performed somewhere between 1798 and 1800 but as to the exact date he
cannot recollect. The service was a skirmishing tour in which there was a
good many little running fight s with Negroes that had got in among them
somehow, there was a number of them killed and about 25 of our men killed.
From this time up to the War of 1812 with Great Britain he says that he
enjoyed domestic life with his family and moved from Warren County Georgia
to Jackson County in the up country, and then worked at farming and
sometimes carpentry & millwrighting, and supported and raised his family
in that time. At length the War of 1812, came on and he (cont.)
Page 11
being used to a soldier’s life went again in the
service. While in said county there was a great call for soldiers and he
being off the Muster List years back, encouraged up and joined a company
of silver grays. Which were old gray headed men who still felt Patriotic,
and determined to show that if the country needed them they were ready,
also to excite younger persons. This company was not called for however
and he restless to be in the service, hired himself to two men by the name
of Pentecost & Lowry to drive a team in said service and went on to Fort
Hawkins on the Oak mulgy (Ocmulgee) river on the Frontier of Georgia, then
was received into the service in March & to the best of his recollection
in 1814 for three months and actually performed said service under the
command of Capt. Simons who was the Capt. of the wagon yard. Col. Graham
of N. Carolina was the Militia Col. , Major Cook was also in command, the
whole under Genl. Pickney. The place they sent him to alternately was Fort
Decatur, Fort Mitchel, Fort Hull, Fort Laurence, Fort Bainbridge and Fort
Jackson all in the Indian country or Creek Nation but now (cont.)
Page 12
in Georgia and Alabama. The next service he engaged
in was as a substitute for one John are of Jackson County Georgia which he
went into about the first of Nov. 1814 for the time of 6 months under
Capt. Hanamiah(?) Garrison & Capt. David Booth of the 4th
Regiment Georgia Militia under Genl. Mackintash and went to Mobil and
served the term out there. Which service ended the war & peace was made he
received his discharge and returned home about the 1st of April
1815, which ended his service as a soldier in the Battle of his country.
He then led a domestic life with his family in the calling of farming,
carpentering & millwrighting as before mentioned. Not long after this he
moved to Tennessee in the Eastern part of it & then followed his said
business sometimes adding mill keeping to it. He was in several counties
there for several years and about 9 years ago came to Talladega County
Alabama where he now lives and is too old to do anything else but farming
and not much of that, but still lives for which he thanks his Maker with
an overflowing heart. A man little (cont.)
Page 13
narration and he is done(?), Not long after he came
to the state of Georgia in one of the spells that he was allowed to rest
from the wars, he among other neighbors was occupying a fort called the
Cedar Shoal Fort on the Oconee River which was then the line between the
Creek and whites and in those days family and everybody else had to live
in forts unless they were under arms. On one evening he took his gun and
walked out alone about a short mile from it and in sight of a house where
a family was venturing to stay, he heard 3 guns fire supposing some
mischief’s he slipped up near to see, and just then a young woman came
running by him and as she passed he understood her to say Indians, she
passed a little distance and seemed to fall down, at that he saw a large
Indian fellow following with his gun, and raised it apparently to shoot
the young woman. At that instant Affiant drew upon him and killed him
before his gun fired. The others then came running but Affiant took the
gun of the killed Indian, and hollered come on boys, here they are, come
on and in that way (cont.)
Page 14
frightened them so that they ran. It so happened
that the guard from the fort came in sight and seeing the flying(fleeing)
Indians, pursued them, fell upon them and killed them all = 5 in numbers.
He returned back to succor the young woman & took her in a fainting
condition to the fort and had her nursed until she revived of her fright.
Her name was Elizabeth York. Not long after she married a man by the name
of Turk. He further says that he has had two wives, and has raised seven
children of his own and two orphan children not kin to him. His oldest
child being 57 years old and the youngest 37. And he was about 30 years
old when he married his first wife. All which he respectfully submits as
the most authentic account that he can give of his war service & the way
in which he has spent great portion of his time in life. Sworn to and
subscribed } his
before me on day and date above.} Isaac