On the thirteenth day of December 1832 personally appeared in open court before the Court of Common Pleas of Jefferson County now sitting Joseph Barnett, a resident of Pine Creek Township, Jefferson County, State of Pennsylvania, aged upwards of 78 years who first duly sworn according to the law doth in his oath make the following declaration to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress of 7th June 1832.
That in the year 1776 he volunteered in a company of militia in Northumberland County Pennsylvania line in the beginning of the month of November under Captain John Clark, the Lieutenant’s name was Thomas Foster and Ensign William Moore. That he marched with the company to Philadelphia and was then removed and sent to General Washington’s Army at Morristown, New Jersey. But while on the march from Philadelphia to Morristown they crossed the river at Trenton and went from thence to Princeton and from thence to Somerset Court House where he was engaged in a skirmish with the British scouting party and from thence marched to Morristown and was there attached to a battalion under command of Major Robinson of Northumberland Park and Colonel James Morrow of Chillisquaque, Northumberland County. The battalion at Morristown was ordered to join Colonel James potter’s regiment which was then near the lines. The line was considered to be a road from Bonhamtown to Spanktown. Before we got to our quarters, there was an alarm and the battalion was marched down to the Short Hill and joined Colonel Lindley of Jersey who had a command of Jersey militia and Colonel Scott who commanded some Virginia troops and had a skirmish with the British. While in the engagement a man named James McMichael who was immediately on the deponent’s left hand was killed. The battalion was then ordered into quarters at a place where Colonel Edgar’s troops were billeted there in the neighboring houses. While in quarters the battalion was reviewed by General Putnam and ordered to remain on the lines till they were discharged on the 23rd of February 1777. The British broke up our quarters about daybreak. They were and appeared to be 2,000 strong. The battalion rallied in an orchard to the north of Colonel Edgar’s and the company marched up in solid column and after the second fire the battalion retreated to the woods at the edge of the Ash Swamp and there made a stand and while there were joined by Colonel Cook and the 12th regiment of Continentals and beat the British back to the orchard where the British rallied and drove the Americans back to the Ash. And the British cannonade thin so since breaking down the timber that the Americans crossed the swamp and there rallied. And while there Colonel Cook’s command, Robinson’s Battalion and a rifle company commanded by Captain Land Brady of Northumberland were ordered to intercept the enemy on their return to Perth Amboy. We proceeded till we got to a neck of woods north of Woodbridge on the road from Woodbridge to Spanktown and then encountered the British and fought until dark. The next morning there were fifteen of the enemy found dead in a piece of cleared land which extended into the woods. The ______ the morning that there were thirty five wagons loaded with killed and wounded went into Perth Amboy. The battalion then returned to their quarters being without provisions from the night before the battle till the morning after the battle s the enemy had taken our provisions. Deponent after this whilst detained on scouting was in five after small skirmishes, but nothing material occurred. In the month of April the battalion was discharged and deponent reached his home about the first of May. After the battalion got into quarters deponent acted as orderly sergeant.
In the fall of 1779 deponent was drafted in Northumberland County in a militia company commanded by William Allen, but he not being with the company Lieutenant Matthew Gilchrist of what is now Dauphin but then Lancaster County took command. Marched from Northumberland to the mouth of Fishing Creek on the North Branch of the Susquehanna and served there for three months in a house of the Widow McCline’s(?) which they converted into a blockhouse and was then discharged during the time they were there. Deponent was employed on scouting parties against the Indians but had no engagements. That he has no documentary evidence and knows of no persons who can prove his service.
He hereby relinquishes every claim to a pension or annuity except the present and declares that his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any state.
Sworn and subscribed the day and year aforesaid James Corbet, prothonotary
{Joseph Barnett}
In answer to the question of where and when born says that he was born in the year of 1754 on the 11th of February according to a record which he saw in his father’s Bible, in what is now Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, within seven miles of Harrisburg in Paxton Township, and that he cannot tell where said Bible is as h was not living with his father at the time of his death.
In answer to the question where he lived when called into service and where since. He says that he lived in Northumberland when he entered the service, and in the year 1785 removed to the mouth of Pine Creek in what is now Lycoming County and lived there until 1799 and then moved with his family to Port Barnett in what is now Pine Creek Township, Jefferson County.
He states that he stated the mode and manner of his entering the service and the names of such officers as he recollects and the circumstances of his service so far as he considers them important.
That he never received any written discharges and that he refers to Moses Knapp and Thomas Lucas, Esq., of Rose Township, Jefferson County, as persons who can testify as to his character and their belief of his service in the Revolution.
Sworn and subscribed in open court this 13th December 1832
James Corbet, prothonotary
{Joseph Barnett]
On this ninth day of May AD 1833 personally appearing in open court before the Court of common Pleas of Jefferson County now sitting Joseph Barnett, a resident of Pine Creek Township, Jefferson County, State of Pennsylvania, who makes this additional affidavit for the purpose of obtaining the benefits of the Act of Congress of 7th June 1832.
That in his first tour of duty as a soldier in Captain John Clark’s Company of Militia as detailed in his preceding declaration he served five months and upward in the State of New jersey. That he is confident it was in the beginning of the month of November 1776 and that he volunteered and that he recollects it was late in the month of April 1777 that he was discharged. On his way home after his discharge he made an engagement with William Glenn for trading _____ at a place called the Red Lion in what is now Dauphin County on the first of May 1777. And that in his second term as detailed in said application he served three months. Making his services during the Revolutionary War amount to eight months and upward. That he is unable to procure the certificate of a clergyman as the county is very thinly settled and there is no regular clergyman stationed and residing within 20 miles of deponent’s residence.
sworn and subscribed in open court this 9th day of May AD 1833
Thomas Hastings Proth.
[Jos. Barnett]