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Captain Isaac Williams and His Grandchildren Pioneers of Lawrence County, Indiana By Ben & Alice Dixon
THE OLD JOURNAL
Ration Return
Equipment Return
R A T I O N R E T U R N
= = = =
= = = = = = = = =
Company of Drafted East Tennessee Militia, Captain Isaac Williams
===
January, 1814, in the Second War. with
Great Britain ==
***
(
This return was found in a ledger or daybook
kept by )
(
Captain. Isaac Williams for his personal records, and was)
(
evidently transcribed by him from the original return.)
(
The book is the property of his grand-daughter, Mrs. )
(
Cornelia Jones, of Williams, Indiana. The
following )
(
records were copied verbatim from said
book, January 7 )
(
1963, by Mrs. Belah Thompson, Williams, Indiana. )
“ Jan
8, 1814. A true and accurate account of the returns of Capt.
“Isaac Williams Company of drafted East Tennessee Malta???
"At little Jan
8, 1814 Return for 2 days (illegible, probably 50 men
Pigeon and received complete rashions of meat and
meal.
"At Adoner No
sope candles nor vinegar
"Pitners The 10th 2
days 50 men no sope candles nor vinegar
"Knoxville The 12th 2
days 50 men no sope nor vinegar
”Knoxville The 14th 3
days 47 men no sope nor vinegar
"Knoxville The 17th 4
days 47 men Complete rashions
"Kingston The 21st 3
days 47 men Complete rashions
“Highwassee The 24th day 48 men no cope candles nor vinegar
Garrison
Ditto The 25th 4 days 48 men no
candles nor vinegar
"Camp (?) The 28th 2
day 46 men no sope candles nor vinegar
"Camp (?) The 30th 2
days 46 men no cope candles nor vinegar
***
NOTES
1) Camp at Little Pigeon was probably at
its mouth, where it flows into the French Broad, since there is no reference to
Sevierville.
2) Adoner: Study of the chirography may
indicate this to have been Adair's, a station five or six miles from
Knoxville.
3) Pitmers -- no data available.
4) Knoxville: The return of rifles
suggests that the Knoxville camp may have been on south side of the river in
Sevier county.
5) Kingston: The march was probably via Campbell's
Station where no doubt the company camped over night.
6) Highwassee Garrison: On or near the
Hiawassee River southwest of Knoxville about 70 or 75 miles by trail. The company may have used flatboat
transportation downstream from Kingston.
This camp may have been located at Big Spring, in present day Meigs
county.
(7) Camp (?) -- Indecipherable, possibly
Camp Reed. No data.
oC a p t a i n
ISAAC
WILLIAMS (27)
E Q U I P M E N T R E T U R N
===============================
Company of Drafted East Tennessee Militia, Captain
Isaac Williams
-===
January, 1814, in the Second War with Great Britain ===
(
Capt. Wi11iams's Journal, referred to on the previous )
(
page documents the equipping of his company under the )
(
frontier practice of drafting arms along with the men.)
(
The following table is a consolidation of information )
(
contained in 34 entries made by Capt. Williams in the )
(
book under date of January 18, 1814,
at his camp in )
(
"Sevier County, Tenn. near Knoxville.
Each entry is )
(
dated and written out in full. Items and values are )
(
spelled out as instanced by the first entry
given in )
(
full below. Entries were apparently made from
a form )
(
of standard usage. )
***
"Sevier
County Jan the 18th 1814”
“Received of Hugh Duggan one rifle Gun for the use of my
Co. which was valued to Twenty Dollars to be returned or paid for by the United
States in the care of Jno Frazier.”
***
THE DRAFTED ARMS
================
Eighteen
East Tennessee Citizens furnished the armament for this company of draftees.
Frontier usage approved the drafting of arms as well as men, and the county
courts or county lieutenants activated this draft. Since the arms were all
receipted for in Sevier county, where this company was formed, it is reasonable
to suppose that the men listed below were early settlers and pioneers of that
county.
NAME SUPPLIED VALUE
1. ADAMA. Daniel, 1 rifle & 1 shotgun $
21.
2. BERRIER, John 1 rifle
12.
3. CAMPBELL, John 1 rifle
15.
4. CROCKETT, John 1 rifle
15.
5. Darieys, Zachariah 1 rifle 10.
6. DUGGAN, Hugh I rifle
20.
7. DUGGAN, Williams 1 rif1e 15.
8. FARAYS, Samuel 1 rifle
15.50
9. FINCANNON, James 1 rifle 20.
10. GRIMMET, Jacob 1 rifle
20.
11. HUDSON, Obadiah 1 rifle 18.
12. KERR, Jonathan 1 rifle
6.
13. LEMMONS, Jacob 1 rifle
20.
14. MANNON, Job 1 rifle
16 .
15. McCHAITEY, David 1 rifle 15.
16. WATKINS, Isaac 1 rifle
12.
17. WILLIAMS Isaac 15 rifles 1
shotgun 238.50
18.
? , Edward 1 rifle 20.00
oC a p t a i n
ISAAC WILLIAMS
(28)
E Q U I P M E N T R E T U R N
==============================
Stacking Arms in Sevier County
The
34 equipment and custody entries in Captain Isaac's journal of 1814, show that
he and seventeen other citizens of Sevier County stacked arms in his camp near
Knoxville January 18, 1814, in order to equip his drafted company for the
second campaign against the Creek Indians
“Sevier County, Jan the 18th
1814
=============================================================================
“Received of "for
the use "which was "in the care of
of my Co. valued
at (*)
1. Hugh Duggan 1 rifle Gun $20.00 Jno Frazier
2. James Fincannon do 20.00 William Smith
3. Samuel Farays do 15.50 Robert Mattheys
4. Job Mannon do 16.00 Jonathan Will
5. Jacob Lemmons do 20.00 John Patison
6. Daniel Adams 1 shot Gun 10.00 Jeremiah Routh
7. Daniel Adams 1 Rifle Gun 11.00 Ephraim Maples
8. William Duggan do 15.00 William Foster
9. Edward ( ? )
do 20.00 Richard Catlett
10. Jacob
Grimmet do 20.00 Daniel Emmet
11. Isaac
Watkins do 12.00 John Richards
12. John
Campbell do 15.00 Drewry Breadaway
13. John
Crockett do 15.00 Richard Evans
14. Zachariah
Daneys do 10.00 Thomas Pate
15. Obadiah
Hudson ..do 18.00 Benjamin Thomas
16. David
McChany ..do 15.00 Wm. Hite
17. John
Berrier do 12.00 Stephen Routh
18. Jonathan
Kerr do 6.00 Jeremiah
Routh
19. Issac
Williams, Capt. do ** 20.00 John Frazier
20. Isaac
Williams do **
20.00 William
Smith
21. Isaac
Williams do ** 15.50 Robert Matthews
22. Isaac
W7illiams do **
16.00 (not signed)
23. Isaac
Wi1liams do **
20.00 John
Patison
24. Isaac
Wi11iams 1 shot Gun ** 10.00 Jeremiah Routh
25. Isaac
Williams I Rifle Gun *** 11.00 Ephraim Maples
26. Isaac
Williams do *** 15.00 William Foster
27. Isaac
Williams do *** 20.00 Daniel Emmett
28. Isaac
Wi1liams do ***
12.00 John
Richards
29. Isaac
Wil1iams do ***
15.00 Drewry
Breadaway
50. Isaac
Wil1iams do ***
15.00 Richard
Evans
31 Isaac
Williams do ***
10.00 Thomas
Pate
32 Isaac
Williams do ***
18.00 Benjamin
Thomas
33 Isaac
Williams do ***
15.00 William
White
34 Isaac
Wi11iams do ***
6.00 Michael
Armbrister
(*) Entry reads "to be returned or paid
for by the United States"
(**) Captain Isaac’s guns 19 to 24: "to
be returned when discharged
preferred"
(***)
Guns 25 to 34, Capt. Isaac: '”to be returned at Camp Reed" (or similar name.)
oC a p t a i n
ISAAC WILLIAMS (29)
COMPANY ROLL
=============
Company of Drafted East Tennessee Militia, Captain
Isaac Williams
==== January, 1814, in the Second War with Great
Britain ====
A
study of this old journal, with its itinerary, ration and equipment and custody
returns, reveals also the names of several members of this 1814 draft. Besides Captain Isaac, and the other
seventeen citizens who furnished the arms, we have the names of nineteen men of
the company who accepted custody of the guns, as against their safe return.
This perhaps represents a certain community spirit among men of Sevier. Those
who took custody were probably friends or neighbors of the men who loaned the
guns. For the complete roll of this
company, we must turn to the official alphabetical list furnished by the
Adjutant General's Office.
NAME SIGNED
FOR VALUE
1. ARMBRISTER, Michael 1 gun $
6.00
2. BREADAWAY, Drewry 2 guns 30.00
3. CATLLETT, Richard 1 gun 20.00
4. EMMETT, Daniel 2 guns 40.00
5. EVANS, Richard 2 guns 30.00
6. FOSTER, William 2 guns 30.00
7. FRAZIER, John 2 guns 40.00
8. HITE, William 1 gun 15.00
9. MAPLES, Ephraim 2 Guns 22.00
10. MATTHEWS, Robert 2 guns 31.50
11. PATE, Thomas
2 guns 20.00
12. PATISON, John 2 guns 40.00
13. RICHARDS, John 2 guns 24.00
14. ROUTH, Jeremiah 3 guns 26.00
15. ROUTH, Stephen 1 gun 12.00
16. SMITH, Wi1liam 2 guns 40.00
17. THOMAS, Benjamin 2 guns 36.00
18. WHITE, William 1 gun 15.00
19. WILL, Jonathan 1 gun 16.00
20. WILLIAMS, Capt. Isaac 1 gun 16.00
oC a p t a i n
ISAAC WILLIAMS (30)
PUBLIC OFFICE AND PUBLIC
TRUST
==============================
Company of Drafted East Tennessee Militia, Captain
Isaac Williams
==== January, 1814, in the Second War with Great
Britain ====
***
A study of this series of faded
entries, now a century and a half old, in the daybook of a "renegade"
East Tennessee Quaker, tells us a good many things about Captain Isaac Williams
and the frontier conditions of his time.
It reveals first of all the real reason why he was never reinstated in
the Quaker faith -- which disowned him for reasons unstated. Although a man of peace at heart, he was
also a citizen of valor and a man of war when duty called.
It reveals also how meticulous he
was in considering his public duty as a public servant. By carefully copying these items in his
journal from the required official records, he was not only protecting himself
and his military reputation. He was
also making it possible for others to prove military bounty rights if his
testimony should ever be required for that purpose.
This drafted company performed at
least 24 days of service, Jan. 8 to 31 inclusive (as evidenced in the journal)
on the Tennessee frontier in 1814, probably in the Indian war. The men marched -- or marched and floated --
if they used the bateau method of travel by floating down the river -- over 100
miles to the Hiawassee frontier, and of course, the same distance back again.
The State supplied the rations, but
the guns were drafted from Citizens, subject to reimbursement at the owner's
appraised value if not returned. The
ration included meat, meal, candles and soap.
Meat for stamina, corn meal for filler, vinegar for nutrition (an
anti-scorbutic), soap for sanitation, and candles for illumination. But in eleven ration entries, only three
reported full rations. Two entries
reported no soap or vinegar; six reported "no sope, candles, nor
vinegar".
Seventeen citizens furnished 18 guns; one furnished
sixteen --two shotgun and 32 rifles for a company of 50 men. Shotguns were appraised at ten dollars each;
rifles at various prices, six, ten, eleven, twelve, fifteen, fifteen-fifty,
sixteen, eighteen and twenty dollars.
Daniel Adams loaned a rifle and shotgun; Isaac Williams a a shotgun and
fifteen rifles.
Each gun was assigned to the custody
of a soldier. Six signed for one gun
each, twelve for two, and one for three.
Thus, with the captain, we can account for twenty members of the company
that mustered at the mouth of Little Pigeon and marched to the Hiawassee
frontier and beyond.
Still
another inference can be drawn from the study of this return: Namely, that
Captain Isaac Williams was a leader of men, a leader of his community, and a
citizen who maintained a very respectable arsenal of his own. He furnished almost half of the armament,
and preferred to have it returned rather than to receive reimbursement; at the
appraised value. It was the normal, natural thing to do for the Governor or the
Adjutant General to issue the captain's commission to the man of his community
who was looked to for frontier leadership.
© 2003 Williams Family Association