Morrison's Pensions
Pension Application for George Bush
S.12355
State of New York
County of Montgomery
On the 19 th day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & thirty two, personally appeared in open court, before the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of said County, now sitting, George Bush, a resident of the Town of Minden in the County & state aforesaid, aged eighty seven years in June last, who being first duly sworn according to law, doth on his oath make the following declarations in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed June 7 th 1832. That he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers & served as herein after mentioned.
That in 1776 thinks in the month of June, he enlisted in the services of his country during the pleasure of Congress under Capt John Winn (1), Lieutenants Lourance (2) Gros & thinks Peter Scrambling, that under the above named officers he served in scouting from Cooperstown in the County of Otsego down the Unidilla & Susquehanna Rivers & to the north of the Mohawk River towards the head of the West Canada Creek, that some of the time he & others of the same company were stationed at Cooperstown on duty and on guard while others of the company were out scouting in other directions. That he continued so to serve about five months and then procured one William Sixbury to take his place & he was discharged.
That afterwards & about the first of January 1777 he was drafted & called in to service in a company Commanded by Capt Nicholas Wiser, the Regiment was Commanded by Colo. Ebenezer Cox (2), That they soon thereafter left the Mohawk River at Canajoharie went to Ticonderoga (4) where they with some regular troops, were commanded by Genl Hays, remained there in the building fortifications & works for the better defense of Country until the forepart of April following when we were discharged and that about a week thereafter he arrived at Springfield the place of his then residence.
That afterwards & about the last of July in the same year on a call of the Militia to meet the enemy, he was again called into service & marched under the Command of the said Captain to Fort Plain when they joined several other companies under Command of Colo. Ebenezer Cox and then marched up the Mohawk River to Oriskany in the County of Oneida, then Commanded by Gen. Herkimer. That he was then engaged in the Oriskany Battle (5) & was imployed in the battle, marching to & from the place of battle & until he arrived home at least two weeks.
That about the middle of July 1778 he was called out from near Fort Plain when he then resided by Capt. Adam Lipe (6) and marched to Springfield on receiving the alarm that the Indians & Tories were destroying that settlement that they arrived at that place, about fifteen miles from Fort Plain, after it was destroyed and then pursued the party of Indians & Tories west to what was called Young's Lake, did not come up with them & then returned to Fort Plain, that he was out on duty at that time about six days.
That in November following when the alarm came that the Indians & Tories were destroying Cherry Valley he was called out & marched to that place, about fifteen miles south of Fort Plain when we arrived after it was destroyed, many men, women, & children murdered & the party had moved off that he staied assisted in burying the dead & then returned to Fort Plain and that he was out in that service about a week.
That in the month of October 1780 he was again called out with the company to which he then belonged Commanded by Capt. Sefrinus Cook (7) in the Town of Palatine, where he then lived to assist Col. Johnson (8) who had the Command of some nine months in an attack upon Sir John Johnson who was then destroying up the north side of the Mohawk River with a party of British troops, Indians, & Tories, that he was engaged in the battle under Col. Johnson against Sir John on Stone Arabia near the Mohawk River when Colo. Johnson was killed and that he was out in service at that time before at & after the battle about two weeks.
That soon after he was drafted by a draft of every third man out of Capt Cook Company. The men drafted were marched under Command of Capt. Cook to a place called the Royal Grant in the County of Herkimer, north of the little falls & about thirty miles from where he resided in Palatine. That they were then stationed & kept on duty better than two weeks & that he was in service at that time about twenty days.
That in the month of July 1781 he was again called out by his said Capt. Cook, (9) marched with some troops & Militia Men. Commanded by Colo. Willet to a place called Turlock in the Town of Sharon in the County of Schoharie, then engaged with, fought & routed about three hundred Indians & Tories. Commanded by a Tory by the name of Dockstader & that he was in service at that time a week or more.
That besides the service of him in the Revolution about mentioned, he was called out by his officers at many times & to many places up & down & north & south of the Mohawk River in cases of alarm by the expected depredations of the Indians &Tories during the war. That it is entirely out of his power to state the times & places they were so frequent, indeed the savage depredations were almost constant during the summer & fall seasons from 1777 to 1781.
That the service he did during those years which he cannot particularly state did, as he fully believes, amount to at least six months actual duty in the service of his country & that of the most severe & perilous kind.
That he has no documentary evidence & that he knows of no person, whose testimony he can procure, who can testify to all his service.
That he was born in Germany in June 1745, Came to the Province of New York about Nine years before the Revolution. That he has no record of his age.
That he was living in Springfield in the County of Otsego & state aforesaid. When called into service, that during the war he moved to Minden in the County of Montgomery then to Palatine in said county where he lived to the end & about fifteen years after the war, then moved to Minden aforesaid, where he has lived since.
That he was called into service at the time & in the manner above mentioned.
That he cannot state the names of officers of regular troops, Continental or other Regiments or the general circumstances of his service, other than as the same is by him above stated and that he never received a written discharge.
That George D. Ferguson & Peter Young are the names of persons to whom he is known in his present neighborhood, who can testify as to his character for veracity & their belief of his services as a soldier of the Revolution and that there is no clergyman residing in his vicinity.
He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present, and declares that his name is not on the pension role of the agency of any state. George Bush (his mark)
Sworn and subscribed the day & year aforesaid. George D. Ferguson, Clerk
Letter included in his pension application.
August 31, 1937
Miss Harriet M. Willsey
111 East 3 rd Avenue
Johnstown, New York
Dear Madam;
Reference is made to your letter in which you request the Revolutionary War record of your ancestor, George Bush, who was born in 1745.
The record has been found of a George Bush who was born in 1745; it may be that of your ancestor. The data given were found in his claim for pension, S. 12355, based upon his service in the Revolutionary War.
George Bush was born in June 1745, in Germany, the exact place of his birth and the names of his parents are not shown. He emigrated to the Province of New York about nine years before the Revolutionary War. At the time he entered service, he resided in Springfield, Otsego County, New York, also resided in Minden and Palatine, in Montgomery County during the period of the war.
George Bush enlisted in June 1776, served as private at various times until July 1781, amounting in all to eleven months and two weeks, under Captains John Winn, Nicholas Weser, Adam Lipe, Severinus Clock, and Colonels Ebenezer Cox, Johnson and Willett in the New York troops; during the period of his service, he was in the Battles of Oriskany, Stone Arabia and Sharon Spring, and was engaged on alarms along the Mohawk River, protecting the inhabitants from the Indians and Tories.
The soldier continued to reside in Palatine, New York, about fifteen years after the war, then moved to Minden, New York.
George Bush was allowed pension on his application executed September 19, 1832, at which time he resided in Minden, Montgomery County, New York where he and continued to reside. The soldier made no reference to wife or children.
In order to obtain the date of last payment of pension, name of person paid, and possibly the date of death of this pensioner, you should write to the Comptroller General, General Accounting Office, this city, and furnish the following:
George Bush
Certificate # 24026
Issued October 25, 1833
Rate $37 per annum
Commenced March 4, 1831
Act of June 7, 1832
New York Agency
Very truly Yours, A.D. Hiller, Executive Assistant to the Administrator
End Notes