The War For American Independence was known in the British Colonies in North America as the American Revolutionary War. It was a war declared by the Colonists to gain their independence from the mother country, Britain. The desire for independence rose out of the culminating effects of a number of Acts of Parliament which levied duties on the trade of many raw materials and manufactured goods to and from the Colonies. A side argument was that the Colonists were not permitted to send representatives to the Parliament.
The American Revolutionary War began at the public green at Lexington in the Massachusetts~ Bay Colony on 19 April 1775. It continued with active warfare for the next six years and played out in two primary theatres: the Northern and the Southern.
The Northern Theatre of the War was basically the chasing of the Continental Army commanded by General George Washington by the British Army led by Sir William Howe. Washington played a game of cat and mouse with Howe. He would engage the British army and then remove his army to another location and wait for the British to catch up. Major victories for the Patriots were at Trenton and Princeton. But major defeats came at Germantown and Brandywine. The British gained control of New York City and held it for the entire duration of the War. They also captured Philadelphia and held it from 1777 to 1778. The British launched a campaign southward from Quebec into the New York Colony in early 1777 in an attempt to divide the colonies and thereby disrupt communication and commerce. The Patriot armies under Generals Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold met and defeated the British army under General John Burgoyne.
The Southern Theatre was dominated by the Patriot armies under General Nathaniel Greene and British armies under Sir Banastre Tarleton. They fought a number of battles across South Carolina and Georgia. In addition, Brigadier General Francis Marion launched guerilla raids on British units independently of the established Patriot army. For his swift and decisive attacks, Marion gained the nickname: the Swamp Fox.
The American Revolutionary War ended ostensibly with the surrender of Charles Lord Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown, Virginia on 19 October 1781 to General George Washington. Confrontations between British-assisted Amerindian parties and frontier militia units continued into 1782. Two years after Yorktown, on 03 September 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended the War with the bona fide independence of the Colonies. The Treaty of Paris was finally ratified on 14 January 1784.
This frontier region, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, was defended by the efforts of the Bedford County Militia. That was the formal name, of course, for the military structure, but the militia men were commonly called 'Rangers on the Frontier.' The militia was divided into classes, and only a few of the classes were called out at any time. That practice ensured that the farmsteads located in the many valleys of the county would be guarded by the men in the classes not called out. Those men who were called out served for tours of duty that varied from a couple weeks to a couple months. They would garrison a fortification and go in small groups through the forests that covered much of the county to look for evidence of Amerindian incursions. The Amerindians, goaded on by the British and local Tories, would make forays into the inhabited areas, killing Euro~American men they encountered and taking captive women and children. The militia hoped to be able to liberate those captives and return them to their homes. It should be noted that the Bedford County militia were assisted by militia from other neighboring counties, especially Cumberland County.
The most complete record of Patriots who served in the Patriot armies, both Continental Line and County Militia, will be found in Mother Bedford and the American Revolutionary War by Larry D. Smith. The information contained in that volume was compiled from a variety of sources: the published Pennsylvania Archives; the History of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Co's, Pennsylvania; records maintained by the Pioneer Library of the Bedford County Historical Society; the files of Floyd Hoenstine (currently maintained by the Blair County Genealogical Society); the Frontier Patriots / Blair County Chapter, SAR (as compiled by Harry Woodcock in the 1960s); and the Bedford Chapter, DAR.
A narrative of how the militia was organized is combined with lists of the battalions and companies raised within Bedford County. Detailed information includes the notation of which regions contributed recruits to which companies. The formation and history of the Continental Line and the companies which were raised in Bedford County and sent to join the Continental Line is described. The book covers the region that encompassed Bedford County in the 1770s. In regard to the portion of that region that remains to the present time as Bedford County, the individuals who were native sons and resided within the bounds of present-day Bedford County, and who therefore served in either the Bedford County Militia or the Pennsylvania Regiments of the Continental Line are listed on pages 153 and 154. Civil Officers are listed on pages 155 to 160. Individual company rosters for the Bedford County Militia are transcribed on pages 160 through 177. Rosters for companies which served in the Pennsylvania Regiments, Continental Line are transcribed on pages 178 through 182. Individuals who swore the Oath of Allegiance are listed on pages 182 to 184. Pensioners are transcribed on pages 184 and 185. The Patriots who were buried within the region that is today Bedford County are listed on pages 186 through 242 and 349.
A number of rosters of the individuals from the region that remains today as Bedford County who served as Patriots in the American Revolutionary War can be found in History of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Co's, Pennsylvania in general from page 81 through page 98. Certain particular companies are also detailed with lists of the troops within those pages. The roster of Captain Robert Cluggage's Company, which was raised during the fall of 1776 and marched to join the siege of Boston is transcribed on pages 82 and 83. The roster of Captain Richard Brown's Company, which was raised in the spring of 1776 and eventually became part of Colonel Samuel Miles' 1st Battalion of the Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, Continental Line is transcribed on pages 84 and 85. Captain Andrew Mann's Company was raised in the summer of 1776 to become part of the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line. The 8th Pennsylvania Regiment was raised primarily for the defense of the western frontier region. The roster of Captain Mann's company is transcribed on pages 85 and 86. The roster of a company placed under the command of Captain Jacob Hendershot in January 1777 is transcribed on page 86. A company raised in 1781 and placed under the command of Captain John Boyd is transcribed on page 95. Soldiers who applied for, and were granted, pensions are listed on pages 97 and 98.
The Second and Fifth Series of the published Pennsylvania Archives, provide the only 'authorized' collections of rosters of the companies raised in Bedford County. Their authority derives from the fact that the transcriptions which are included in them were made from the original documents. In the mid-1800s and early-1900s, all of the counties in Pennsylvania were instructed to send their original documents, including militia company rosters, to Harrisburg. There, the collection of documents sent by the counties became the Archives of Pennsylvania. All of those documents were then transcribed and published in nine series of multiple volumes under the name of the Colonial Records and the Pennsylvania Archives. A number of errors were found in the transcriptions published in the Second Series. To correct those errors and add rosters previously overlooked, the Fifth Series was produced and published.
Muster rolls for the Bedford County Militia are transcribed in the Second Series, Volume XIV, pages 635 to 670. They also are transcribed in the Fifth Series, Volume V, pages 47 to 121. Soldiers who received depreciation pay are named on a general list that is transcribed in the Fifth Series, Volume IV, pages 231 to 254. A list of 'Rangers on the Frontiers' is transcribed in the Fifth Series, Volume IV, pages 597 through 616 (which repeats the lists transcribed in the Third Series, Volume XXIII, pages 232 to 239, 252 to 253, 260, 264 to 266, 269 to 270, 276 to 277, 354).
It is believed that between 184,000 and 250,000 Colonials served in the various armies supporting the Patriot Cause. Complete and accurate records are not available to indicate how many men died fighting for the Patriot Cause during the American Revolutionary War. The best estimate is that there were a total of 4,435 mortal casualties and 6,188 wounded. Of the deaths, 4,044 were in the army, 342 in the navy and 49 in the marines.
