Two years later, the Act of Congress of May 1, 1820 required that certified inventories of a pensioner’s estate and income were required to establish need of assistance for all pensioners placed on the rolls under the Act of of Congress on March 18, 1818. Any pensioners unable to prove need were removed from the rolls, but were allowed to reapply. It was the Act of Congress in 1832 that granted a pension to any veteran who served, whether in need or not. So, here's my quandary. The 1820 census for Peter shows him in possession of two enslaved women and one enslaved boy under 14. They were considered personal property and had values. Besides his wife, Elsie, he also had a grown son, his wife, and two small grandsons living with him. Elsie must have died before his own death. His goods were sold on 25 December 1826, amounting to only $58.77. The estate was finally settled in 1829, which in an earlier blog I thought left an amount of $11.12, but I failed to see that there were two notes his estate partially repaid at $5.57 each [other notes earlier paid off were for amounts borrowed of about $5.00 each], bringing his estate's value to $0. I assume he'd borrow money from friends and would then pay them when he or someone with his power of attorney collected his pension up in Richmond. It was against the law to secret away or give away items of value in order to qualify for a pension. Peter lived in Sussex County all his life and was related to a good many people in positions of authority, who might have looked the other way when he settled his slaves and his land on his son. That aside, what did Peter Rainey do in the American Revolutionary War?
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| Sussex County, Virginia |
When the militiamen were drafted and enrolled, each was given a number 1 through 10, which attached him to a particular company, captain and ensign, and would determine when each man would be called into active service. After serving three to six weeks, each man was discharged, only to be called back into service, sometimes even a few days later. As the war moved from the north into Virginia in 1780, rather than waiting to be drafted, the Sussex County men volunteered for militia duty. After each outing, they were verbally discharged, none receiving any document other than a chit, which they turned in for their pay.
When Thomas Holloway applied for a pension in 1832, he recounted his service in the Sussex militia. In 1776, under the command of Cpt. Willis Wilson, he marched to Smithfield and remained there about six weeks. In 1777, under the command of Cpt. Wilson, he patrolled the James River at Edmunds Point for six weeks. In 1778, under the command of Lt. Berryman, he marched to Swans Point and served six weeks. In 1779, under the command of Jacob Faulcon, he marched to Burnt Mills and served six weeks.
Joseph Prince joined the Sussex militia in 1780, serving under Col. James Gee. He marched from Sussex County to Cabin Point on the James River and from thence to various parts of the county between that point and Norfolk, where the British army then lay. His service lasted 6 weeks. He stated that the Sussex militia was divided, with one-half almost constantly in service from the time the British first invaded the state and took possession of Norfolk and Portsmouth. The militia was posted and employed to cut off British foraging parties and keep them confined within their lines. Virginia was a source of provisions for the southern armies in North and South Carolina.
Of the militiamen of Sussex County, who survived long enough to apply for a pension in 1832, every one had participated in the Battle of Petersburg in April 1781. I conclude that nearly the entire Sussex militia was called out, marched north out of the county and up the James River to join other Virginia militias commanded by generals Muhlenberg and Von Steuben.
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| At the Battle of Petersburg hand-to-hand fighting occurred, despite the Virginia militia having no bayonets and little ammunition left. |
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| Virginia in 1782. At bottom between Nottoway River and Black Riveri s Sussex County, where our Rainey family lived. |
Background
By December 1780, the American Revolutionary War's North American main theaters had reached a critical point. The Continental Army had suffered major defeats earlier in the year, with its southern armies either captured or dispersed in the loss of Charleston and the Battle of Camden (SC) in the south, while the armies of George Washington and the British commander-in-chief for North America, Sir Henry Clinton, watched each other around New York City in the north. |
| General Sir Henry Clinton (1730-1795), British Commander-in-Chief in North America |
The national currency was virtually worthless, public support for the war, about to enter its sixth year, was waning, and army troops were becoming mutinous over pay and conditions. In the Americans' favor, Loyalist recruiting had been checked with a severe blow at King's Mountain in October.
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| Major-General Nathanael Greene 1782 by Charles Willson Peale |
To counter the British threat in the south, Washington sent Major General Nathanael Greene, one of his best strategists, to rebuild the American army in North Carolina after its defeat at Camden. Lord Charles Cornwallis, leading the British troops in the south, wanted to deal with Greene and gain control over the state of Virginia. He wouldn't follow Clinton's orders from New York to stay where he was and subdue North Carolina first. No, Cornwallis, who was facing stiffening resistance from the Carolinians, wanted to subdue Virginia and expand control from there. So much easier, he must have thought. Virginia had been relatively untouched by the war up to this point. It provided men for the Continental Army and provisions. Its tobacco was shipped to the French West Indies for French munitions and stores in order to keep the Continental Army alive.
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| Benedict Arnold in American uniform before turning |
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| The young Major-General Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) in American uniform by Charles Willson Peale |
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| George Washington (1732-1799), Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army by Charles Willson Peale, 1776 |
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| British Major-General William Phillips (1731 – 13 May 1781) |
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| Major-General Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1730-1794) by Charles Willson Peale |
By 23 April, the British force had sailed up the James River to Westover at the confluence of the James and Appomattox rivers, landing there just before sunset on the 24th, driving off about 500 of the Virginia militia, under the command of General Peter Muhlenberg, which had been paralleling them on foot from Portsmouth. Reports to von Steuben claimed the British force numbered between 2,500 and 3,000 British Regulars. One again, Phillips’s military objectives were to capture American supplies, cut the American armies’ communications with General Greene’s Southern Army, and link up with General Cornwallis’s troops marching north from Wilmington.
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| Major-General Peter Muhlenberg (1746-1807) |
Steuben ordered Muhlenberg's troops to move immediately into the city, thus bringing them under his direct command. In the meantime, more Southside county militias had been alerted, had met at courthouses, collected guns and ammunition, and marched toward Petersburg. The Sussex militia marched north. [The boats moved slowly upriver from Portsmouth; men on fast horses could spread the word to von Steuben, Muhlenberg and the county militias.]
On 24 April, as the afternoon progressed, about 1,000 of General
Muhlenberg's Virginia militia marched into Petersburg. Other militia
units were also gathering. During
the night of the 24th, Von Steuben held a council of war and decided to
gamble on the questionable "staying-power" of the militia. Governor
Thomas Jefferson had already issued a call-up of militia reinforcements,
yet von Steuben could barely muster five regiments of militia
infantry, three small companies of horse, and two six-pound artillery
pieces. He had no illusions about winning the coming battle with a
total force of slightly over one thousand men. Lafayette's force was still several days
away, and another Continental Army force under General Anthony Wayne was even farther off.
Von Steuben and Muhlenberg, who had been avoiding conflict with the
British due to their weak numbers and inexperienced troops, decided
it was time to make some sort of stand. Their objective was to stand, fight, and get out with the minimum of losses. Von Steuben decided on a show-of-force, not only as a deterrent to the British,
but as a morale factor for the local citizenry of Virginia. As the victory at King's Mountain in North Carolina had swayed citizens to stick with the fledgling new America, so von Steuben hoped to sway Virginians from aligning themselves with the British now that their state was finally invaded. That evening General von Steuben ordered
Muhlenberg's corps to the north side of the Appomattox onto the
peninsula known as Pocahontas Island
and onto the elevated ground overlooking the river. Then, during the
moonless night, von Steuben and Muhlenberg moved their forces south of
the river into Blandford, just east of Petersburg.
Battle
Around mid-morning of the 25th, Phillips began his 12-mile advance from City Point [present-day Hopewell], where they'd off-loaded on the James River, toward Petersburg, following the river road of the Appomattox River. Phillips' command consisted of the 78th
and 80th Regiments of Foot, John Graves Simcoe's Loyalist Queen's Rangers, Benedict Arnold's American Legion, a force of Hessian jägers,
and two battalions of light infantry. Eleven of Phillips' gunboats (small oar
craft carrying either eighty armed troops or supplies and field baggage)
paralleled the British march. The boats encountered the first Americans
about 2-3 miles from Blandford. It was not until shortly after noon that
the British column came in sight of the American line.
Early in the morning, General
Muhlenberg, exercising actual ground command of the defending force,
had placed four militia regiments as his first line of battle on the eastern edge of Blandford. Here stood the regiments of colonels
John Dick and Thomas Merriweather (commanding the Sussex County militia), drawn up on higher ground overlooking Poor's
Creek and the plain over which the British were advancing. Merriweather anchored the left of
the line at the river, and Dick's the right, extending into the hills
south of Blandford.
The second line, which was to form the main line of defense after the
first one fell back, consisted of Ralph Faulkner's regiment on the left,
and John Slaughter's on the right. The line extended along what is
today Madison Street in Petersburg, from a causeway
and bridge across the Lieutenant Run, a creek separating Petersburg and
Blandford. The line was positioned to maximize the exposure of British
troops to gunfire as they approached. Von Steuben also placed one regiment on the north shore of the Appomattox River to guard against the possibility of the British landing on that side of the river. He also positioned a small reserve force at the southern end of the
Pocahontas Bridge, and Muhlenberg sent a company of Slaughter's men down
the north bank to provide advance warning as the British approached.
The battle was preceded by an exchange of fire between the
British gunboats and the American advance reconnaissance. Around 2:00
pm Phillips halted his column, then about one mile from the
American lines, and organized his forces for battle. On his right,
Colonel Robert Abercrombie
was to lead a battalion of light infantry and the company of 50 jägers
along the river to drive the American left back to the Pocahontas
Bridge. Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Dundas was to lead the 78th and 80th Foot to attempt a flanking maneuver
against the American right, and Phillips held the second light infantry
battalion and the Loyalist units of Simcoe and Arnold in reserve. He
also held in reserve the four small guns the expedition had brought.As the British forces advanced on the American line, Phillips and Abercrombie noticed that one enterprising company of Virginia militia had established a position on a hill that provided them with an excellent opportunity to enfilade the British line. Abercrombie sent the jägers to flush them out. The lines then closed, and the action became general.The first line of militia put up stiffer resistance than the British anticipated as one militia company, possibly our Sussex militia, forward of Muhlenberg's line, fired two volleys at the advancing British and then repaired back on to Dick's line.
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| British Colonel John Graves Simcoe (1752-1806) |
Phillips
quickly deployed his columns, placing a battalion of British Light Infantry
on his right flank and the 80th and 76th Regiments on his left. Seeing
the Americans had no flanking units to the south, Phillips ordered the
Queen's Rangers, under Colonel Simcoe [if you watched the TV series, Turn, Washington's Spies, you'll well-remember Simcoe], and the 2d Battalion of Light Infantry on a wide
sweeping movement around the American right. Their objective was to get
behind Muhlenberg's' forces, into the city of Petersburg and hopefully
trap the Americans or thwart any attempt by them to retreat north across
the Pocahontas Bridge and the Appomattox River.
By
two o'clock the battle had begun in earnest and the British Light
Infantry was pressing the initial attack from the British right, along
the River Road. There was heavy firing from both sides, but Muhlenberg
had chosen his ground well. The British had to cross a marshy low ground
around Poor's Creek, then advance up a steep grade to get to the
Americans. The attack of the 76th and 80th Regiments from the British
left bore down on the American right in an effort to turn Muhlenberg's
flank. The entire British advance was slow and cautious due to heavy
firing from the American side. The British were no doubt suspicious of
an American Militia line holding longer than a few volleys. Were these trained Continental soldiers?
The British artillery, and the strength of numbers that threatened to
flank their position convinced the first militia line to retreat to the
second after half an hour of resistance.The second American line consisted of two regiments that had not seen action, and now the two regiments that had retired from the first line of defense. As Phillips’s army attacked the four regiments, it was repelled several times. This second American line held the British back for about an hour.
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| Battle of Petersburg, 1782 |
While Simcoe moved, Phillips made two assaults on the second militia
line, both of which were repulsed. After
about one-half hour of fighting, Phillips ordered his artillery placed
on a plateau in the British center. It was not until the British
artillery was in position to rake the American line more than an hour
later that von Steuben finally ordered the retreat. Once the two six-pound and two
three-pound guns were brought into action, Muhlenberg ordered his 1st
line to fall back through Blandford onto his main line in Petersburg.
(Geographically, Petersburg and Blandford are separated only by a wide
valley and Lieutenant Run Creek.) The American withdrawal was so well
timed it prevented the 76th and 80th from possibly
turning Muhlenberg's right.
The
withdrawal of the Virginia Militia was expeditious and orderly
through the village of Blandford, across the valley and creek of
Lieutenant Run, and onto the higher ground of the eastern edge of
Petersburg. Muhlenberg's main line consisted of two more regiments of
Infantry under Colonels Faulkner and Slaughter. As Phillips troops
advanced through Blandford in pursuit, they came in range of Steuben's
artillery, safely placed north of the Appomattox on the heights
overlooking Petersburg. Steuben had earlier decided that when retreat
became necessary, the narrow Pocahontas Bridge would be more of a trap
than an exit if he had to retreat with Infantry, cavalry and artillery. This bridge was the only one over the Appomattox River for about 20 miles. It was only 12 to 15 feet wide and 35 feet long.
He therefore placed his two six-pound guns on the heights to cover his
operations south of the river. He also used his three companies of horse
and Goode's Regiment of Infantry to cover his rear, north of the river.
As an additional piece of insurance, he also placed one battalion of
infantry on the south end of the bridge to secure that avenue. Von Steuben was an expert in military tactics.
When
the Light Infantry, the 76th and 80th Regiments, of British and Hessian troops, arrived on the western
edge of Blandford they found themselves confronted by a wide and
somewhat deep valley surmounted on it's opposite summit by the four
regiments of Virginia Militia. Though Phillips had the superior force,
he was under the guns of the American artillery, at about three-quarters
of a mile distant. He also faced the prospect of having to traverse a
wide piece of marshy low ground to close with his enemy. Both lines of
battle were out of musket range. However, heavy firing was
maintained over another hour. The British launched at least two
assaults across Lieutenant Run, however were driven back by the militia
line of musketry.
During
this time Simcoe and the Queen's Rangers had made their wide sweep
around the American lines and were proceeding north toward the American
rear. Simultaneously, the British artillery opened fire from a new
position. Phillips had found an excellent piece of high ground on the
American right front from which he could exact enfilading fire all along
Muhlenberg's front. Concurrently, the American militia was running
low on their "allocated" ammunition. It was here that Steuben
determined his show-of-force had reached its limits. He called
for a general withdrawal of his army over the Pocohontas Bridge to the north of the Appomattox.
Again the militia executed an orderly retreat, this time through
Petersburg, towards the narrow wooden bridge.
Colonel Simcoe
and his Rangers were not close enough to cut off the retreat, so Simcoe decided to proceed farther to the north and west. His intent
was to locate a known ford over the river, cross over onto the heights
and possibly get on the American rear in that sector. Barring this, if
nothing else, he could possibly draw off part of the American artillery
fire being directed at Phillips' main advancing line. In the latter he
succeeded.
Up
to this point Muhlenberg had expertly utilized time and terrain to
keep the British at a sufficient distance where they could not close
with bayonets on the "bayonetless" American lines. Between
Lieutenant Run and the Pocahontas Bridge there was little obstacle to
delay Phillips' pursuit, other than the village streets and buildings.
The narrowness of the bridge slowed the retiring American units as
anticipated. Here the militia again showed surprising mettle. As British
lines pressed on the American retreat; units of both cavalry and
infantry stationed north of the bridge laid down covering fire.
Retreating units also stood their ground, providing covering fire for militiamen crossing the bridge.
Inside
several city blocks near Pocahontas Bridge, the heaviest fighting and
losses of the battle occurred. Fighting became close and hand-to-hand.
The American casualties of wounded and captured were highest near the
bridge and from British artillery firing as the troops, who had successfully crossed the bridge, and ascended
the heights to the north. In a final American act
of determination, while under fire, militiamen took up the planks of Pocahontas
Bridge to prevent further British pursuit (an act which later earned them the praise of
contemporaries such as Thomas Jefferson and General Nathanael Greene). They had held off the British for nearly three hours before yielding Petersburg.
Once
they got onto the heights, Steuben's army paused near Violet Bank (in present-day Colonial
Heights), and engaged the British force on the opposite river banks in an artillery duel, with further losses on both sides. After
being replenished with a supply of rum, the weary militia then continued
its northward retreat, reaching Chesterfield Courthouse the following day—just as the British force was crossing the Appomattox, destroying three more bridges behind them.
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| Chesterfield County, Virginia |
Total
battle losses, in killed, wounded and captured, were estimated at
about 100 for the Americans and about 60 for the British.
Though
the town was thoroughly searched for military and public stores, there
was no wanton damage inflicted on public or private property. Phillips
found no military supplies left in the town, however a large quantity of
tobacco, important to international trade, was found. Four thousand hogsheads of tobacco were
moved into the streets and burned rather than being destroyed in private
warehouses where it had been stored. There was one warehouse set fire by a British soldier, subsequently
punished for his inattention to Phillips' orders. They burned one ship and a number of small vessels on stocks and in the river.
Two
days following the battle, Phillips marched his army north on the final
leg of his campaign, burning the log, military training barracks at
Chesterfield Court House, destroying several war and cargo ships at
Osborne's Landing, and burning the foundry and numerous warehouses at
Westham.
Aftermath
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| Lord Charles Cornwallis (1738-1805) by John Singleton Copley |
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| Blandford Church, still here after over 280 years |
Cornwallis marched north out of North Carolina, crossing Sussex County, and reached Petersburg on 20 May, bringing the British force up to 5,300 men. Shortly after, additional British reinforcements arrived from New York, raising his force to over 7,000 men. Cornwallis ordered Benedict Arnold back to New York, and then fruitlessly chased Lafayette through central Virginia for a time before making his way back to Williamsburg, with Lafayette's forces shadowing him. Cornwallis was eventually ordered to fortify Yorktown, where Lafayette, joined early in September by a French force from the West Indies, blockaded the land routes while the French fleet prevented the arrival of British relief fleets. With the arrival of George Washington and the Franco-American army from the north, Cornwallis was besieged, and surrendered his army on 17 October 1781.
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| John Trumbull's Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown 17 Oct. 1782 |
Many Virginia militiamen witnessed the surrender at Yorktown. If Peter Rainey did serve in the Sussex militia to the end of the war, he most probably witnessed it, too.
Most history books list the action at Petersburg as a minor battle or skirmish. However, the stand of the Americans against such an overwhelming force was a full-scale battle by any Revolutionary War standards. The actions of the Virginia militias bought gave Lafayette a full day to entrench his army on the heights of Richmond, and ultimately prevented a second "sacking" of Richmond - as was seen in the previous January, when British Brigadier Benedict Arnold assaulted and burned much of that city and kept open communications and supplies to the American forces.
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| Major-General Peter Muhlenberg |
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| Von Steuben |
Major-General Freidrich von Steuben HERE
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| Lafayette |
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