Re: Thank you for your help and insights

["John S. Quarterman" <jsq@quarterman.org>]

>
>Things I have learned about the Revolutionary War from genealogy.
>
>Here are a couple from Midway:
>1. It was a continuation of the revolution begun by Oliver Cromwell.
> One of the British generals referred to Midway as the "sons of Oliver."

I've often wondered how close that association was.  Cromwell did
correspond with some New England people, but as far as I know, none
of them were our ancestors.

There was an earlier war in Maryland that was more clearly a continuation
of the English Civil War.

> It was Midway's ties to New England dissenters that made it a hot bed
> of revolution.

Or that they were from the same traditions.

> I get the distinct impression that the real passion for revolution
> came from members of Calvinits dissenting churches (Congregationalists,
> Presbyterians, Baptists, French Calvinists).

Seems like some of it did.  But I think George Washington was an Anglican,
as were most people in Virginia.  Benjamin Franklin was none of the above,
although he was more influenced by his Puritan heritage perhaps than he
would have liked to admit.

If you mean in Georgia and South Carolina, you may be right.
It's surprising to me that in digging through the database
and other records I've discovered that practically every
Midway or Dorchester, S.C. relative who was of appropriate
age (which seemed to mean somewhere between 10 and 16 on
the young end and still breathing on the older end) fought
in that war.

>2. Loyalist sentiment was very strong in the South, particularly in Georgia.

I have Loyalist ancestors, as well as revolutionists.
Some people sat out the war, some went back to Britain for the duration.
And of course in the northern colonies many Loyalists went to Nova Scotia
and never came back.

I have yet to discover a Midway person who was a Loyalist.

>I don't know what to make of it, but I have discovered a couple of things
>that I am still trying to understand the dynamics.

It's also astonishing how the history of this period can seem so familiar
on one hand and have so many unanswered questions on the other.

>I have at least three daughters of Loyalists, including one Loyalist that
>was killed fighting for the British at the Battle of Hanging Rock in
> South Carolina, who married revolutionary soldiers.

If they got married after the war, most of the likely husbands would
have been revolutionary soldiers.  Besides, after the war it was a moot point.
Even George III was conciliatory after it was all over; I was just reading
about his first meeting with John Adams as U.S. ambassador.

> He was fighting for a South Carolina militia unit loyal to the British.
>
>If a family record is to be believed, the first Tucker in my line got off
>the ship from England in Virginia (at age 16) and almost immediately joined
> the revolutionary army.

People did that.

>He "fired cannons until blood ran from his ears and nose."  By the way,
>somehow he got bounty lands as a revolutionary veteran in three different
>lotteries in Georgia (Washington 1797, Wayne County 1806, and Cherokee
>in 1832).

Very clever.

> There is no record of where he served because he never applied for a pension.

Sounds like he didn't need a pension.

>That's more than a couple.

Indeed.

>Hugh

John

>> > I would like to endorse pursuing some of the other related lines. I was
>> >fascinated by the earlier discussion of the Way family. The more we know
>> >about each other families - the more we know about our own lines. I have
>> >learned dynamics of the American Revolution from genealogical research
>> >that I never learned as a history major.
>>
>> Sounds like you have some good examples.  Can you tell us one or two?
>>
>> >W. Hugh Tucker
>>
>> John S. Quarterman <jsq@quarterman.org>

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