3.6”x2.6”

Transcription of William McMillan to William Clark, ca. October 1828, Pension of
William McMillan, National Archives and Records Administration, Revolutionary
War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files

“I am now in my 73rd year of age and I always had a good state of health, but about a year ago I was thrown off my horse and was dead for some time, broke three of my ribs. It was a long time before I got well. I was scarcely able to do anything. I began to think about my Revolutionary services. I joined the Revolutionary War in 1775 in the last of December in Maryland to serve nine months. I was appointed sergeant and my brother was appointed at the same time. The British came to New York and part of our regiment lay in Annapolis and part in Baltimore. Hand bills were sent out in every direction for volunteers and our regiment turned out to a man that was fit to march. We had about twelve hundred men in the regiment and we marched to New York. I believe we arrived there about the first of August 1776. The British army consisted of about 40,000 and they had Hessians to the amount of 15,000. On the evening of the 26th of August, we left New York and landed at Long Island and the next day was the Battle of the 27th of August.Lord Stirling commanded the right wing and General Sullivan the left wing. My Captain was killed, first lieutenant was killed, second lieutenant shot through the hand, two sergeants were killed, one in front of me. At the same time my bayonet was shot off my gun. Two corporals killed, all belonged to our company. Captain’s name was Daniel Bowie from Annapolis. General S. Smith, your oldest senator in Congress, was with us that unfortunate day. He remembered me the day of the Battle and gave me a certificate of that afternoon.My brother and about 50 or 60 of us were taken. We had a pretty severe fight with Jägers and it was a drawn battle. There were a good many on each side killed. They retreated and we did not pursue them. And we were surrounded by Highlanders on one side, Hessians on the other. The Hessians broke the butts of our guns over their cannon and robbed us of everything we had, lit their pipes with our money, carried us into meeting houses, gave us nothing to eat for five days and then gave us biscuits from board ships, blue, moldy, full of bugs, rotten. And the British put us aboard prison ships and sent us to Halifax, where we were till the next spring. Ten of us ran away from Halifax and were likely to have been taken two or three times by the British, once at Saint John at Passamaquoddy. Several times we were likely to have been killed by the Indians if we had not had a man that could speak the Canadian language. Once they were pointing their guns at us and this Canadian spoke their language well and kind Providence saved us in that way. We were ten weeks in the wilderness, sometimes nothing to eat for days but what grows on the rocks in the bays, sometimes shellfish and snails. We got so poor we could hardly make a sound. It would take a quire of paper to give a correct account of our suffering that we underwent. We suffered everything but death.”