Revolutionary War Veterans

Revolutionary War Veterans. . Historians agree it is impossible to know exactly how many Revolutionary War veterans migrated to what would become Monroe County. While it was a practice of the newly formed United States government to grant unsettled land to these veterans, not every veteran received such a grant. The government provided a pension for Revolutionary War veterans but not every veteran received one. The reasons for this varied; original application criteria excluded some veterans, many died before the pensions were enacted, and interestingly some veterans refused to apply for the pension because they didn't want payment for performing their civic duty. Some even viewed the pension as charity. It is estimated that for every Revolutionary veteran that received a pension at least three did not., The Kentucky Pension Roll of 1835 and oral histories reveal 37 Revolutionary War veterans settled in Monroe County. They include Ambrose Barlow, William Thomas Bartley, J.T. Beals, Nathan Breed, Thomas Brown Sr., Charles Browning, James Campbell, James Chism, Fielding Curtis, Hardin Denham, William Depp, Ephraim Dicken, Solomon Dickerson, James Flippin, John Giles, Richard Giles, Benjamin Gist, Christopher Gist, John Gist, Joseph Gist, Jacob Goodman, Pleasant Haley, Obadiah Howard, Matthew Kidwell, Richard Macey, Luke Methaney, John Morehead, Edward Pediford, John Rainer, John Rasner, Samuel Shipley, Fleming Smith, John Sumner, Elijah Veach, James Welch, Thomas White and Gen. Samuel Wilson., The majority of these men came to the area from Virginia, some from North and South Carolina and still others from as far away as Maryland. A study of Revolutionary veterans in Kentucky shows these men as a rule became the leaders of their communities; taking active roles in the governmental, commercial and spiritual development of their new homelands. For example Joseph Gist and Nathan Breed were commissioned by the county to survey a road. John Rasner was a shoemaker, Matthew Kidwell a land dealer and Ephraim Dicken started the Cumberland River Ferry in Turkey Neck Bend, which continues to this day. Several of these veterans would serve their country again either in the War of 18 12 or in battles with Native Americans. Six of these veterans were members of Mill Creek Baptist Church (Indicated by above.) The "Book of Records” reveals that they were often selected to represent the congregation on committees, at association meetings, and in matters of discipline. , When this site was dedicated as a "state shrine” in 1931, organizers of the event invited the D.A.R. (Daughters of the American Revolution) of Glasgow to participate. According to reports in the local newspaper, this participation continued over the next several years and led to the development of the memorial section of this cemetery. Notice the location markers near here; they face south and are simply engraved with a Kentucky county name. The D.A.R. obtained the military markers for these Revolutionary War veterans. They placed them here in line with the county marker where each veteran lived when he applied for his pension. These men may or may not have actually been buried in this cemetery, and they may or may not have attended church here. The most recent addition to this part of the cemetery was in 2008 when a marker was added for Ephraim Dicken.