Revolutionary War

The Fourth of July is here, and while you’re enjoying those hamburgers and hotdogs under a sky lit up by fireworks, why not take a moment to think about some of the people who fought to establish the United States almost 250 years ago? We know of at least five veterans of the Revolutionary War who lived in Thomas County. They were some of the first settlers of this county following its establishment in December of 1825. Join us as we take a brief look into these men, their service to a future country, and the lives they led afterward.

Let’s start with a strong name: Ignatious Hall. Ignatious was born in 1755 in Maryland but his family moved to a small plantation in North Carolina some time in his youth. Around the late 1770s he married his first wife. In 1781 when he was 25, he was made Deputy Quartermaster General and worked as an express rider delivering messages back and forth between military leaders, a bit like Paul Revere. Ignatious held this position for a year before being discharged around the end of the War.

After the War, Ignatious and his first wife had five children: three girls and two boys. Sometime after 1803, his first wife died and the family moved to Tattnall, Georgia. There he met Elizabeth Lewis and married for a second time. In the 1820s, Ignatious was a fortunate drawer in the Georgia Land Lottery and continued moving around the state to claim his land, including some in what was then part of Thomas County (now Colquitt). He stayed here for the remainder of his life until his death in 1843.

Our second veteran is Joseph Anderson. Joseph was born in 1757 in New Bern, North Carolina. We weren’t able to find out much about his early life, but in 1781 when he was about 23 years old, Joseph became a private in the brigade of Colonel Francis Marion, also known as “The Swamp Fox.” During his service he saw action at the Ambush along Benbow’s Ferry on the Black River, the Battle of Camden, the Battle and Siege of Fort Watson, and the Battle of Eutaw Springs. His service ended in 1781 after the British pulled out of the Southern Colonies.

After the War, Joseph moved to South Carolina where he married Shepahoomia Pushmataha, or Sarah Running Deer (1770-1855). Together they had ten children: eight daughters and two sons. Around 1810, the family moved into Bulloch County, Georgia to farm. In 1827, after most of the children were grown with homes of their own, Joseph and Sarah moved to Thomas County alongside a son, Moses, and his wife, Rachel McClelland. They lived in Thomas County the remainder of their lives, even after Joseph’s death in 1848. In fact, you may be or know one of their descendants: many members of the Roddenberry family can trace their line back to Joseph.

Our third man is Ralph Bozeman who was born in Bladen County, North Carolina in 1760. He was living in Williamsburg County, South Carolina when he enlisted with General Francis Marion’s Brigade in 1777. During the War he served in the Battles of Dorchester, Monck’s Corner, Black Mingo, Pinkney’s Lane, Mars Bluff, Camden, and Eutaw Springs – perhaps he met Joseph Anderson there!

Ralph’s life after the War remains shrouded in mystery. According to his testimony given when applying for a pension, he was discharged from military service in 1781 when his unit was in Charleston, South Carolina. After that, he spent thirty-two years “following the seas” as he put it before settling down to live in Georgia moving from Bulloch County to Brian County to Effingham County then to Liberty County then Twiggs County then Houston County and finally to Thomas County sometime after 1830. But he wasn’t done: in 1836 he moved to Gadsden County in Florida where he spent the rest of his very long life, dying in sometime after 1850 when he was in his 90s.

Our fourth soldier was Shadrach Hinton, born in 1759 in Bertie County, North Carolina (are you noticing a pattern of North Carolinians here?). According to Shad’s family he entered service on May 1, 1780 in Captain Johnson’s cavalry, serving three months before being honorably discharged. On year later toward the end of the War as it took place in the South, he entered as a substitute under the command of Captain Walton and Major Hogg (hold your giggles there) and served for three months before being honorably discharged.

Things got a little messy with Shad from here: after the War he married and had fourteen (14!!) children. In 1806 he legally changed his last name, and that of all thirteen of his living children, to Pugh. When land opened up in South Georgia, he moved the whole family to Thomas County where he lived until his death in August of 1842 while he was visiting family in Alabama. Before his death, he attempted to ask for his pension but was denied due to not having the necessary documentation (a problem faced by the other veterans aforementioned). His children reapplied after his death with their success or failure remaining undetermined at this time. However, many of his children remained in Thomas County leaving descendants who remain here today.

Finally we have a name you may already be familiar with: Simon Hadley Sr. He was born in 1760 in (you guessed it) Cumberland County, North Carolina. Despite being from a Quaker family, Simon enlisted with the Continental Army four times throughout the War, fighting alongside his father and brother (the Quakers disowned them for this). Not only did he serve as a soldier but he also worked to supply and deliver beef cattle to the troops.

After the War, Simon married Jane Wilkinson (1767-1829) and the couple had seven children including a daughter Jane who lived at what we now call Pebble Hill Plantation and Simon Jr. whose legacy includes many Hadley descendants still in Thomas County today. The Hadley family moved to Georgia in the 1810s where Simon Sr. served in the House of Representatives. In the 1820 land lottery, he won land in what was then Early County but later became Thomas County where he brought his family to live on their own plantation. Simon was very civically involved in Thomas County and ranked as the second largest slaveowner in Thomas County with 48 people working for him. He died in 1835 at the age of 75.

 At the time of Thomas County’s formation in 1825, the War had been over for forty-two years, a time gap not too far off from our connection to veterans of the Vietnam War today. Imagine what their stories would have been about and what sights they saw at the forming of our country. Their experiences in the War made their journeys to Thomas County possible and developed the area we experience today.