Guide to Revolutionary War Records
Delaware Public Archives
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Delaware Public Archives - State of Delaware
Records

Page

Delaware Archives

1

Revolutionary War Records

4

Oaths of Allegiance

8

Pension Records

9

Military Pension Receipt Books

10

Revolutionary War Veterans Accounts

11

Proceedings of the Privy Council

11

Legislative Papers

11

Enrolled Bills

12

Council of Safety Minutes

12

Proceedings of the Freemen . . . of the Government

12

Votes and Proceedings of the House of Assembly

12

Votes and Proceedings of the Council of the Delaware State

13

Executive Papers

13

Auditor of Accounts Journal

13

Auditor of Accounts Waste Book

13

Auditor’s Letterbooks

13

Newspaper Clippings

14

Photographs

14

Proceedings of the Convention of the Delaware State

14

State Map Collection

14

Delaware Public Archives Motion Picture Collection

16

Broadsides Collection

16

Delaware American Revolution Bicentennial Commission

16

Department of Public Instruction Motion Picture Collection

17

Prints and Engravings

17

Small Manuscripts

19

General Reference

22

General Reference – Biography

23

Pamphlet Collection

24

Reference Reels

25

Bibliography

27

This record series contains various types of Revolutionary War records, including companies’ muster rolls, accounts, lists of pensioners, depreciation records, correspondence, pay rolls, returns, indictments for treason, and petitions. Muster rolls may contain such information as a soldier’s name, rank, age, birthplace, residence, occupation, enlistment date and location, muster-in date and location, mustering officer, term of enlistment, pay dates and amounts, and transfer and promotion data. The rolls may also list deserters and killed, ill, or discharged soldiers. Amounts spent for clothing or provisions for companies or the regiment as a whole are among the items found in accounts. Depreciation certificates were issued to soldiers to be redeemed at a later date, as Continental currency by 1780 was worthless. Correspondence includes missives from Delaware’s Council of Safety, military correspondence, a list of loyalist prisoners taken by Haslet’s regiment at Mamaroneck, New York, reports on the course of the war from officers to various Delaware officials, and communications between Delaware leaders. Lists of pensioners detail the name, rank, amount of pension, and residence of the pensioner. Pay rolls and regiment returns list the name, rank, and time of service of soldiers and officers. Petitions include officers requesting payment, former President McKinly’s request for reimbursement, and persons convicted of treason seeking leniency.

The vast majority of items are published in the first three volumes of the Delaware Archives: Military. Volumes IV and V of the Archives, dealing with the War of 1812, are not listed here. The sixth volume listed here, containing miscellaneous Revolutionary War items, was collated but remains unpublished. Another volume, also not published, “Pension Rolls and Correspondence,” contains information on pension applicants.

Colonel Haslet’s Regiment

Instructions for enlisting men, signed enlistment form, muster rolls, officer lists, regiment returns, receipts, muster rolls, subsistence accounts.

Colonel Samuel Patterson’s Battalion, “flying camp”

Regiment returns, expenditure accounts, supply requisition, receipt for supplies, officer rosters, receipt for pay, account voucher, list of pay rates, salary listing, Assembly resolution appointing commissioners of inspection, officer evaluations, commissioners’ reports, muster rolls, subsistence rolls.

Colonel David Hall’s Regiment

Officer rosters, regiment returns, pay rolls, muster rolls, casualty reports, list of officers and men to be struck from muster rolls, reports to the President of Delaware State, lists of prisoners of war, list of discharges, inspection reports, passes.

Colonel Henry Neill’s Regiment

Officer rosters, muster rolls, regiment returns, pay rolls, provision and forage accounts, enlistment returns, certificates of service, depositions before justices of the peace, assignments of pay, receipts for pay, etc., from various soldiers.

Wagon Brigade under Direction of Colonel Francis Wade

Pay rolls

List of Invalid Prisoners

List of Names of Delaware Pensioners

Militia Lists

Regiment returns, pay rolls, account of discharges

Delaware Militia

Lists of Delinquents from the Various Militia Companies.

Reports of the Auditor of Accounts, Joint Committees of the Assembly . . .

Delaware Militia

Orders on the State Treasurer to Pay Militia Officers

Arrangements . . . of the Sums Charged in the General . . . Militia Accounts

Accounts of the Lieutenants . . . of Militia Against the Delaware State

Miscellaneous Accounts

Depreciation Certificates

Memorials and Petitions in the General Assembly

Papers Pertaining to Naval Affairs

“Notes” made by Elaezer McComb, Auditor of Accounts, while settling claims with the Commission on the part of the United States

List of . . . Delaware pensioners, . . . from the report of Secretary of War . . . 1820

Returns of Provisions Issued

Miscellaneous Items

Military Correspondence

Military Correspondence, continued

Delaware Militia 1777-1780

Delaware Pensions

Delaware Militia

Miscellaneous items related to the Delaware Regiment and Delaware militia units.

Treason

Cases and convictions.

Delaware Militia

Depreciation of pay, certificates for Delaware members of Lee’s Legion, certificates for pay and subsistence, affidavits and petitions, information on Captain Peter Jaquett, miscellaneous items.

Revolutionary War letters

Peace

Items dealing with peace negotiations.

Errata in Volumes I and II

Index of names

The rolls include an index to names of pensioners, including death dates when known, and an index to correspondence between pensioners and government officials. Pension rolls from 1790 through 1846 are included (although not for every year inclusive). Pension rolls and correspondence are interspersed. A rough chronological order is followed.

Correspondence includes reports from the Treasury Department to loan agents concerning payment or inquiries about discrepancies, letters from the Navy Department after 1812, instructions on the issuing of money to heirs of pensioners, charts for determining payment, statements certifying the guardians of heirs, instructions on the payment of “half-pay” pensioners, and instructions on determining eligibility.

Only after 1822 do we find correspondence from individuals other than government officials or loan officers. This includes instructions for payment, statements certifying that an individual was the heir of a pensioner, and letters from physicians certifying disability.

21. Return of errors in the printed register of certificates issued by John Pierce, late Paymaster General, 1789

22. Payment to Captain McClement’s company soldiers, 1792-1793

23. State treasurer’s accounts with Edward Pole, 1807

1. Jacob Derrickson, 1771-1810

2. Sussex County, 1775-80

3. Samuel Edwards, 1778-1780

4. Joshua Hill, 1778-1780

5. Christopher Wilson, 1778-1787

6. New Castle County, 1778-1788

7. Carpenter and Walker of Port Penn, 1778

8. Nehemiah Field, 1778

9. Simon Kollock, 1778

10. Boaz Manlove, 1778

11. Thomas Robinson, 1778

12. Luke Shields, 1778

13. Joshua North, 1779-1790

1. Henry Fisher employment, 1776

1. John Hancock letters, 1776

2. Arms of General Burgoyne’s army, 1778

1. Rules and articles, Delaware Troops, n.d.

2. Orders to Thomas Collins, Kent Militia, n.d.

3. Orders, n.d.

4. Regulations for American troops (2 military manuals), 1775-1782

5. Letters to Caesar Rodney (transcripts), 1776

6. Recommendation for William Millan (photostat), 1776

7. Order: Troops to False Cape (American Archive transcript), 1776

8. Order: Troops to Broad Creek, 1776

9. Commissioners’ Report on Haslet’s and Patterson’s battalions, 1776

10. Commanders of the Delaware Regiment 1776-1779

11. Haslet’s Regiment (Delaware Blues), illustrations, 1776-1783

12. Commission, John Carr, ensign, Fifth Pennsylvania Regiment, 1777

13. John Reese, arms storage, 1777

14. Archibald Robertson journal extracts (transcripts), 1777

15. John Montressor journal extracts (transcripts), 1777

16. General Howe’s proclamation (transcript), 1777

17. Report of Capt. Jacob Bennett re: ships captured by the British, 1777

18. Kent militia, exhortation, 1777

19. Peter Jaquett’s company records, 1777-1778

20. Soldiers awaiting depreciation certificates, 1779-1780

21. Commission of Francis Wade, Deputy Quartermaster General, 1779

22. McLane’s company annexed to Delaware Regiment ( document photograph), 1779

23. New Castle County barracks on Christiana Creek, 1779

24. Return of Delaware Regiment, 1779

25. Land claim bonus for Levin McGee by John McGee, 1779

26. Edward Deleney enlistment, 1780

27. Delaware Regiment log, North Carolina, 1780

28. Deposition re: David Parker enlistment, 1780

29. Muster roll, Delaware Regiment, Second Battalion, 1780

30. Robert Wilcox petition, surgeon of the Second Delaware Regiment of Militia, 1780

31. Supplies for army, 1780

32. Samuel Shute journal extracts (transcript), 1781

33. Return of forage, 1780

34. Requests for back pay/depreciation certificates, 1783

35. Certificates of military service, 1784

36. Depositions, re: military service, 1785

37. Certificate of military service, 1787

38. Back pay for Isaac McKee, 1787

39. Pay roll for Col. Samuel Patterson’s officers, 1789

40. Vindication of Col. David Hall (photostat), 1790

41. “A catalogue of the muster rolls, pay rolls, and miscellaneous papers pertaining to the Delaware troops in the Revolutionary War: Collected in the Office of the Secretary of State,” 1908

1. Stamp Act Congress (photocopies), 1765

2. Parliament bill relating to Delaware (transcript), 1775

3. Richard Derring petition re: debts (photocopy), 1787

1. George Read to President of Congress, (transcripts, photocopies), 1778

2. Letters of Marque and Reprisal, 1778-1780

3. Commission of Hugh Lyle, 1781

4. Commission of Thomas Bell, 1782

5. Commission issued by the Vice Admiralty Court, Bermuda, against American shipping, to Robert Burton, 1782

6. Commission issued by the Vice Admiralty Court, Bermuda, against French shipping, to Robert Burton, 1782

1. Oaths of New Jersey residents, administered by Caesar Rodney, 1777

2. Oaths of allegiance, 1777-1779

3. Oaths of allegiance, ca. 1778

4. Oaths of allegiance, 1778

5. Oaths of allegiance, 1778

6. Ezekiel Hales, 1778

7. Legislation, 1778

8. Oaths of allegiance, 1779

9. Oaths of allegiance, 1780

10. Oaths of allegiance, 1784

1. Edward Kearney, letter to the governor of Delaware, n.d.

2. List of Continental officers who died in service/invalid pension applicants, 1777-1793

3. Invalid pension claims (list of sources), 1778-1856

4. Relief for Hugh Coffill, 1784

5. Payment to Nicholas Way, 1787

6. James Murphy, 1788

7. Delaware pension records, 1789-1834

8. Payments to pensioners, 1790

9. List of invalid pensioners (photostat), 1790-1791

10. Adjusted and allowed claims, 1792-1796

11. Thomas Mason service record, 1818

12. Verification of pensions for Jacob Caulk, Edward Whaley, Joseph Williams, Benjamin Lane, Charles Hamilton and John Alexander, 1818

13. James Fitzgerald, 1819

14. Thomas Flinn,1819

15. John Gibbin, 1819

16. Major Hitchens, 1819

17. Zadock Morris, 1819

18. William Smith, 1819

19. John Turner, 1819

20. William Ake, 1820

21. Jacob Allen, 1820

22. Henry Boyd, 1820

23. Jacob Creemer, 1820

24. James Davis, 1820

25. Issac Dewees, 1820

26. James Donahue, 1820

27. John Eastwick, 1820

28. James Fitzgerald, 1820

29. Francis Freeman, 1820 (African American Revolutionary veteran)

30. John L. Handy, 1820

31. John Hanna, 1820

32. Edward Harmon, 1820

33. David Kirkpatrick, 1820

34. Benjamin Lane, 1820

35. Mitchell Lecatt, 1820

36. Nehemiah Lingrell, 1820

37. John McKinley, 1820

38. John Marks, 1820

39. Issac Milleway, 1820

40. Archibald Morton, 1820

41. Richard Mowlan, 1820

42. Levi Powell, 1820

43. Peter Pusley, 1820

44. Zachariah Rosell, 1820-1824

45. Jesse Royal, 1820

46. William Saunders, inventory and genealogy, 1820

47. John Schofield, 1820

48. John Shelton, 1820

49. Thomas Stayton, 1820

50. John Stevens(on), 1820

51. Abraham Wiles and Major Hitchens, letter from H. Ridgely, 1820

52. Thomas Holston, 1821

53. Isaac McKee, 1823

54. Louder Calloway, 1828

55. Louder Calloway and John Stevens(on), 1829

56. William Arnell, 1831

57. John Cade, 1831

58. Thomas Dazey, 1831

59. Aaron Marshall testimony, 1831

60. Jesse Welden, 1831

61. William O’Neal, 1832

62. Cornelius Paynter(?) and Daniel Jester, 1832

63. Purnal Truit, 1833

64. Delaware pension roll, 1834

65. Alexander Moore, 1834

66. Henry Wells, 1834, 1828-1837

67. Henry Johnson, 1836

68. Reuben Shields, 1836

69. Catharine Meritt, re: William Dowdle, 1837

70. Captain John Corse, 1846

71. Pension application index, ca. 1900

1. Pension Receipts 1817-1818

2. Pension Receipts 1818-1819

3. Pension Receipts 1819-1820

4. Pension Receipts 1820-1821

5. Pension Receipts 1821-1822 (2 folders)

6. Pension Receipts 1822-1823

7. Pension Receipts 1823-1824

8. Pension Receipts 1824-1826

9. Pension Receipts 1826-1827

10. Pension Receipts 1827-1829

1. Joshua Fisher. “A Chart of the Delaware Bay and River.” (Philadelphia, London, 1776).

2. Lt. Hunter of His Majesty’s Navy. “A Plan of the Delaware River from Chester to Philadelphia.” 1777.

3. “Carte de la Baye et Riviere de Delaware . . . ” 1778.

4. Lt. Knight of His Majesty’s Navy. “Soundings . . . ” 1779.

1. de Valinger, Leon Jr. “Map of Dover, Delaware in Revolutionary Times.” 1775, 1936.

1. “An Ordinance Ascertaining What Captures on Water Shall Be Lawful.” 1781.

7. “Battle of Cowpens, Conflict between Cols. Washington and Tarleton.” Colored engraving. 1858.

Among Captain Robert Kirkwood’s papers are photostats of his journal from 1777-1784. Folder 1 contains general orders, division and brigade orders, proceedings of court martials and courts of inquiry, company returns, muster rolls, musical notations, and a journal of marches from March through December 1777. Folder 2 contains pay rolls and muster rolls from 1777-1780, and January 1781, another musical notation, a furlough from 1779, and regiment returns from August and November 1781. Folder 3 contains a journal of marches from Morristown, New Jersey through the Kirkwood company’s southern campaign, 1780-1782. A casualty return from the battle at Eutaw Springs, September 1781 may be found, as well as a transcript of correspondence between General Henry Clinton and General Benjamin Lincoln before Lincoln’s surrender of Charleston in 1780. Folder 4 contains depreciation pay certificates from 1782-1784, and a list of Indian nations involved in the Revolution. An index to the Kirkwood journal and order book may be found in RG 9270.000, Reference Reel R-57.

Contains two folders pertaining to McLane’s Revolutionary War activities. Folder 1 contains company reports, and journal entries from 1775, 1779, and after the Revolution. The folder also include chronologies of the Revolution written after the war. The second folder includes letters from correspondents such as General “Light-Horse Harry” Lee and George Washington, returns of Lee’s “partisan” corps, to which McLane was attached for a time, troop returns, and pay rolls from this period.

In the “Read, George” folder are photostats of letters relating to the Stamp Act crisis, and letters written during Read’s service in the Continental Congress referring to Lexington and Concord, and other news of the war.

Dr. James Tilton was a physician and patriot who served with Haslet’s regiment and then as a surgeon to the Continental Army. He was instrumental in improving care for the sick and wounded by redesigning the military hospitals used by the Americans. Box 2 contains a draft copy of the volumes comprising Francis T. Tilton’s “Dr. James Tilton of Delaware, 1745-1822: A Patriotic Doctor in Our Two Wars with Britain,” which apparently was never published. The first volume of this work, in four bound typescript folios, covers the Revolutionary period and Tilton’s role in the war, with reference to many original documents. A few letters from Tilton written during the Revolution are interspersed with other documents in Box 3 (all are photostats). Acts of Congress concerning hospitals are also included (typescript copies).

Box 6 contains photostats of Tilton correspondence from throughout the Revolutionary period. These include letters concerning Committees of Correspondence, news of the war, the establishment of a hospital in Virginia, the conduct of army physicians, an account of the Delaware Regiment’s attack on loyalists at Mamaroneck, New York, the use of smallpox vaccine, Tilton’s appointment as a hospital physician and surgeon, reports on sick and wounded, and Tilton’s resignation from the Delaware Regiment in 1776.

The “Nehemiah Tilton papers” folder contains photostats of two letters from 1782 dealing with current events and Delaware politics. The “Dr. James Tilton letters” folder contains a typescript copy of a letter from Tilton referring to George Washington’s resignation as commander of the Continental Army.

1. Clayton, Joshua

2. Clow, Cheney

3. Dickinson, John

4. Haslet(t), John

5. Ja(c)quett, Peter

6. Kirkwood, Robert

7. McComb, Eleazer

8. McKean, Thomas

9. McKinl(e)y, John

10. McLane, Allen

11. Patten, John

12. Patterson, Samuel

13. Read, George

14. Rodney, Caesar

15. Tilton, James

1. R-26.1—R-26.4: John Dickinson material in the R. R. Logan Collection at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Contains a range of material from Dickinson’s life, including correspondence, accounts and receipts, business of the Continental Congress and the Delaware State, drafts of the Articles of Confederation, and other materials relating to the American Revolution. The materials are ordered in a rough chronological fashion. It is best to consult the lists following groups of documents.

2. R-36: John C. Powell, “John Dickinson, Penman of the Revolution” (Ph.D. thesis, University of Iowa, 1938).

3. R-46.1—46.2: Delaware Papers, Colonial and Revolutionary Documents, at the Library of Congress, volumes I & II, III & IV. Dating from the 1770s through the early 1800s, these records contain deeds, state letters, governor’s messages, votes of the Assembly, commissions to officials, communications between the Continental Congress and the state, and more.

4. R-48: Papers from the New York Public Library, 1774-1804. Contains correspondence of John Dickinson, including letters to Caesar Rodney, Thomas Rodney, and others.

5. R-50: James B. Jackson, “A History of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Neill’s Second Delaware Regiment of Militia in the War of the American Revolution,” 1959.

6. R-53: “Letters of Dr. John McKinly,” 1773-1778. Transcripts of correspondence between the first President of Delaware State and his wife. Duplicate of pamphlet found in the McKinly folder in General Reference—Biography, and in the Research Room library.

7. R-57: Index of the Journal and Order Book of Captain Robert Kirkwood, 1777-1791. An index to the journal and order book found among the Kirkwood papers.

8. R-73: Military Commissary Accounts, 1781-1783; Isaac Smith, Personal Accounts, 1781-1853; Pension file of Dennis Kell(e)y, 1832-1840. Commissary and personal accounts are intermingled. The personal accounts date mostly from the 1800s. The commissary accounts detail provisions for prisoners of war apparently taken at Yorktown, listing general comments, regiments, number of rations, and amount of alcohol supplied. The Kelly records include a declaration of service, affidavits, and a declaration of proof for Kelly’s widow Elizabeth.

9. R-75: Thomas Rodney Journal, 1786-1797. Contains references to the Revolution, and poetic and prose descriptions of events at Trenton and Princeton in 1776-1777.

10. R-77: Settlement of Delaware Revolutionary War Claims with the United States, 1776-1787; Account Book of the State Auditor of Delaware, 1784-1800. Claims settlements include disbursements for prisoners of war, Commissary Department, transportation, Hospital Department, Quartermaster’s Department, and depreciation of pay. The Auditor’s “sundry accounts” include the Council of Safety, congressional delegates, George Read, the United States, and various officers. Originals of the Settlement of Revolutionary War Claims may be found in RG 1315.6, and of the Auditor’s Account Book in RG 1315.7.

11. R-89: Daniel Terry Boughner, Jr., “George Read and the Founding of the Delaware State” (Ph.D. dissertation, Catholic University, 1968).

12. R-90: Gail Stuart Rowe, “Power, Politics, and Public Service: The Life of Thomas McKean” (Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, 1969).

30. Robert Wilcox petition, surgeon of the Second Delaware Regiment of Militia, 1780

31. Supplies for army, 1780

32. Samuel Shute journal extracts (transcript), 1781

33. Return of forage, 1780

34. Requests for back pay/depreciation certificates, 1783

35. Certificates of military service, 1784

36. Depositions, re: military service, 1785

37. Certificate of military service, 1787

38. Back pay for Isaac McKee, 1787

39. Pay roll for Col. Samuel Patterson’s officers, 1789

40. Vindication of Col. David Hall (photostat), 1790

41. “A catalogue of the muster rolls, pay rolls, and miscellaneous papers pertaining to the Delaware troops in the Revolutionary War: Collected in the Office of the Secretary of State,” 1908

1. Stamp Act Congress (photocopies), 1765

2. Parliament bill relating to Delaware (transcript), 1775

3. Richard Derring petition re: debts (photocopy), 1787

1. George Read to President of Congress, (transcripts, photocopies), 1778

2. Letters of Marque and Reprisal, 1778-1780

3. Commission of Hugh Lyle, 1781

4. Commission of Thomas Bell, 1782

5. Commission issued by the Vice Admiralty Court, Bermuda, against American shipping, to Robert Burton, 1782

6. Commission issued by the Vice Admiralty Court, Bermuda, against French shipping, to Robert Burton, 1782

1. Oaths of New Jersey residents, administered by Caesar Rodney, 1777

2. Oaths of allegiance, 1777-1779

3. Oaths of allegiance, ca. 1778

4. Oaths of allegiance, 1778

5. Oaths of allegiance, 1778

6. Ezekiel Hales, 1778

7. Legislation, 1778

8. Oaths of allegiance, 1779

9. Oaths of allegiance, 1780

10. Oaths of allegiance, 1784

1. Edward Kearney, letter to the governor of Delaware, n.d.

2. List of Continental officers who died in service/invalid pension applicants, 1777-1793

3. Invalid pension claims (list of sources), 1778-1856

4. Relief for Hugh Coffill, 1784

5. Payment to Nicholas Way, 1787

6. James Murphy, 1788

7. Delaware pension records, 1789-1834

8. Payments to pensioners, 1790

9. List of invalid pensioners (photostat), 1790-1791

10. Adjusted and allowed claims, 1792-1796

11. Thomas Mason service record, 1818

12. Verification of pensions for Jacob Caulk, Edward Whaley, Joseph Williams, Benjamin Lane, Charles Hamilton and John Alexander, 1818

13. James Fitzgerald, 1819

14. Thomas Flinn,1819

15. John Gibbin, 1819

16. Major Hitchens, 1819

17. Zadock Morris, 1819

18. William Smith, 1819

19. John Turner, 1819

20. William Ake, 1820