Revolutionary War Soldiers Buried in Adams County

Doctor Daniel Wood is the best-known veteran of the American Revolutionary War buried in Adams County. A physician before the war, Wood was appointed surgeon in the regiment of Col. Aaron Burr. Daniel Wood’s service in America’s war for independence is noteworthy, but his notoriety is even greater for the odd way in which his body made it to Woodland Cemetery in Quincy. His son John, while governor of Illinois in 1860 had the elder Wood’s body removed from its resting place in Cayuga County, New York, and brought to the Wood family plot at the center of Woodland, where it rests today.

Perhaps even more striking is the number of revolutionary soldiers who lived and are buried in Adams County. The scope of their combined service reaches from the “shot heard ‘round the world” at Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1775 to Washington’s victory at Yorktown, Virginia, nearly seven years later.

One of the first to answer the revolution’s call was Henry Covell, a Connecticut “Minute Man” who after the April 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord marched with his company to join the forces of General George Washington at Boston. Although he was mustered out that December, Covell returned to service in the fall of 1781 and was one of five men captured by the Iroquois in New York’s Mohawk Valley. Covell spent the next 15 months in Canada as a British prisoner of war. He lived in New York until the year 1832 when his pension was transferred to Adams County where he resided with a son.

James Earel of Pennsylvania marched with his unit in 1775 to Boston where they joined Washington’s siege. After the British evacuated Boston, Earel marched with Washington to Long Island, New York, where he completed his one-year enlistment. He applied for a pension in Maryland in 1822 and almost immediately moved to Adams County. By vocation a laborer, he could no longer work because of rheumatism contracted in the service. He died in 1830 and was buried in a family cemetery in Columbus Township.

Revolutionary War veteran John Cotton came to Illinois in 1819. As a sergeant with South Carolina troops, he participated in the 1781 Battle of Eutaw Springs. His application for a pension stated that a broken shoulder suffered in a subsequent action kept him from physical work. In later years, Cotton’s pension was transferred to Adams County, where he died June 7, 1833, leaving a large family.

War veteran Zachariah Lierly left North Carolina for Jackson County in Southern Illinois. He later moved to Adams County, settling near Liberty where he built his home. Lierly was in a skirmish at Reedy Creek in North Carolina and was engaged in the 1781 Battle of Guilford Courthouse. He died at the age of 91 and was buried in a family plot. A simple stone records his passing: “Zachariah Lierly, Pvt., Cook’s N. Carolina Co., Born June 2, 1755, Died March 15, 1847.”

Virginia-born Daniel McCoy was a horse trader in Garrard County, Kentucky, at the time he applied for his pension in 1818. Serving with Virginia troops, McCoy was at the Battles of Camden, Guilford Courthouse, Siege of Ninety-Six and Eutaw Springs and had been debilitated by rheumatism acquired in the swamps of South Carolina. In 1834 he moved to Adams County, Illinois. He died February 23, 1836, and was buried in the cemetery near Clayton.

Militiaman David Strahan served several three-month tours as a cavalryman in the Carolinas, suppressing Tories. After the revolution, Strahan bounced all over the South. In 1822 he moved to Schuyler County, Illinois, and in June 1832, at the age of 78, applied for a pension. Shortly afterward, he settled in Adams County, where he died in 1838. His remains were buried in the Baptist Cemetery at Honey Creek Township.

Irish-born Samuel Shaw volunteered for service at Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, serving four tours between 1776 and 1778, being present at the Battles of White Marsh and Gulph’s Mill. He migrated to Adams County in 1826 and died at the age of 77 on July 1, 1833. John Wood testified on Shaw’s behalf while applying for his pension.

In the fall of 1781 the combined American and French Armies had cornered British General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. With the French fleet just over the horizon, Cornwallis surrendered to Washington on October 19, 1781.

Among those taking part in that drama were several future Adams Countians: Samuel Conner, whose trade was stone masonry, was a Pennsylvania volunteer, having endured hard service from 1777 until Cornwallis’ surrender. As an Adams County resident, Conner applied for a military pension, citing poverty. He died shortly after taking up residence here at age 82. He is buried at an unknown location in the county.

Charles Kirkpatrick had been drafted into the Virginia militia. After marching to Yorktown, the militia was engaged in digging trenches and erecting earthworks, at times under bombardment. Kirkpatrick did not apply for a pension but was known to have lived in Quincy. He was buried near Ursa, where his family erected a monument to his memory in New Providence Cemetery.

Teenaged Virginia militiaman Charles Shepherd almost witnessed the historic surrender, but his unit was diverted to guard recently taken prisoners. In 1818 Shepherd moved to Adams County. Pension records indicate he was buried at an unknown location in Quincy.

Official records note that several other revolutionary war soldiers are buried in Adams County. Virginian John Martin applied for a pension shortly after his arrival in Adams County but was denied for not having served the required six months. New Jersey volunteer Stephen Jones volunteered in the year 1780. He battled the Hessians and British at Springfield, New Jersey, and once was among twenty-five soldiers who guarded General Washington as he observed enemy positions. He drew his pension from Missouri but being a Mormon, was driven from that state in 1839, being among those seeking refuge in Quincy where descendants claim he was buried.

These men did their part to gain our freedom, some more than others, but none shirked their duty. To them we owe a debt of everlasting gratitude. They were among the first citizens of our nation, and we are blessed to have their remains committed to our soil.

Cleve Barkley is a retired member of the U.S. Postal Service and amateur historian whose interest in World War II led to his book, In Death’s Shadow: A Soldier’s Story. He has published several stories about the war in history magazines and was a contributor to a WWII study guide for Minnesota school students.

Sources:

Reg Ankrom, “Citizen Wood and His Woodland Cemetery,” Quincy Herald-Whig. October 28, 2012.

People’s History of Quincy and Adams County, Edited by the Rev. Landry Genosky, OFM. Quincy: Jost and Kiefer Co., 1926.

Walker, Harriett J.,  Revolutionary War Soldiers Buried in Illinois. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997.

“Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900,” NARA microfilm publication M 804. Record of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Records Group 15, National Archives, Washington, DC.