Captain Tom Step and the Nottoways
As we cover 1759 in this year of 2023, we run into Captain Tom Step, a Nottoway. He was here many times in Winchester VA. The House of Burgesses in 14 March 1759 wants to award him a silver gorget. They want to award him 10 pounds also. And 5 lbs. for his fellow Nottoways. This reward is thanks for their brave work under Major James Grant in the battle on the hill overlooking Fort Duquesne in the Forbes Expedition, 14 Sept 1758. Read about that award below.
But that action wasn't Nottoway Captain Tom Step's only contribution.
He was on the frontlines during the whole war. He was involved in a battle in April of 1756. Lt Col Adam Stephen writes Colonel George Washington 29 May 1756 about that battle.
The company involved was a mixture of milita Colonel Thomas Cresap's 60 volunteers, the Virginia Regiment's Lt Nathaniel Gist and his 18 soldiers, and Tom Step and his 6 Nottoways.
We have a timeline or references to Tom Step and the Nottoways.
There's a lot of detail in that battle.
That battle mentions Cresap's Red Caps.
Thomas Cresap writes a letter to the newspaper blaming Nathaniel Gist for the losses of men and supplies. Lt Col Adam Stephen in his letter to Colonel George Washington appears to support Cresap's view.
Founders Online note"Col. Thomas Cresap’s volunteers, who were known as “Red Caps” and usually wore Indian garb, left Fort Cumberland on 24 May in pursuit of the French and Indians who had been ravaging the Conococheague settlement and had recently killed Cresap’s eldest son, Thomas Cresap, Jr. Apparently the Indians who killed young Cresap were the same party who a few days earlier attacked and killed Capt. John Fenton Mercer. See William Stark to GW, 18 April 1756."
That Capt John Fenton Mercer of the Virginia Regiment at Fort Edwards in today's Capon Bridge WV in the Battle of Great Cacapon was brother to Colonel George Washington's aid de camp, Captain George Mercer. The brothers' father was John Mercer, a big time lawyer on the Ohio land company with GW and who had possibly the 2nd biggest library in Virginia. This father raised George Mason and that's why you see the name Mercer Library at George Mason University.
The connections go on and on. Everyone knew each other. Even the Indians knew the Whites. These battles were not between anonymous strangers.
Not much is made of Tom Step in that battle.
Tom Step knew well to assist Nathaniel Gist.
Tom Step and his Nottoways did NOT Side with the notorious milita leader Thomas Cresap when that company argued over going separate paths.
Nathaniel Gist, btw, is alleged to have fathered Sequoyah (aka George Guess or George Gist) who created a syllabary to make a written language for the Cherokee.
That's it.
That's our lead story.
There's always more.
Skip around.
Read bits and pieces.
Compiled and authored by Jim Moyer May 13, 2016, updated 5/31/2020, updated 3pm, 628pm 3/12/2023, 958am 3/13/2023, 4/29/2023
Table of Contents
Reward to Tom Step and the Nottoways
14 March 1759
Mr Blair (President Blair) from the Committee of Claims, reported. That the Committee had, according to Order, had under their Consideration the Petition of Tom Step, Billy John, School Robin, and Aleck Scholar, Nottoway Indians, to them referred, and had agreed upon a Report, and come to a Resolution thereupon, which he read in his Place, and then delivered in at the Table, where the same were again twice read, and agreed to by the House, as follow:
It appears to your Committee that the faid four Indians were in the Service of this Colony, and did behave themselves with great Bravery during the last Campaign, particularly the said Tom Step, who distinguished himself very remarkably in the Action before Fort Du Quesne, under the Command of Major Grant; and that they are now destitute of Subsistance for themfelves and Families, occasioned by their Absence from Home the laft Summer.
Refolved,
That the said Tom Step ought to be allowed £10, and the other three Indians £5 each, as a Reward for their Service, during the laft Campaign, and to purchase necessary Subsistance for themselves and Families.
Ordered,
That it be an Instruction to the Committee of Claims to make Allowances in the book of Claims purfuant to the faid Refolution.
Ordered,
That the said feveral Sums of Money be lodged in the Hands of the Members for the County of Southampton, to be by them laid out in Necessaries for the said Indians.
Upon a Motion made,
Refolved,
That the Treasurer be desired to purchase a Silver Gorget and a Suit of Cloths, to be presented to Captain Thomas Step, one of the Nottoway Indians, as a Mark of Distinction, and as a Reward for his brave and gallant Behaviour during the last Campaign.
Sources
14 March 1759
Page 94 [120] of the House of Burgesses
its 3rd Session page 55, February 22, 1759, to April 14, 1759
March 9, 1759
Also a Petition of Tom Step, Billy John, School Robin, and Aleck Scholar, Nottoway Indians, fetting forth. That they ferved all laft Summer and Fall in Conj\m<5lion with his Majefty's Forces, againft the French, faithfully and honeftly, until the Reduction of Fort Du Quefne; and are again willing to expofe their Lives in his Majefty's Service; That they have received no Pay, and by Reafon of their Abfence from Home made little Com to fubfift on, and praying that fome Allowance may be made them to pur- chafe Com for the Support of themfelves and their Families.
#112 page 86
Links
Gorget
Battle of Grant's Hill overlooking Fort Duquesne
About President John Blair
Battle of May 1756
To George Washington from Adam Stephen, 29 May 1756
F. Cumberland [Md.] May 29th 1756
Sir,
You have no doubt heard of the Party of Volunters who went out under command of Colo. Cressop; [Footnote1 ]
He returned about noon with about 60 of them & Six of the Nottawaies—About bare Camp [Bear Camp - one of Braddock's old camps from last year] , [Footnote 2 ]
his men mutinied, Some were for one thing and some for another—Lt Gist went from this place with him, with Eighteen men of the Regimt and Seven Indians—In Compliance with the mutinous tempers of the men rather than with any reasonable view they divided their men—Mr Cressop with the men under his Command Set off to fall in upon Y—Youghgane above the G. Crossing [The Great Crossing], whilst Lt Gist [Lt Nathaniel Gist ] marchd with the Soldiers, Indian Capt. Tom, [Footnote 3 ]
& Sixteen Volunteers Straight to it, and about a Quarter of a mile above the Spring on the Top of the mountains fell in with a party of the Enemy. The Skirmish lasted near an hour, The Enemy behaved with great Resolution and constantly aim’d at Surrounding our men, who on their part behavd extreamly well, prevented the Enemies designs and, According to our Acct, killed Six of them, with the loss of two of themselves—There are only two of the men who were in that engagemt come in yet. They overtook Mr Cressop on his Return, with the numr abov[e] mentd, instead of marching for the River, which I am afraid will lead Mr Gist into a mistaske—In their Return they fell in with three or four Indians, [Footnote 4 ]
one of Whom they Scalpd, & wounded two more mortally, but his Men were in such a pannick that he could not prevail on them to Stay and look for them.
The Enemy with whom Liut. Gist fell in were on thier way down—I have not heard thier number—They may be the advanced guard of an Army for what I know. The Serjt who is come in, Says that they left the field, upon hearing a gun fird at a distance, and a great hollowing coming from the Crossing. [Footnote 5 ]
I am anxious about Mr Gist and the men under his Command.6 I hope you will Send us up Some of the Recruits as soon as possible I am Sir, Your most Obt huble Sert
Adam Stephen
ALS, DLC:GW.
Founders Online Footnotes
1. Thomas Cresap (1694–1790) was a prominent Maryland frontiersman and land speculator. His fortified trading post was at Old Town, east of Fort Cumberland, but since the Indian raids began he had retreated to the comparative safety of the Conococheague settlement. For further identification of Cresap, see Robert Dinwiddie to GW, 15 Mar. 1754, n.2.
2. Bear Camp was 21 miles beyond Fort Cumberland on the road to Fort Duquesne, and only 8 miles before the Great Crossing of the Youghiogheny.
3. Captain Tom [Step] was a warrior of the Nottoway tribe.
4. At the end of the first page of his letter Stephen wrote “about” after “Indians,” and he began the second page repetitively: “the[y] fell in with three or four Indians.”
5. Col. Thomas Cresap’s volunteers, who were known as “Red Caps” and usually wore Indian garb, left Fort Cumberland on 24 May in pursuit of the French and Indians who had been ravaging the Conococheague settlement and had recently killed Cresap’s eldest son, Thomas Cresap, Jr. Apparently the Indians who killed young Cresap were the same party who a few days earlier attacked and killed Capt. John Fenton Mercer. See William Stark to GW, 18 April 1756.
In a long letter printed in the Maryland Gazette (Annapolis), 17 June 1756, Colonel Cresap defended his actions. He blamed Nathaniel Gist for letting himself be persuaded by “some young Headstrong Men, unexperienced in War,” to divide the command. Gist continued with part of the men toward Great Meadows by way of the Great Crossing of Youghiogheny, and Cresap led his men “by Way of the Glades up Yoghiogain.”
Cresap claimed his party encountered only three Indians, two of whom they shot, while Gist’s party “had a smart Engagement with a Party of French and Indians about three Miles from where they parted with us, and had lost several Men, with all the Baggage and Provisions.”
6. Nathaniel Gist brought his party off with the loss of only four men.
Source of letter and footnotes:
29 May 1756 Stephen writes to GW
Sources:
Thomas Cresap
Nathaniel Gist
The Great Crossing
Click on orange diamond icon above the bridge in the water:
The Great Glades
6. The Great Glades are natural marshy grasslands amid well-timbered ridges on both sides of Maryland’s western border. The Youghiogheny Glades are in the vicinity of Oakland, Md., and the Sandy Creek Glades are near Bruceton Mills, W.Va. (see entry for 26 Sept. 1784). Big Sandy Creek flows into the Cheat River, a main branch of the Monongahela. A short, convenient land route between the Cheat or Youghiogheny and the North Branch of Potomac in their navigable portions could effectively link the Ohio with the Chesapeake.
Source is Footnote 6 in Sept 1784 GW diary:
Bear Camp site
One of Braddock's camps from 1755
The Name of Nottoway
In 1607 the tribe was called Man-goak or Men-gwe by the Powhatan Confederation’s “Algonquian Speakers” and further listed in the upper left hand quadrant on Capt. John Smith’s 1607 map of Virginia by the same name in what is now Nottoway County.
In 1650 per the diary entries of James Edward Bland, the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indians were called by the Algonquian Speakers as NA-DA-WA (meaning snake, enemy in their language) which the Colonials reverted to Nottoway.
The true name of the “Nottoway” is Cheroenhaka (Che-ro-en-ha-ka), meaning “People at the Fork of the Stream.” The tribe’s lodging area was where the Nottoway River fork with The Blackwater River to form the Chowan River – thus “People at the Fork of the Steam.” The name Cheroenhaka is noted in the papers of Lewis Binford and in the book by Albert Gallatin and the papers of James Tresevant (Trezevant), Esq..
The War Department Papers of 1796 refer to the Nottoway as Cheroenhaka. The Honorable James Tresevant (Trezevant) in 1831 stated that the true name of the Nottoway Indians is Cheroenhaka. (Che-ro-en-ha-ka)
Nottoways
The people of this “Nottoway Tribe“, now numbering between 400 and 500, call themselves Cheroenhaka, meaning “People At The Fork Of The Stream”.
Figurines
Time Table
1711
Brafferton Indian School at the College of William & Mary.
In 1711 Colonial Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood met with the Chief and Chief Men of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Tribe offering “Tribute” forgiveness, reference in the Treaty of 1677 (20 Beaver Pelts and 3 Peace Arrows), if the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Chief Men would send their sons to the “Brafferton,” a school for Indians at the College of William and Mary.
By Tom Step’s time, the Nottoway annual tribute was suspended in favor of sending Nottoway youth to the
Brafferton Indian School at the College of William & Mary. It is likely that Step attended the school founded for the “Western Indians” education in “good letters and manners, and… the Christian faith.” Later records indicate Step was literate and spoke two or three Indian languages, as well as English
August 16th, 1751
In one instance, Tom Step and other Nottoway headmen lead a treaty delegation to confront Cherokee ambassadors in Williamsburg. The August 16th, 1751 edition of the Virginia Gazette recounts the Nottoway-Cherokee heated discourse, wampum presentation, and ceremonial pipe smoking on the steps of Williamsburg’s courthouse. The peace bonds that Step and other Nottoway made with the Cherokee encouraged their later united participation in the French & Indian War.
As allies to the British Crown, Tom Step led the Nottoway to Williamsburg “to renew their ancient League with their brothers the Cherokees, which was done in the Market Place, by smoking the Pipe, &c. after which the Cherokee Warrior made a long speech, desiring the Nottoways to go immediately to the Assistance of their Brothers the English.”
May 13, 1756
Paid John Greenfield for moccasins for Nottoway Indians
.
Source:
Page 36 of George Washington and Winchester Virginia 1748 to 1758 by Garland Quarles, Volume VIII of Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society Papers
May 29, 1756 letter
Indicates Tom Step and his Nottoways were involved in a late April 1756 battle.
We know it must be after April 18, because it is alleged the same enemy Indians were involved in the Battle of the Great Cacapon 18 April 1756. We know the battle must be before May 29, the date of his letter from Lt Colonel Adam Stephen to Colonel George Washington.
Source:
August 1, 1756
Speech to the Tuscarora Indians by Colonel George Washington handed to the Tuscorora by Tom Step of the Nottoways.
Source:
August 10, 1756
Paid Nottoway Indians for their expenses homeward.
.
Source:
Page 37 of George Washington and Winchester Virginia 1748 to 1758 by Garland Quarles, Volume VIII of Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society Papers
April of 1757
We believe this to be in 1757 inestead of 1756 claimed here.
In April of 1756, Step and fifteen other Nottoway joined the Cherokee warriors, following Isle of Wight’s Lt. James Baker to assist Lt. Colonel George Washington in Winchester.
William Fair writes this to GW 31 Mar 1757:
Lieut. Baker setting off with about Sixty of the Nottoway & Tuskarora Indians equipt with Arms &c.2 to joyn the Tribes of Cherokees & Catawbas before Sent under the Care & Conduct of Majr Lewis & Lieut. Williams will I hope be a welcome Reinforcement and productive of good Events—Capt. Jack Chief of the Tuskaroras produc’d to Me in Council your Letter of Invitation, wrote by Bryan Fx, who I wish, had not resignd but continued with You.
Our question:
Did Tom Step and the Nottoways join Lt Baker's group or Spotswood's group or Andrew Lewis; group?
When Washington had returned to Winchester from Williamsburg he had found that several raids to the westward had been undertaken by the Virginians and their new Indian allies. One such thrust had been made by the natives who had brought in four scalps and two prisoners. Major Andrew Lewis later had led toward the Ohio a scalping party of considerable size, but as he had not been able to prevail on the savages to take more than eight days’ provisions with them, he soon was back, with no scalps on any warrior’s belt. Two parties remained out, one of twenty Indians and ten soldiers with whom Capt Robert Spotswood had started in. the direction of Fort DuQuesne, and another under Lieut. James Baker, who had taken fifteen Indians and five white men toward Logstown With Baker had gone a renowned Indian fighter, known as Swallow Warrior.
Sources:
Douglas Southall Freeman's Young George Washington, Volume 2, Pages 249-251, published 1948, Charles Scribner's Sons
July 20, 1758
Christopher Gist writes GW how Captain Tom Step and 25 of his Indians escorted supplies on the South Branch. "as the Carolina Soldiers had no Arms I Sent Capt[ain] Tom with 25 Indians as far as South branch who is to come back to this town, from ther; as no doubt you will Send a Guard to South Branch, to take Care of these 50 Waggons with Stores & Provisions & as your waggons will come again the Same Indians will come then with Me.1"
Source:
Sept 14, 1758
Tom Step and his Nottoway men were in the battle of Grant's Hill, but not reward for it until 1759.
Battle of Grant's Hill overlooking Fort Duquesne:
14 March 1759
Reward to Tom Step and his fellow Nottoway for their service in the Forbes Expedition, especially singling out their contribution in saving those in Major James Grant defeat on the hill overlooking Fort Duquesne, 14 Sept 1758.
Source:
Later Years
Thomas Step continued to be a primary figure in Nottoway politics and commerce, appearing in the colonial capital with land sale petitions and arguing for Nottoway monetary compensation for wartime service.
He possibly fought alongside Virginians and the Tuscarora in the Cherokee War of the early 1760s.
Step’s leadership may have also influenced Tuscarora reservation land sales and leases in North Carolina. A number of Nottoway, Meherrin, and Tuscarora removed from Virginia – Carolina in the mid 1760s – the body taking residence in New York among their Iroquois brethren.
Doubtless, the connections made during the late northern war rekindled kinship ties with the Six Nations.
A portion of the communities remained in Virginia, but became increasingly politically isolated and marginalized.
Nottoway connections with Williamsburg declined after the Indian school closed in 1777 and the capital moved to Richmond in 1780.
Capt. Tom’s descendants and relatives continued in Southampton County, where the Step surname survived among the Nottoway well into the 19th century.
Speech to Tuscarora
handed to Tom Step to deliver to the Tuscarora
August 1, 1756
.
Speech to the Tuscarora Indians by Colonel George Washington handed to the Tuscorora by Tom Step of the Nottoways.
.
[Winchester, 1 August 1756]
To King Blunt, Capt. Jack, and the rest of the Tuscorora Chiefs—Brothers, & Friends,1
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This will be Deliverd you by our Brother Tom, a Warrior of the Nottoways, who with others of that Nation, have distinguished themselves in our service this summer,against our Cruel and perfidious Enemys2—
.
The intent of this, is, to Assure you of our real Friendship and Love—
and to confirm & Strengthen that chain of Friendship, which has subsisted between us for so many ages past, a Chain like ours, founded on Sincere Love, and Friendship, must be strong and lasting, and will I hope endure while Sun & Stars give Light.
.
Founders Online footnotes:
.
1. 1. Until their devastating war with the white Carolinians in 1711–13 the Tuscarora Indians were a populous tribe living in eastern North Carolina. Many of the survivors of that war went north as far as New York, and in 1722 the Tuscarora became one of the Six Nations. Those remaining in North Carolina were headed by Tom Blount (Blunt). Captain Jack seems to have been second in power to the aging Blount. It was to this Carolina remnant that GW’s speech was addressed. For his comments on the speech, see GW to Dinwiddie, 4 Aug. 1756.
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1. 2. Brother Tom was probably the Captain Tom who was mentioned in Adam Stephen’s letter to GW of 29 May 1756. The Nottoway Indians, Iroquoian like the Tuscarora, were a small tribe living in southeastern Virginia, not far from the Tuscarora. A party of the Nottoway Indians had come up first to Winchester probably in early May [1756] and then on to Fort Cumberland in mid-May [1756].
.
Tom Step and 25 Indian Escort
of Supplies on South Branch
July 20, 1758
.
Winchester July the 20th 1758
To George Washington from Christopher Gist, 20 July 1758
.
here with you have the agreeable News of taking all the Out works at Lewisburg your Papers will come by the Command &
.
as the Carolina Soldiers had no Arms I Sent Capt[ain] Tom with 25 Indians as far as South branch who is to come back to this town, from ther; as no doubt you will Send a Guard to South Branch, to take Care of these 50 Waggons with Stores & Provisions & as your waggons will come again the Same Indians will come then with Me.1
.
I have advices from the Cherokee Country that the Indians will not come untill the heat is a Little over, I Sent Smith away the 14th the express Met him at augusta[.]2 I order’d Mr Cromwell with him who will Delay no time, they cannot be here in less then forty days from this day, I b[e]lieve it is a good thing Smith is gone there as he will Set every thing right.3
.
I have a Letter from Mr Turner to General Forbes, which I am going with My Self.4 he is at Carlyle the waggons is at Parrises5 the Bearer will Set Out at 10 oClock hope you will See him tomorrow let him come with the next command or Sooner excuse hast Sir Yr Most Obedt Hume Servt
Christr Gist
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Founders Online footnotes:
.
1. 1. The original plan was for the detachment of North Carolina provincials at Winchester to conduct Thomas Walker’s second convoy of wagons up to Fort Cumberland (see GW to Hugh Waddell, 24 June), but evidently the Tuscarora leader Captain Tom and his little band of Tuscarora and Nottoway had to help escort both the unarmed Carolinians and the wagon train as far as the South Branch.
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2. 2. The express, or messenger, who met Richard Smith probably was the man who brought George Turner’s letters to Winchester reporting that no more Cherokee would come to Virginia before fall. In his letter to William Byrd, Turner identified the carrier of his letters as “James Holmes, who is a Master of Pack Horses.” See note 4.
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3. 4. William Byrd left George Turner in the Cherokee country in early May with instructions to conduct Little Carpenter and his party up to Winchester. On 23 June Turner wrote both Byrd and Forbes that Little Carpenter and his followers had backed out of their agreement to go to Virginia. Turner gave Byrd a detailed account of his fruitless negotiations with Little Carpenter, but his report to Forbes was succinct: “to the Very Day that I was to have set off, I had no Reason to doubt my Success (the Eve before excepted) when they trump’d up a Story of their Conjurers foretelling them a great deal of Sickness & Death that wou’d attend them in case they Went & they positively refus’d to go till the Fall” (ViU: Forbes Papers).
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4. 5. Gist is probably referring to Robert Pearis’s house a short distance north and west of Winchester. Pearis at this time was a captain in the Frederick County militia.
.
Source:
.
Notes to organize for later
.
Source:
.
CAPTAIN TOM STEP
Williamsburg saw many tribal emissaries in the 18th century.
· Nottoway Indian
· Multi-lingual in European and Native languages
· Literate
· Fought for Virginia during the French & Indian War
Childhood
Born in Isle of Wight County c.1725, Tom Step was raised in an Iroquoian-speaking community on the colonial frontier. During the first half of the 18th century, the Nottoway Indians had two towns south of the Blackwater River, the larger one situated along Assamoosick Swamp in present-day Southampton County, Virginia.
During Step’s youth, the Nottoway Great Town was fortified and served as a trading center for Euro-Indian commerce and as a military rally point for colonial rangers. Land speculators, surveyors, Indian traders, and planters were some of the frequent colonial visitors to the Native villages.
Tom Step grew up during a period of change for Nottoway people: he learned to use the bow and arrow alongside firearms; his grandparent’s clothing of buckskin was replaced with that of manufactured cloth; the deer he hunted became more valuable for the skin trade than as a food source. The introduction of alcohol, domesticated animals, slave labor and ideas of property division drastically altered the cultural landscape surrounding Tom Step’s natal community.
The Brafferton Indian School at the College of William & Mary
The Nottoway were tributary to the English Crown, via the Virginia governor, since the 1677 Treaty of Middle Plantation. Visits to Jamestown, and later Williamsburg, were commonplace. The Nottoway paid a quit rent of three arrows and a tribute of twenty beaver skins to the governor at his residence in March of each year.
By Tom Step’s time, the Nottoway annual tribute was suspended in favor of sending Nottoway youth to the Brafferton Indian School at the College of William & Mary. It is likely that Step attended the school founded for the “Western Indians” education in “good letters and manners, and… the Christian faith.” Later records indicate Step was literate and spoke two or three Indian languages, as well as English.
During the early 1750s Tom Step, “one of the chief men,” is referenced in several Nottoway deeds and the Journal of the House of Burgesses. His contemporary headmen were also students of the College and frequenters of Williamsburg. Iroquoians Alexander and Robert Scholar most likely took their surname from the title given to the colonial students of William & Mary, “Scholars.” Nottoway students, like Tom Step and the Scholars, continued to attend the Brafferton School until its closing in the 1770s.
Captain Tom Step led war parties in the French and Indian War.
Diplomat and War Captain
Native diplomacy and tribal emissaries in Williamsburg were constant during the eighteenth century. The Nottoway signed several treaties in the colonial capital and were present for dozens of exchanges between Virginia and the Northern Iroquoians, Cherokee, Catawba and their Siouan-speaking allies.
In one instance, Tom Step and other Nottoway headmen lead a treaty delegation to confront Cherokee ambassadors in Williamsburg. The August 16th, 1751 edition of the Virginia Gazette recounts the Nottoway-Cherokee heated discourse, wampum presentation, and ceremonial pipe smoking on the steps of Williamsburg’s courthouse. The peace bonds that Step and other Nottoway made with the Cherokee encouraged their later united participation in the French & Indian War.
As allies to the British Crown, Tom Step led the Nottoway to Williamsburg “to renew their ancient League with their brothers the Cherokees, which was done in the Market Place, by smoking the Pipe, &c. after which the Cherokee Warrior made a long speech, desiring the Nottoways to go immediately to the Assistance of their Brothers the English.”
In April of 1756, Step and fifteen other Nottoway joined the Cherokee warriors, following Isle of Wight’s Lt. James Baker to assist Lt. Colonel George Washington in Winchester.
During the War, Tom Step was referred to as “Captain Tom,” leading war parties against the French and their Indian allies in the disputed territory of western Pennsylvania and Maryland. The summer of 1756 was particularly difficult on the forward garrisons – supplies and dwindling recruitments left much to be desired.
Lt. Governor Robert Dinwiddie and Lt. Colonel Washington encouraged the Cherokee, Catawba, and Tuscarora to join Virginia and the Nottoway against the French; Washington believed their service was worth “more than twice their number of white men” in the woodland warfare of the frontier.
In August, Washington sent Capt. Tom Step with wampum and a speech to formally invite the Tuscarora and other tributary Indians to join the Virginia ranks. Capt. Tom persevered, recruiting upwards of seventy Nottoway, Tuscarora, and Meherrin warriors.
Eventually joined by Catawba and more Cherokee, Step and the Nottoway fought “against the French, faithfully and honestly, until the reduction of Fort Du Quesne…and did behave themselves with great Bravery during the…campaign…”
Near the conclusion of the hostilities, Washington and the House of Burgesses singled out “Tom Step, who distinguished himself very remarkably in the Action…” The House ordered “…that the Treasurer be desired to purchase a Silver Gorget and suit of Clothes, [to] be presented to Captain Thomas Step, one of the Nottoway Indians, as a mark of distinction, and as reward for his brave and gallant behavior during the last campaign.”
Later Years
Thomas Step continued to be a primary figure in Nottoway politics and commerce, appearing in the colonial capital with land sale petitions and arguing for Nottoway monetary compensation for wartime service.
He possibly fought alongside Virginians and the Tuscarora in the Cherokee War of the early 1760s.
Step’s leadership may have also influenced Tuscarora reservation land sales and leases in North Carolina. A number of Nottoway, Meherrin, and Tuscarora removed from Virginia – Carolina in the mid 1760s – the body taking residence in New York among their Iroquois brethren.
Doubtless, the connections made during the late northern war rekindled kinship ties with the Six Nations.
A portion of the communities remained in Virginia, but became increasingly politically isolated and marginalized.
Nottoway connections with Williamsburg declined after the Indian school closed in 1777 and the capital moved to Richmond in 1780.
Capt. Tom’s descendants and relatives continued in Southampton County, where the Step surname survived among the Nottoway well into the 19th century.
Learn more:
The exhibit also contains a letter written by George Washington to Tuscarora chiefs during the French and Indian War, delivered by liaison Thomas Step, a former Brafferton student, of the Nottoway Tribe — “that tells us he was trusted by Washington. He was literate, he can read it and translate it into Iroquois,” Woodard said.
These were students like Charles Murphy, who became a Cherokee interpreter for Patrick Henry, and Robert Mush, who would go on to fight in the Revolutionary War.
Though the curators chose to feature four native communities in the exhibit — Cherokee, Nottoway, Pamunkey and Wyandot—dozens more have ties to the Brafferton.
Twenty five names line the upper perimeter of the gallery.
John Nettles, John Montour, Henry Bawbee, Thomas Step, Charles Murphy, George Sampson, to name a few.
In the first of three galleries, focused on the Brafferton’s founding, the timeline actually ends with William and Mary’s 1693 charter, stating “that the Christian faith may be propagated amongst the Western Indians, to the glory of Almighty God.” This first gallery aims more to provide context, examining earlier British attempts at creating schools “to win the hearts and minds” of native populations, Woodard said.
Revenue
The exhibit’s second and main gallery, lined with the 25 names, illuminates interesting aspects of the Brafferton’s funding. For one, a never-before-shown parchment drawing from 1771 of the Brafferton Estate in Yorkshire, England, traces the tracts of land whose rent monies funded the college, and thus, the Brafferton. The college also received funds from taxation of many commodities exported from Virginia, goods largely tied to native communities
Exhibit info
The exhibit opened at the Muscarelle in September, on display until January, and the museum will host a day-long symposium related to the exhibit on Thursday, Nov. 3. Free and open to the public, “Reflections on Virginia’s Colonial Indian School: The Brafferton at the College of William and Mary” features a series of short lectures from the curators, college faculty and students, Colonial Williamsburg staff and more.
Moretti-Langholtz and co-curator Buck Woodard, director of Colonial Williamsburg’s American Indian Initiative, wanted to uncover the full story. Ten years of research on both sides of the Atlantic and two years of planning culminated in “Building the Brafferton: The Founding, Funding and Legacy of America’s Indian School.”
Muscarelle Museum’s “Building the Brafferton
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www.vagazette.com
Twenty five names line the upper perimeter of the gallery.
TOM STEP
6/17/2005
1735 to 1808 Southampton Co., VA Indians
Listed as Nottoway and Nansemond Indians on land deeds in Southampton, Virginia:
1735……………….King Edmunds, James Harrison, Ned, Peter, Robert Scoller Sam, Wanoke Robin, William Hines, Frank, Wanoke Robin Jr. Cockarons Tom, Cockarons Will.
1750……………….Sam, Frank, Jack Will, John Turner, Wat Bailey, George Skipper
1795……………….John Turner, Celia Rogers (a Nansemond), Suky Turner
1808 Special Census on Nottoway in Southampton:
adults: Litteton Scholar, Tom Turner, Jemmy Wineoak, Edy Turner, Nancy Turner, Betsy Step
Children: Tom Step, Henry Turner, Alexander Rogers, John Woodson, Winny Woodson, Anny Woodson, Polly Woodson, Fanny Bartlett, Solomon Bartlett, Billy Woodson, Jenny Woodson
CAPTAIN TOM STEP NOTTOWAY
BIO
mercer 6 september 1759 in Winchester writes to gw about Waggener
The people of this “Nottoway Tribe“, now numbering between 400 and 500, call themselves Cheroenhaka, meaning “People At The Fork Of The Stream”.
1808 Nottoway Indian Census
Tom Step, 18 years old. Sometimes hires himself out as a day labourer, but mostly idle.
Betsy Step, 36 years old. Spinning, generally.
Betsy Step (and her son Tom when at home) compose her family
GEORGE MERCER
Died while undergoing mental treatment
Loyal servant to his last days
In later life, Mercer received various disbursements from the British government, including a pension that supported him first in Paris and later in London. Mercer, a loyal servant to the crown, died in London in 1784 while undergoing treatment for mental illness.
Native diplomacy and tribal emissaries in Williamsburg were constant during the eighteenth century. The Nottoway signed several treaties in the colonial capital and were present for dozens of exchanges between Virginia and the Northern Iroquoians, Cherokee, Catawba and their Siouan-speaking allies. In one instance, Tom Step and other Nottoway headmen lead a treaty delegation to confront Cherokee ambassadors in Williamsburg. The August 16th, 1751 edition of the Virginia Gazette recounts the Nottoway-Cherokee heated discourse, wampum presentation, and ceremonial pipe smoking on the steps of Williamsburg’s courthouse. The peace bonds that Step and other Nottoway made with the Cherokee encouraged their later united participation in the French & Indian War. As allies to the British Crown, Tom Step led the Nottoway to Williamsburg “to renew their ancient League with their brothers the Cherokees, which was done in the Market Place, by smoking the Pipe, &c. after which the Cherokee Warrior made a long speech, desiring the Nottoways to go immediately to the Assistance of their Brothers the English.” In April of 1756, Step and fifteen other Nottoway joined the Cherokee warriors, following Isle of Wight’s Lt. James Baker to assist Lt. Colonel George Washington in Winchester. During the War, Tom Step was referred to as “Captain Tom,” leading war parties against the French and their Indian allies in the disputed territory of western Pennsylvania and Maryland. The summer of 1756 was particularly difficult on the forward garrisons – supplies and dwindling recruitments left much to be desired. Lt. Governor Robert Dinwiddie and Lt. Colonel Washington encouraged the Cherokee, Catawba, and Tuscarora to join Virginia and the Nottoway against the French; Washington believed their service was worth “more than twice their number of white men” in the woodland warfare of the frontier. In August, Washington sent Capt. Tom Step with wampum and a speech to formally invite the Tuscarora and other tributary Indians to join the Virginia ranks. Capt. Tom persevered, recruiting upwards of seventy Nottoway, Tuscarora, and Meherrin warriors. Eventually joined by Catawba and more Cherokee, Step and the Nottoway fought “against the French, faithfully and honestly, until the reduction of Fort Du Quesne…and did behave themselves with great Bravery during the…campaign…” Near the conclusion of the hostilities, Washington and the House of Burgesses singled out “Tom Step, who distinguished himself very remarkably in the Action…” The House ordered “…that the Treasurer be desired to purchase a Silver Gorget and suit of Clothes, [to] be presented to Captain Thomas Step, one of the Nottoway Indians, as a mark of distinction, and as reward for his brave and gallant behavior during the last campaign.”
· Where I got the information ( http://www.history.org/almanack/people/bios/biostep.cfm ) http://americanrevolutionhistorypeople8.weebly.com/colonial-generals.html
Thomas Step continued to be a primary figure in Nottoway politics and commerce, appearing in the colonial capital with land sale petitions and arguing for Nottoway monetary compensation for wartime service. He possibly fought alongside Virginians and the Tuscarora in the Cherokee War of the early 1760s. Step’s leadership may have also influenced Tuscarora reservation land sales and leases in North Carolina. A number of Nottoway, Meherrin, and Tuscarora removed from Virginia – Carolina in the mid 1760s – the body taking residence in New York among their Iroquois brethren.
Doubtless, the connections made during the late northern war rekindled kinship ties with the Six Nations. A portion of the communities remained in Virginia, but became increasingly politically isolated and marginalized. Nottoway connections with Williamsburg declined after the Indian school closed in 1777 and the capital moved to Richmond in 1780. Capt. Tom’s descendants and relatives continued in Southampton County, where the Step surname survived among the Nottoway well into the 19th century.
Learn more:
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http://www.history.org/almanack/people/bios/biostep.cfm
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north Carolina soldiers to Forbes
1. 1. For a discussion of the arrival of three companies of North Carolina provincials to join Forbes’s expedition, see Clair to GW, 22 June, n.3.
TO HUGH WADDELL
[Fort Loudoun, 24 June 1758]
To the Officer Commanding a Detachment from No. Carolina. Sir
last night the Inclosd March Rout came under cover to me for you, with this Paragraph from Sir Jno. St Clair—“I have inclosd you a march Rout for a hundred of the No. Carolina Provincials, that ought to be at Winchester, they will serve for an Escort for Mr Walkers second Convoy of Provision’s. You’ll please tell the Commanding Officer that any Carriages he wants upon his March shall be paid for upon his giving them a Certificate of their Service. the other two hundred of them that arrivd at Alexandria, are to March up by Fort Frederick.”1
As your March from hence depends upon the readiness of the Convoy, you are to consult Mr Commissary Walker on that head. I am Sir Yr most Obedt Hble Servt
Go: Washington
Fort Loudoun 24th June 1758
LB (original), DLC:GW; LB (recopied), DLC:GW.
1. 1. For a discussion of the arrival of three companies of North Carolina provincials to join Forbes’s expedition, see Clair to GW, 22 June, n.3.
INDEX ENTRIES
Permalink What’s this?
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SCHOHARIE ? NY
November 1, 2016 Tuesday
From Adam Stephen
Fort Cumberland [Md.] May 31st 1756
papers of the War Dept 1784 to 1800
Tuscarora chiefs assembled in council
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King Tom Blount
The Negotiator
David La Vere
DOI:10.5149/northcarolina/9781469610900.003.0008
This chapter focuses on the outrage felt by Governor Edward Hyde and Council President Thomas Pollock toward “Tuscarora Jack.” Barnwell’s earlier ravings had alienated both of them. Then against their explicit orders he had made a treaty with the Tuscaroras and their allies, which essentially let them off the hook. If that were not bad enough, as they saw it, he had then violated his own treaty by attacking and enslaving the Cores and their allies. That had only started the Indian attacks all over again. Hyde and Pollock were not so much angry at his enslaving the Indians; rather they blamed him for not having utterly destroyed the Indians in the first place. Now North Carolina was paying for Barnwell’s actions.
North Carolina Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
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“Tuscarora Jack” Barnwell- Founder of Beaufort, SC
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MORE NOTES
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more on Cresap
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Sunday Word
CRESAP
Another Daniel Boone on steroids
fairly unknown to the general public.
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And those who know, would ask, “Which Cresap?”
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The whole family is quite a story.
But first 3 questions.
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QUESTION 1 — RED CAPS.
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In Indian garb Cresaps 60 volunteers wore Red Caps and Indian style dress. How could you tell those red caps from the French ? Especially if the French dropped their white and put on Indian dress?
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-03-02-0182#GEWN-02-03-02-0182-fn-0005
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QUESTION 2
Was their red hat like the French wore?
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VOLUNTEERS AND THE NOTTOWAYS
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Cresap wasn’t a joiner.
He ran his own band of renegades
numbering 60 volunteers
and 6 Nottoways.
One of them was Tom Step, a Nottoway.
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http://frenchandindianwarfoundation.org/event/captain-tom-step-nottoway-ally/
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QUESTION 3
And how does Founders Online know that the same indians who killed John Fenton Mercer at the Battle of the Great Cacapon were the same ones who killed Cresap’s son ?
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MORE ON THE CRESAP FAMILY?
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CRESAP’S WAR
Thomas Cresap’s war in the Maryland – PA border:
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We link you to wikipedia ONLY as a starting point.
Also sourced here is Founders Online and French and Indian War Foundation web sites.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cresap%27s_War
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http://frenchandindianwarfoundation.org/penn-calvert-dispute/
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cresap
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This Cresap’s War is not to be confused with a later Cresap’s War more often called Lord Dunmore’s War in 1774
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MAP SHOWING CRESAP’S PLACE
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Section of the 1747 Fairfax Map of Western Virginia Showing Cresap’s Home.
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https://www.nps.gov/archeology/sites/npsites/cnocresap.htm
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CRESAP’S PLACE KNOWN AS BIG SPOON
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https://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Thomas_Cresap
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CRESAP – A RATTLESNAKE
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May 8th. [1755] Ferried over the River into Maryland; and March’d to Mr. Jackson’s, 8 Miles from Mr. Coxs’s where we found a Maryland Company encamped in a fine Situation on the Banks of the Potomack; with clear’d ground about it; there lives Colonel Cressop, a Rattle Snake, Colonel and a D — d Rascal; calls himself a Frontiersman,
… being nearest the Ohio; he had a summons sometimes since from the French to retire from his Settlement, which they claim as their property, but he refused it like a man of Spirit; This place is the Track of Indian Warriours, when going to War, either to the No’ward, or So’ward. He hath built a little Fort round his House, and is resolved to keep his Ground. We got plenty of Provisions. &ca. General arrived with Captains Orme and Morris, with Secretary Shirley and a Company of light Horse for his Guard, under the Command of Capt. Stewart, the General lay at the Colonels.
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Sunday Word 4 posting 5/24/2020
SUNDAY WORD 1 POSTING 5/31/2020
Sunday Word 1
Red Caps, Indian Garb.
Colonel Thomas Cresap's militia wear.
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Now they're in a fight with the French and Indians.
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May 28, 1756.
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Militia Colonel Thomas Cresap writes a letter to the Maryland Gazette published 17 June 1756 about this fight.
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He blames their losses on Nathaniel Gist.
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Nathaniel Gist
(who allegedly sired Sequoyah, who created a written alphabet like language for the Cherokee)
was blamed for
“some young Headstrong Men,
unexperienced in War,”
to divide the command.
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Colonel Adam Stephen believes that explanation.
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He's at Fort Cumberland and writes Colonel George Washington in Winchester, on 29 May 1756 this :
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"...his [Nathaniel Gist's] men mutinied,
Some were for one thing
and some for another—
Lt Gist went from this place with him,
with Eighteen men of the Regimt and Seven Indians—
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In Compliance with the mutinous tempers of the men rather than with any reasonable view they divided their men—Mr Cressop with the men under his Command Set off to fall in upon Y—Youghgane above the G. Crossing, whilst Lt Gist marchd with the Soldiers, Indian Capt. Tom,. . . "
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(Captain Tom is a Nottoway Indian, Tom Step – not King Tom Blount or Blunt of the Tuscarora)
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THE BATTLES
Lt Col Adam Stephen continues . . .
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" & Sixteen Volunteers Straight to it, and about a Quarter of a mile above the Spring on the Top of the mountains fell in with a party of the Enemy. The Skirmish lasted near an hour, The Enemy behaved with great Resolution and constantly aim’d at Surrounding our men, who on their part behavd extreamly well, prevented the Enemies designs and, According to our Acct, killed Six of them, with the loss of two of themselves—There are only two of the men who were in that engagemt come in yet. They overtook Mr Cressop on his Return, with the numr abov[e] mentd, instead of marching for the River, which I am afraid will lead Mr Gist into a mistaske—In their Return they fell in with three or four Indians,4 one of Whom they Scalpd, & wounded two more mortally, but his Men were in such a pannick that he could not prevail on them to Stay and look for them.
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The Enemy with whom Liut. Gist fell in were on thier way down—I have not heard thier number—They may be the advanced guard of an Army for what I know. The Serjt who is come in, Says that they left the field, upon hearing a gun fird at a distance, and a great hollowing coming from the Crossing." END QUOTE.
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WHERE WERE THE BATTLES?
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It was along Braddock's Expedition road.
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It was 3 miles away from the Great Crossing. Here's the Great Crossing, so referred to by the Braddock Expedition a year earlier.
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Touch or click on icon.
Sidebar on phone appears at bottom.
Touch sidebar to expand.
Scroll thru to read.
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AFTER THE BATTLES
Cresap's men come back to Bear Camp
to lick their wounds.
Adam Stephen misspells it as "bare camp."
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This is the name some diarists used for the camp a year before when Braddock Expedition camped there.
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Deep Dive into more?
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PICTURE?
By NC Wyeth
Meet the Nottoway. They’re in Winchester VA now.
Colonel George Washington paid a
On the 29th
Now meet Captain Jack
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See Indian with musket.. This is not a representation of Tom Step, a Nottoway who might have dressed differently. CLICK OR TOUCH TO ENLARGE
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TIMELINE
When Captain Tom came to Winchester and scoured the woods for the enemy Indians and escorted supply trains.
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#111 page 85
Alfo a Petition of Tom Step, Billy John, School Robin, and Aleck Scholar, Nottoway Indians, fetting forth. That they ferved all laft Summer and Fall in Conj\m<5lion with his Majefty's Forces, againft the French, faithfully and honeftly, until the Reduction of Fort Du Quefne; and are again willing to expofe their Lives in his Majefty's Service; That they have received no Pay, and by Reafon of their Abfence from Home made little Com to fubfift on, and praying that fome Allowance may be made them to pur- chafe Com for the Support of themfelves and their Families.
#112 page 86
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