John Hollis' Revolutionary War Service

 John Hollis

   b 3 Dec 1751, on the Potomac River, Fairfax Co., VA

d 1836 South Carolina

       Son of Moses Hollis & Rosannah Berry Hagan

My 6x great uncle

 

            We had several Revolutionary War soldiers in our family, including Jacob Alford, Charles Brumfield, Richard Dillon and John Faulkenberry. Of all of the soldiers John Hollis may have the most complete record of service. Between 1830 and 1833, 45 pages of papers were filed to prove his eligibility for a pension. Those papers include details on his nine tours of service, his wounds, his prisoner of war parole, the battles he participated in and even the death of his horse.

 

            John Hollis was 26 years old and living on the Wateree River in Craven County, South Carolina when he served. In the winter of 1775 he was a private under Captain Samuel Boykin and Colonel Fletcher for one month.[1],[2],[3]

            His second tour of service lasted for 18 months. He was a sergeant under Colonel Thompson. This tour began in November 1775 and lasted through June 1777 and included the Battle of Sullivan’s Island on 28 June 1776.[4]This took place near Charleston, South Carolina when the British troops tried to capture the city. American troops had begun construction of a fortress built out of palmetto logs and sand to defend the island and the channel into Charleston Harbor.  The British and American forces faced each other across the channel. The British launched a naval bombardment on Fort Sullivan. Due to the nature of its construction the fort absorbed the cannonballs rather than splintering. When night fell the British withdrew.[5] John had been on the island during the battle.[6]

After this battle John Hollis was transferred to Richard Winn’s company. They marched to the Georgia, Florida border area.[7]Fort McIntosh, Georgia was a small stockade of 100 square feet on the bank of the Satilla River. About 80 patriots, led by Winn, were inside the fort. After a battle of several days the British took the fort in March 1777. Winn surrendered[8]and John Hollis became a prisoner. He was held for a short time and then received a parole and was allowed to return to his home in South Carolina where he remained until his enlistment expired.[9], [10]

            An 1833 letter written by John Buchanan in support of John’s pension included the following description of John.

 

We have no revolutionary soldier whose case excites more general interest in this District than his. There is no one better entitled, there is no one who stands in greater need of his Country’s assistance. He was gifted by nature with a robust and athletic frame, a daring courage and an unbending spirit of resistance to opposition, and singularized himself throughout the war as one of the most active and efficient officers of his rank in this section of the Country. He is now reduced from easy circumstances to a state of poverty by the workings of providence…[11]

 

Starting with John Hollis’ third tour of duty he was a captain in rank. He served for one month and a half under Colonel Thomas Sumpter. Captain William Miller was absent without leave and his men were assigned to Captain Hollis’ company.[12]

His fourth tour lasted two months under Major John Odair. They were “engaged in marching through the country.”[13]It must have been during the third and fourth tours that John was a part of the Battle of Rocky Mount that took place 1 August 1780 at Rocky Mount, Lancaster County, South Carolina. Sumpter was unable to defeat the British at Rocky Mount. He had the British trapped in log cabins.[14]

 

Sumter rolled a burning wagon against the cabins. The Tories put up a white flag and was going to surrender. Just at that time, a torrential downpour appeared and the rain quickly put out the fire. The Tories withdrew their surrender request and engaged the Americans again.[15]

 

 

John Hollis was also at the Battle of Hanging Rock on 6 August 1780. Colonel Thomas Sumpter and Major William Richardson Davieled this battle. They attacked a British camp. The British had 200 men killed but the Patriots lost only 12 men in this victory for the Patriots.[16]On 15 August they were a part of the skirmish at Carey’s Fort on the west bank of the Wateree River Ferry in Kershaw County. 

 

Sumter and his men took 70 British soldiers, 150 loyalists, some horses, 44 wagons loaded with supplies, a drove of three hundred cattle and a flock of sheep. When Sumter learned of the British preparing to cross the river and retrieve there American prisoners and stores, they then made a hasty retreat up the west side of the Wateree River.[17]

 

 

John was involved in the Battle of Camden on 16 August 1780 which was a devastating defeat.[18]And on 7 October 1780 John participated in the Battle of King’s Mountain, a series of hills inside the South Carolina border. The colonists steadily fought their way up King’s Mountain and killed or captured the British troops.[19]

During his fifth tour he commanded a company[20]and was involved in the Battle at Fort Granby, which was fought May 2 – 15, 1781 in Lexington County, South Carolina. Captain Hollis was one of 400 – 500 men who served under Colonel Sumpter as he laid siege to Fort Granby, a British post. An American victory was the result of musket and cannon fire.[21]Captain Hollis said there was “a considerable body of militia at the taking of the fort at Granby, perhaps one thousand men.”[22]

During his sixth tour of two months John was under Colonel Edward Lacy in the 3^rdRegiment of South Carolina Rangers. John was frequently “out scouting.”[23]

John’s next three tours were all served as captain in the Orangeburg area of South Carolina and each lasted two months. Edward Lacey was in command during his seventh tour. The “army attacked and defeated a body of Tories.” During this tour, John Stallings, a British Captain with 25 or 30 men surrendered themselves a prisoners of war. In a sudden quarrel shots were fired. Captain Hollis “received one of the balls through his left arm.”[24]

He served under Major Wise during his eighth tour. There were several regiments serving together.[25]  In his final tour in Orangeburg they oversaw the surrender of between 200 and 300 soldiers.[26]

In his recollections to the court John Hollis said, “he was never at home more than one month at a time and seldom from the year 1778 to the conclusion of peace and during all this period was in active duty as Captain of a Company when his Company’s services were required.”[27] 

 

He [John Hollis] stated that he was wounded in the right leg and his horse shot in an engagement on ‘the Juniper’, and was also wounded by a musket ball passing through his left arm on his first tour to Orangeburg …[28]

 

In 1830 Captain Elijah Hollis wrote a letter in support of John’s pension application. Under oath Elijah swore that he was the brother of John Hollis and that John was “out almost the whole time of the Revolutionary War”.  Elijah verified that everything in John’s statements about his service to the country were accurate.[29]

Captain John Hollis’s application for pension was granted. Hopefully that money made his last years of life easier. One of the documents in his file said John was supporting four daughters and four grandchildren. He died 4 November 1836 in South Carolina. 

It was the actions of Captain John Hollis and many others who fought for our freedom and gave birth to our country. 

 

May Heaven’s blessing descend on our United States,

And grant that the union may never abate;

May love, peace, and harmony ever be found,

For to go hand in hand America round.

 

From ‘On Independence’ by Jonathan Mitchell Sewall

 

 

 

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[1][1]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) John Hollis, SC.

[2]Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution; digital image, Ancestry (ancestry.com: accessed Sept. 2020) Hollis.

[3]Daughters of the American Revolution, Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the DAR, Volume 15; digital image, Ancestry (ancestry.com: accessed Sept. 2020) p. 189, John Hollis. 

[4]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) page 24, John Hollis, SC.

[5]The Battle of Sullivan’s Island, American Revolutionary War; digital record, (revolutionarywar.us: accessed Sept. 2020).

[6]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) page 25, John Hollis, SC.

[7]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) John Hollis, SC.

[8]Revolutionary War Raids & Skirmishes in 1777; digital record (myrevolutionarywar.com: accessed Sept. 2020).

[9]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) page 5, John Hollis, SC.

[10]Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution; digital image, Ancestry (ancestry.com: accessed Sept. 2020) Hollis.

[11]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) page 14, John Hollis, SC.

[12]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) page 25, John Hollis, SC.

[13]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) John Hollis, SC.

[14]The Battle of Rocky Mount; digital record, (revolutionarywar.us: accessed Sept. 2020).

[15]The Battle of Rocky Mount; digital record, (revolutionarywar.us: accessed Sept. 2020).

[16]American Battlefield Trust. Battle of Hanging Rock; digital record (battlefields.org: accessed Sept. 2020). 

[17]Skirmish at Carey’s Fort; digital record (myrevolutionarywar.com: accessed Sept. 2020).

[18]American Battlefield Trust. Camden; digital record (battlefields.org: accessed Sept. 2020).

[19]American Battlefield Trust. King’s Mountain; digital record (battlefields.org: accessed Sept. 2020).

[20]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) John Hollis, SC.

[21]The Siege at Fort Granby; digital record, (revolutionarywar.us: accessed Sept. 2020).

[22]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) page 26, John Hollis, SC.

[23]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) page 22, John Hollis, SC.

[24]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) page 27, John Hollis, SC.

[25]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) John Hollis, SC.

[26]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) page 27, John Hollis, SC.

[27]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) John Hollis, SC.

[28]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) page 9, John Hollis, SC.

[29]Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; NARA record group 15; digital image, Flod3 (fold3.com: accessed Sept. 2020) page 7, John Hollis, SC.