Military Monday ~ Captain Stephen Ashby

My 5th great-grandfather, Stephen Ashby, served as Captain in the Revolutionary War. The DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) online database shows Captain Stephen Ashby was born circa 1725 (though other records indicate he was born circa 1710) in Virginia. He died July 25, 1797, in Mercer County, Kentucky. His service is sourced and summarized by the DAR as follows:

Service Source: NARA, M881, COMP MIL SER RECS, ROLLS #977, 1074; SANCHEZ-SAAVEDRA, A GUIDE TO VA MIL ORGS IN THE AM REV, P 67; BLWT 2420-300

Service Description: 1) 3RD CO, 12TH & 8TH VA REGTS, 3RD VA BRIGADE, COL JAMES WOOD, BRIG GEN CHARLES SCOTT

On Fold3, I found Captain Stephen Ashby in the Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War. He was commissioned a captain on September 9, 1776, serving under Colonel James Wood of Virginia in the 12th Virginia Regiment, which was re-designated the 8th Virginia Regiment in September 1778, at which time Captain Ashby retired from service.

The card below shows when he was appointed a Captain.

Stephen Ashby
Appears with the rank of Capt. on a
List
under the following heading:
"An Arrangement of the Officers belonging to
the 12th Virginia Regiment, with the time their
several Commissions Ouught to bear Date"
(Revolutionary War.)
List dated
9 Septem 1776
Remarks: * * * By an Ordnance of the
Convention of Virginia which Passed in
June 1776, a Company consisting of a
Captain Lieutenant and Ensign three Ser-
geants and fifty Rank and file, were Ordered
to be raised for the Protection of the Frontier,
and to be stationed at the mouth of Wheeling
on the Ohio, with Direction for the Committee
of Hampshire to nominate the officers; who
elected Stephen Ashby Captain, Ben-
jamin Casey Lieutenant and Richard
Routt Ensign.


Additionally, in the Revolutionary War Pension files at Fold3, I found handwritten correspondence from 1847 written on behalf of his heirs (all eight of his children had died by 1846) making a claim to the land he was awarded for his service in the Revolution. There are also 20th century letters written to the Commissioner of Pensions, Washington, D.C. with typewritten replies that summarize what is in the handwritten 1847 correspondence. This is a tremendous genealogical resource for any descendants of Stephen Ashby's children: John, Enos, Daniel, Absolom, Stephen, Rosa Timmons, Lettice Neale and Annie Prather.

As noted in my Ashby Surname Saturday post, I am descended from his son Daniel Ashby, who also served in the Revolution.