Lewis, James A. Neptune's Militia: The Frigate South Carolina during the American Revolution, (Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press, 1999.)
Moss, Bobby Gilmer. Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1983.)
South Carolina Audited Accounts - Relating to Samuel Bulfinch SC992
This overall blog was less than a year old when the writer of it encountered two individuals who were stated to have served on board the frigate South Carolina. These two persons were women according to Moss's work, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution. Both of their entries appear together, one right after the other, on page 6 of this monumental work that spans over one thousand pages total. These two full entries are as follows:
"Catherine Bantlion Adamson - She served aboard the frigate South Carolina. A.A. 1880A
Susanna Story Adamson - She served aboard the frigate South Carolina. A.A. 1880A"
The writer of this blog submitted the first post on this unusual topic and its two subjects on "04/17/2015" by almost the identical title as above, excepting the portion that states "...Pt. II - Further Information Uncovered.". The writer of this blog was intrigued by these original finds and has always wanted to develop this topic a bit more but, could never find any further information regarding it. After a passage of more than five years, more information has been recovered concerning the services of two women, Catherine Bantlion Adamson and Susanna Story Adamson, on board the frigate South Carolina.
This information is contained within a document entitled "South Carolina Audited Accounts relating to Samuel Bulfinch SC992". The document is very brief in nature and will be cited here in full:
[page 2]
"State of South Carolina
Office of the Comptroller-General May 25, 1808
No. 2715 514 Dollars 25
Sir,
Pay to Ara Delozier Attorney of Samuel Bulfinch five hundred fourteen dollars 25/100 being the Account of the balance due the said Bulfinch in the Portage Bill book without Interest for which this shall be your legal Warrant
S/ Thomas Lee Comptroller-General
To H. B. Cochran Esqr. [???]
Commissioner
[page 3]
No. 12... 514.25 Dollars
May 25, 1808
Legionnaires who served on board SC [South Carolina] Frigate"
(Note: The "H. B. Cochran Esqr. [???]" referred to above may be the individual referenced in another Audited Accounts document as "Charles Burnham Cochran, Esqr. Commissioner of the Treasury". The initial "H." may be for "honorable" or possibly simply a mistake substituting an "H." for a "C.".)
Neither of the two above mentioned women's names appear in this brief Audited Accounts document but, there is an associated document in which they are directly referenced. This document is a "South Carolina Department of Archives and History record detail" and is referenced as follows:
"Description: Delozeair, Asa, Petition in Behalf of Sundry Persons on Board the Ship South Carolina Concerning Their Pay for Revolutionary Service. (3 Frames)
People: Samuel Bullfinch
Also: Joseph Ashard
Catherine Bantlion
Isaac Clarke
Asa Cole
Asa Delozier
Andrew Dice
Joseph English
John Ervin
John Evans
Commodore Gillon
John Leit
George Patterson
Robert Sandiford
John Spenser
John Stoy
Susanna Stoy
Places:
Topics: South Carolina (Ship)
Record Details:
Date: 1811 C.
Document Type: Petition
Online Images: Images: Available at SCDAH building or by order. See How to Search Menu.
Online Lookup Number: 293055
Record Identifier:
Series: S108092
Reel: 0033
Frame: 00311
Ignore: 000"
(Note: Two items of interest here. First, Samuel Bulfinch's last name is spelled in two different manners - Bulfinch and Bullfinch. The correct spelling of his last name may be lost to time but, the spelling that will be employed here (and throughout this overall blog) will be Samuel Bulfinch. Second, the name of "...Ara Delozier Attorney of Samuel Bulfinch..." has appeared occasionally through out this overall blog and almost always with different spellings. The writer of this blog believes that the proper spelling of his name is "Asa Delozier" rather than "Ara Delozeair" or any other variation.)
Within the list cited immediately above, Catherine Bantlion's name appears second and Susanna Stoy (or Story) appears last on the list. All of these names have the concluding citation of "legionnaires who served on board the SC [South Carolina] Frigate" after them on page 3 of this petition for back pay. None of the other fifteen names indicate a female on board the patriot frigate. It appears that $514.25 was awarded for the back pay of these individuals who served as "legionnaires" on board the frigate South Carolina. Yet, there is still the inclusion of the two women's names on this list of "legionnaires" who supposedly served on board the frigate South Carolina. These two women could not have possibly served as combat soldiers in the company of legionnaires on board the patriot frigate. Women were known to have served on board warships but, in very infrequent and secretive circumstances. These usually stemmed from their being sneeked on board ship just prior to the ship-of-war setting sail. Once the women was discovered on board the warship on its subsequent cruise, the woman/women was/were given some type of "duty" to perform such as galley cooks, nurses attending to the ship's doctor, or that role known as "powder monkeys" - running shot and powder charges to the cannons during an action against the enemy. Their husband or "significant other" was given a stern warning concerning doing this in the future and given some sort of "disciplinary duty" (no doubt disagreeable in the extreme) and possibly fined or having pay docked.
This brings us to the use of the term "legionnaire" as a description of a duty or position on board the frigate South Carolina. The term "marine" is more proper to describe their "function" on board the patriot frigate. They were shipboard soldiers that served to defend the ship against enemy boarders and to serve also as boarders themselves. Many of the men of colonial origins are described as "marines" on board the frigate South Carolina. Yet, the official marines on board the frigate South Carolina for the first cruise were members of the "Voluntaires du Luxembourg" - the essentially private fighting force of regimental size of the Chevalier du Luxembourg who had "leased" the frigate to Commodore Alexander Gillon. This combat force served as Commodore Gillon's first significant set of marines on board the patriot frigate. There were other marines who ostensibly served under Michael Kalteissen and John Spenser as their commanding marine captains but, the "Voluntaires du Luxembourg" were the actual marines for the extent of the first cruise of the frigate South Carolina. Thus, for the second, brief cruise, the marines may have been referred to as "legionnaires" instead of "marines" due tot eh title of their military, maritime predecessors. It must be included at this point in the narrative, that this is all complete conjecture of the part of the writer of this blog. It might be that the "legionnaires" on board the warship performed some other duty than marines but, suffice it to say, that in all likelihood these men "probably" performed the same function and simply were labelled as the men who had served the same function on the first voyage prior to them - Legionnaires.
All of this speculation gets us no closer to knowing what role these two women performed on board the frigate South Carolina or even if they did indeed serve on board the ship-of-war. It is entirely feasible that they were petitioning as widows of men who had served on board the patriot frigate who had never received their back pay. But, the writer of this blog has never encountered their widow's pension applications that would indicate they were filing for back pay that they felt was due their deceased husbands. In this case, their pension application should have a "W" preceding the actual numeric assignation of the application, indicating that they were filing as the widow of the man in question rather than a survivor which would have been indicated by a "S" preceding the numeric assignation. There are several of these types of pension application associated with the frigate South Carolina contained within this overall blog.
One final issue that will be addressed in this post before its conclusion - the actual last name of these two women. Moss's work, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, cites these two women as having the same last name - Adamson. The document primarily used in this specific post - "South Carolina Audited Accounts Relating to Samuel Bulfinch SC992" does not make reference to this last name in regards to these two women who served on board the frigate South Carolina. The writer of this blog has never figured out how this name came into association with these two women. There is only a single individual who carries the last name of "Adamson" and served on board the frigate South Carolina. He is cited as follows:
John (?) Adamson no "position" given
Possibly one of these women was his wife (possibly his common-law wife) and the other one his daughter or possibly they composed a "blended" family with one of the women having "attached" herself to him and brought her only child/daughter along with her at the same time. But, again, the document cited earlier as related to Samuel Bulfinch makes no reference to this last name as associated with either of these women. In fact, there is a man who has the last name of "Stoy" on board the frigate South Carolina. He is cited as follows:
John Stoy Volunteer, Lieutenant of Marines
It is quite possible that he was the husband of Susanna Stoy. There is no other man who served on board the frigate South Carolina and carries the last name of "Bantlion". Thus, it is quite possible that the two women were not actually blood related.
The actual event of - not one, but two - women serving on board the frigate South Carolina as she sailed on one of her two cruises intriguing, to say the least. But, the writer of this blog has encountered another situation that may well indicate on which of the two cruises of the patriot frigate these women served. This is the topic of the next two posts.