"From Alexander Hamilton to Pierce Butler, February 19, 1794," Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archive.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-16-02-0034
Lewis, James A. Neptune's Militia: The Frigate South Carolina during the American Revolution, (Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press, 1999.)
South Carolina Audited Accounts relating to Asa Cole and numerous others as sailors and officers on the Frigate South Carolina SC1926
As referenced in the immediate previous post, the request of "...Asa Delozair...Attorney for Sundry persons..." launched an official investigation into his personal machinations and brought the extreme ire of the government of the State of South Carolina down upon him. The resulting document of the investigation is the longest, most thorough, and most damning criticism the writer of this blog has ever seen from either pension applications or the South Carolina Audited Accounts documents. This document is over five type-written pages in length which means that it would have been even longer in the hand-written version. It is quite detailed in it's examination of numerous men who are purported to have served on board the frigate South Carolina. The writer of this blog will not attempt to replicate this lengthy document but, will occasionally use portions of it to elucidate the points being made that are cogent to understanding this overall Audited Accounts document.
The document reads as any other document issued by the South Carolina Audited Accounts but, is much more thorough than any other similar document that the writer of this blog has ever encountered. As stated, numerous men and their claims are grouped together and labelled by the committee as to the veracity of their claims. But, one can easily tell that these groups were formed by the Committee of Claims after painstaking examination of each individual's claims and then assigning that individual to one of the designated groups of men who claimed to have served on board the patriot frigate.
After lengthy discussion of service on board the frigate, personal references from reputable, upstanding individuals within the community, citation of supporting affidavits and their confirmed veracity the Committee of Claims proceeded to the following step:
"Your Committee in further discharge of their duty proceeded to the examination of the Portage bill book of the Frigate, which is signed by the Commodore and [word too faint to discern] and certified by the Auditor General; That book your Committee will here remark carries through all of its pages the informed evidence of accuracy and fairness; It is written in a clean hand, with [several words too faint to discern] of the whole crew, Officers, petty Officers, legionnaires and Seamen, with the time & place of their engagements, time & place of their Discharge, draft or dismissal; as also the amount of wages advanced, their pay, and respective dividends of prize money. By the Portage bill book, it appears manifest to your Committee, in many instances, that individuals, who executed powers of Attorney possessing all the formalities requisite to a fair, precise & legitimate transfer of right, had never been enrolled thereon, nor did it appear from any testimony except that of Robert Pearce, Joseph Dissmore and Rowland Sandiford, that they had ever been on board of the Frigate. The name of the individuals of that class are:
John Barrell
John Bowers
John Boyland
John Byne
Isaac Duval
Ellis Elliott
Joseph Glover
Matthew Matthewman
John Moyett
Nine men are cited here and of these men only Joseph Glover has a "position" cited next to his name in Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, section entitled "Appendix: Crew and Marines of the South Carolina", page 135-170. Joseph Glover's position is given as "volunteer". This is a rather innocuous, vague title for a position on board a ship-of-war and therefore could easily be registered as a legitimate position in the absence of an actual position served on board the frigate South Carolina. In Moss's work, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, almost all of these men are cited as..."he served on board the frigate South Carolina." Some of them are not even cited in Moss's work such as John Byne, Ellis Elliott, and John Moyett. Yet, all of them have as their referenced document "A.A. [Audited Accounts] 1880A". This could cause the readership to consider that this specific audited accounts document might be fraudulent in nature.
As stated above in this post, these men were divided into groups depending on the discrepancy that was observed in their specific case. This first group was of men whose very service and presence on board the frigate South Carolina was called into question. The next group of men has their application of funds disputed on the basis of handwriting and whether or not they were literate enough to sign the documents.