Document B.34 · pension declaration · transcription: verbatim
Robert Hazlett's Revolutionary pension declaration, page 3 (Pension R. 4809). It puts Capt. Benjamin Cooper in FIELD COMMAND — taking over Capt. Bell's men, marching to Elizabethtown Point, and skirmishing with Tories on Staten Island.
- repository
- The National Archives (NARA), Record Group 15 — via Fold3
- collection
- M804, catalog ID 300022; Pension R. 4809, a 20-page file.
- identifier
- Page 3 of 20 — the declaration narrative continuation. The declaration's own date is not visible on this page.
What is transcribed: Page 3 only, and it ends mid-sentence. 19 other pages of R. 4809 are unpulled, including the opening declaration that would date these tours.
People named
| As written | Role | Identified as | What this document says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Captain Benjamin Cooper | mentioned | Benjamin Cooper 1741–1794 probable | residence: between 1776 and 1781, Elizabethtown Point and Staten Island |
| Robert Hazlett | applicant | ||
| Captain John Bell | official | ||
| Captain Locke | official | ||
| Colonel Beavers or Taylor | official |
What this document records
It shows him commanding not merely listed
"Captain Benjamin Cooper & Captain Bell both took companies but there were not men enough for two companies & Bell went home & his men were put under the command of Captain Cooper." This is the only document in the catalog that shows Benjamin Cooper doing anything. [B.1]-[B.6a] establish that he held a captaincy, drew pay and clerked an election; this one has him absorbing another officer's company and leading it into the field — to Elizabethtown Point, then onto Staten Island, where they "had a skirmish with some Tories", took three prisoners, and lost Captain Locke, shot by the Tories. Discharged at Bound Brook, "a little after New Years", after a four-month tour.
It corroborates elizabethtown from a second direction
[B.6a], Auditor's Book B p. 183 line 92, pays Capt. Cooper for service at "Eliz[abeth] town" under Brig. Winds. Hazlett, recalling decades later, puts Cooper's company at Elizabethtown Point. A paymaster's ledger and a private's memory, independently, place him in the same town. They may not be the same tour. The ledger entry is dated 20 April 1778; Hazlett's tour ended "a little after New Years". Nothing is claimed about which tour this was — the year is not isolatable from this page.
The regiment is uncertain in the source itself
"Colonel Beavers or Taylor commanded the regiment" — Hazlett's own uncertainty, not a transcription problem. [B.36] pursued this and identifies Col. Joseph Beavers, 2d Regiment, Hunterdon County as a real officer; that entry's own PDFs were never moved out of Downloads and are not on disk.
Transcription and notes
The only document in the catalog that shows Benjamin Cooper doing anything.
Provenance, the Elizabethtown corroboration from [B.6a], and the deponent's own uncertainty about
the regiment are in the source: and coverage: headers and are not repeated here.
Verbatim — Fold3 image annotations (printed sidebar, post-OCR human-edited)
| # | Annotation |
|---|---|
| 1 | Staten Island |
| 2 | Beavers |
| 3 | John Bell |
| 4 | Cooper |
| 5 | Taylor |
| 6 | Bell |
| 7 | Benjamin Cooper |
| 8 | Locke |
| 9 | Taylor |
| 10 | Bell |
| 11 | Beavers |
Verbatim — handwritten declaration page 3 (transcribed from Fold3 image; cursive)
"In the fall of the next year He volunteered from the same place as a private under Captain John Bell, Captain Benjamin Cooper & Captain Bell both took companies but there were not men enough for two companies & Bell went home & his men were put under the command of Captain Cooper. They marched to Eliza[beth]Town Point & remained there the greater part of the time during that tour. They went on Staten Island & had a skirmish with some Tories. They took three of them prisoners & the rest escaped in the woods. Captain Locke was shot by the Tories that time. He [Hazlett] was discharged at Bound[ ]brook & got home a little after New Years, having been in the service that tour four months. Colonel Beavers or Taylor commanded the regiment.
The next year He volunteered from the same place & marched to Bound[ ]brook [and] was in the regiment commanded by Colonel Beavers or Taylor. The Captain He does not recollect & remained in service that tour two months while out that [...continues on page 4]"
(Page 3 ends mid-sentence; remainder continues on page 4, not yet pulled.)
KEY DATA — Capt. Benjamin Cooper in field command, NJ militia, fall-and-winter campaign
Verbatim primary-source data on Capt. Benjamin Cooper in active field operations:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Officer name | Capt. Benjamin Cooper (= "Captain Benjamin Cooper" + "Captain Cooper" + "Cooper" per text + Fold3 annotations) |
| Field role | Senior captain in combined company (Capt. John Bell took a company alongside him but undermanned; Bell sent men home; remaining men placed under Capt. Cooper's direct command) |
| Operational area | Elizabethtown Point NJ → Staten Island NY (Hazlett's tour spent greater part at E-town Point with skirmish on Staten Island) |
| Engagement | Skirmish with Tories on Staten Island; 3 Tory prisoners taken; rest escaped in woods; Capt. Locke (NJ militia officer) killed in action by Tories |
| Discharge location | Bound Brook NJ (Somerset/Middlesex Co. NJ — Continental Army winter quarters area 1777-1778) |
| Discharge date | "a little after New Years" (= early January, year not specified) |
| Tour duration | 4 months |
| Regimental commander | Col. Beavers OR Col. Taylor (Hazlett uncertain; NJ militia colonel level) |
| Year reference | "The fall of the next year" (= year not isolatable from this page alone; need page 1-2 for tour-by-tour chronology) |
| Source citation | NARA M804, RG 15, Pension R. 4809 (Robert Hazlett), declaration date not visible on page 3 |