A new addition to the Little River Regiment Honor Roll
James Thurston
Pension application SC3377
James lost a horse at the Stono Expedition, under Col. James Williams. Col Joseph Hayes provided the appraisal.
James subsequently lost his vision to smallpox, as a POW, suffering under deplorable conditions at the jail in Ninety-Six.
To the Honorable the President & Senate of the State of South Carolina
May it Please your Honors
The Petition of James Thurston Humbly Sheweth –
That your petitioner in the Course of the last war with Great Britain served his country in the character of a private Soldier in a Regiment commanded by Colonel James Williams, with unblemished reputation. After the fall of Charleston he unfortunately became a prisoner in the hands of the Enemy, and was immediately committed to close prison in Ninety Six (now Cambridge) where his punishment
was much greater than he had reason to expect from a Civilized people; he was while a prisoner & in Jail taken with the small Pox, and for the want of such attendance as a human in his condition required; and likewise destitute of the common necessities of life, he was entirely deprived of the use of both his Eyes. In this unhappy situation, with a wife and two helpless babes does your petitioner reside in Laurens County on no other dependence than the Charity of his good neighbors for a subsistence, which in process of time must and will prove irksome –
Your petitioner therefore prays that this Honorable Body will take his most truly lamentable and deplorable situation into their most serious consideration, and grant him such relief as may enable him to stop the cries of his children, which frequently happens for the want of bread; And your Petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray.
Laurens County
December 1, 1791