The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: NC/SC
Qualifying Service: Private
Find-a-Grave has one photo of the headstone. There are links to other memorials for his wife and two children
Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:
From I-26 East, Take Hwy 50 (Walnut Grove Road) turn right onto Riddle Road, take the first road to right, church is on the right about 1 1/2 miles
Author: Dan Gwin
William WEST was born circa 1763 in Virginia. His parents are not known. William died 15 March 1841 in Walnut Grove, Spartanburg District, South Carolina, and was buried at Hebron Methodist Church Cemetery near Walnut Grove, South Carolina. He married (1) Barsheba [--?--] circa 1781 in South Carolina. Her parents are not known. Barsheba died 14 May 1821 in Pauline, Spartanburg District, South Carolina. William married (2) Margaret WHITE.
A Certificate of Pension was issued 13 April 1821. William’s pension rate of eight dollars per month was to begin on the date he first petitioned the United States for military benefits. His first payment included the arrears from 17 March 1820 to 4 March 1821 (eleven months and fifteen days), which came to ninety-two dollars, plus his first semiannual payment of forty-eight dollars, from 4 March to 4 September 1821, for a total amount of one hundred forty dollars. The pension ledgers from the Office of the Third Auditor of the Treasury report that William was paid regularly through March 1841, the month and year of his death.
Pay bills for Captain William Scott’s Company (of the 1st Regiment of Provincial Troops, commanded by Colonel Christopher Gadsden) report that William West was paid £5,12,6 for service from 17 June to 1 July 1775 (fifteen days), and £6,00,0 for service from 2 to 17 July 1775 (sixteen days). The amounts above are in (£) pounds, (s) shillings, and (d) pence.
William West enlisted as a private in Raiford’s Company in North Carolina 18 May 1781 for twelve months of service and was discharged 18 May 1782. During this year of service, he took part in the Battle of Eutaw Springs (Orangeburg District, South Carolina). This battle was one of the hardest fought engagements of the American Revolution. The battle began at a little past 9:00 a.m. 8 September 1781 when the field guns of the British forces opened fire. Although General Greene yielded a technical victory to the British, the liberation of the southern states “was virtually assured after this last major engagement in South Carolina.”
William West was issued a payment of “Eighteen Pounds thirteen Shillings and four Pence Sterling” 30 May 1785 for twelve months of service as a private in the South Carolina Continental Line in 1782 and 1783. Included in this payment was an annual interest of £1,6,1.
William’s headstone is inscribed, “Wm. West / 1 S.C. Regt. / Rev. War.” A Revolutionary War marker was placed at his grave 8 August 1914 by the Cowpens Chapter of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Spartanburg, South Carolina. A 1914 diary entry of this event was published in 1977.
Mountain Shoals: A History of the Enoree Area The Diary of William Pierce Thornton for the year 1914..
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