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: PA
Qualifying Service: Private / Patriotic Service
Author: Alan Wenzel
James Anderson was born in 1762, in Donegal Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the second son of Thomas Anderson and Mary Wilkins.
At the age of 14 he enlisted in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, as a Private, in Captain John Kelly's Company, Colonel Potter's First Continental Regiment (re-designated the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment on January 1, 1777), for three months service during the American Revolution, and was stationed at Pennington, New Jersey.
Shortly there after his regiment moved south and he participated in the Battle of Trenton (December 26, 1776), when General George Washington crossed the Delaware River during a bitter cold blizzard, surprising and defeating the Hessian German mercenary troops under Colonel Von Rahl. During this engagement James was wounded by a flying splinter from off a log, a part of the bridge he was standing on. This bridge led into Trenton and his regiment occupied it, blocking the retreat of the fleeing Hessians. This ultimately led to their surrender.
In 1778 James volunteered, at Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, for one year of service, as a Private, in his uncle Captain John Wilkins' Company, Colonel Butler's Regiment. In 1780 he again enlisted, for one year, at Carlisle, as a Private, in Captain Lusk's Company, Colonel Butler's Pennsylvania Regiment. During this period of service he was stationed at Carlisle and assigned as a dispatch courier between New Jersey and Delaware for the regimental commander. He served for various periods up to the surrender of British General Cornwallis on October 19, 1781.
In 1782 James migrated to the Kentucky Territory, where in February or March 1783, in Fayette County, he was married to Letty Jane Bradshaw. From this time until his death he lived in Montgomery and neighboring Clark Counties, Kentucky. His great-granddaughter, Sarah Ann Anderson, married Jesse James Cardwell Van Cleave, the Grandson of John Van Cleave and Rachel (Demaree) Ryker.
James also served as a Kentucky Militia Captain during the War of 1812. He took part in the Battles of Brownstown and Twenty Mile Creek, and was captured when General Hull surrendered. He was a prisoner of war at Sandwich, Ontario, Canada for nine months.
James applied for a pension November 26, 1832, at the Rockcastle County Kentucky courthouse. He died August 18, 1837, in Clark County, Kentucky. His widow Letty applied for a widow's pension May 4, 1843, while living in Montgomery County, Kentucky. On March 3, 1855 the U.S. Government approved a Bounty Land Warrant of 160 acres of land for his war service issuing it to his widow.
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