Daniel Whatley Rev War Soldier

                                Daniel Whatley

Daniel Whatley, the son of Michael and Kitty Bird Whatley was born in Culpepper, VA on December 26, 1744. (Michael Whatley served in North Carolina during the Rev War and was awarded a land grant in Georgia). Daniel married Mary Edwards around 1770.  

He enlisted as a private in Captain Trousdale’s Company in the North Carolina regiment in 1799. During the war, he also served under the command of General Nathaniel Greene and participated in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse near Greensboro, North Carolina on March 15, 1781. After the battle Greene retreated into South Carolina.  Even though the British won the battle, they lost more than 500 men. The British forces under Gen. Charles Cornwallis marched into Virginia. After an unsuccessful attempt to link with roughly 3,500 men under British Major General Phillips and American turncoat Benedict Arnold, Greene was able to unravel British control of the South, while leading Cornwallis to Yorktown, where he was forced to surrender to General George Washington. (In several petitions to the pension review board, Whatley stated that he continued to serve in the North Carolina militia until the end of the war.)

After the war, Whatley left North Carolina and moved into Georgia. He and Mary had six children (Frances, Mahaley, John, Daniel, Thomas and Willis).

Daniel served in the War of 1812 as a scout and spy on the Georgia frontier. He was awarded a pension for his services by the state of Georgia.

His wife, Mary, died around 1825.  By 1830 Whatley was farming in Houston County, GA. In 1840 he moved Marion County, GA and by 1850 he was living in Talbot County, GA. It was at this time he applied for a pension for his services during the Rev. War. His claim was denied, as most were during this time, for a lack of documentation.

Daniel Whatley died in Taylor County, Georgia on September 28, 1857 at the age of 112. His death was reported in Georgia newspapers and even in the West Chester, PA newspaper, “The Record.”  He was reported at the time of his death to still have all his mental faculties and be in fairly good health. He was still being discussed years after his death.  A story in the Butler Herald in 1937 (eighty years later) stated that on the day of his death he had been riding until midafternoon. When he returned home, everyone had gone fishing and he was hungry. He loved field peas and decided to cook some. Apparently he didn’t cook them long enough and later that evening he began to experience gastric distress. Though the local doctor tried to save his life, he died later that night.

Daniel Whatley is buried in the Heritage Baptist Church cemetery in Reynolds, Georgia.  

Heritage Baptist Church

 Reynolds, GA
 

 

“Georgia Journal and Messenger”, (Macon, GA),  October 14, 1857, p. 3

“The Butler Herald”, (Butler, Ga.) March 25, 1937, p.3

“The Record, “ (West Chester, PA), October 31, 1857, p.1

Georgia Revolutionary War Soldier’s Graves, Arnold H. Ross, Iberian Publishing Company, Athens, GA, 1993

Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers in Georgia, Vol 1, Mrs. Howard McCall, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1968

Ancestry.com/ abstract of rejected Rev. War pensions

Linda McCardle