First, it is worth noting that although my grandfather, Edgar Halstead, wasn't from Streeter, he socialized with many people from there. Of course, he married my grandmother (Lillie Jennings Basham), who was from Streeter. My research -- and the research I share -- has always extended a little beyond the boundary of the topic of Streeter itself. Family history can sometimes lead to this. In fact, the Halstead family of southern West Virginia is connected in many ways with the early history of Summers County. James Halstead, as one of the first settlers in the area, is an important figure. It's also worth stating again that, although others might not have Halstead ancestry, Dee Wheaton's book contains a lot more information than just about him (see the previous posts on this topic).
Note to my cousins (James is our 5th great-grandfather)
As for the topic of James himself, Wheaton states that he was mentioned in John Gwathmey's Virginians in The Revolution and in the National Archives. He was a soldier in "Col. James Wood's Company and a rifleman in Daniel Morgan's 12th Virginia Regiment" [my note: Daniel Morgan did not command the 12th; Woods did. Washington ordered Daniel Morgan to create a provisional rifle corps using the best marksmen from multiple regiments. This provisional rifle corps ended up being about 500 men from the 11th, 12th, and 7th Va. regiments, along with some from Penn. However, James is not a part of a list of these 500 men]. He enlisted on March 8, 1777, when Washington gathered his army. Col. Wood's men were gathered from the counties of Berkeley, Hampshire, Dunmore, Augusta, and Botetourt. Parts of these counties became Greenbrier, Monroe, Fayette, and Summers. She states that on August 11, 1777, James disappeared, "deserted" from "the hospital". Never collected his pay of six dollars for six months of service.
Wheaton may not have been aware of it, but the August 19, 1777, publication of Dunlap's Pennsylvania Packet* announced his desertion. This ad gives us a very rare glimpse into what he looked like. The ad states: "James Halstead, born in the Jerseys, about 27 years of age, five feet ten inches high, slender made, straight black hair, black eyes and eye-brows; had on a hunting shirt and trowsers, a small round hat, and took with him a soldier's knapsack and some shirts. It is thought he will make for Virginia, he having a wife there within twenty miles of Winchester" (desertion advertisement written by Captain William Vause, August 16th).
*Some researchers report this is in the Pennsylvania Gazette. I couldn't find the ad in it. I found it in the August 19, 1777, Dunlap's Pennsylvania Packet, page 3 (image above).
Wheaton asks, "Did James rejoin Morgan or unite with the British or become a prisoner, a Tory or was he a sick man who simply went home?"
Desertion didn't have the stigma then as it does now. Many soldiers left without formal leave to return home for the safety of their families or to tend to crops. It was not an uncommon occurrence (in his recent documentary, Ken Burns covers this topic). Nevertheless, the Continental Army was in desperate need of fighting men. Officers were under pressure from Congress to maintain muster rolls. The ads, like the one for James, were an attempt by the officers to maintain their reputations and funding. Most likely, James did not commit a real criminal act. Indeed, he did "go home" -- to answer Wheaton's question.
More importantly, the article answers some key questions that Dee Wheaton tries to tackle in her book. Where was James born? Where was he before 1777 (before his enlistment)? The article states he was born in "the Jerseys". At one time, New Jersey was split into two provinces, East and West Jersey. Long after the two provinces were combined in 1702, colonists continued to refer to them as "the Jerseys". Wheaton states that Everette Miller "knew of James" and wrote that he was born in England, the father of John Halstead. Miller's book The Genealogy of Jacob Miller and His Descendants was written in the 1880s and reprinted in the1950s. I can't verify Miller's information, but the desertion ad provides a good primary source for his birthplace. Military companies had descriptive lists given directly by the enlisted, including birthplace, and this is probably what Vause (or a member of the company) used for the desertion advertisement.
Also, the article states he lived near Winchester, Virginia. Wheaton postulates that he might have lived in North Carolina. At least at and a little before 1777, he was living near Winchester. Later, he moved to Indian Creek (in present-day Summers County).
Wheaton consulted many books, but she would not have been able to answer her own questions unless she stumbled upon the book Uniforms of the Continental Army by Phillip Katcher (1981). There are innumerable books written about 1700s America, the Revolution, etc. The subject of Katcher's book pertains to the clothing that members of the Continental Army wore, and, coincidentally, he uses desertion ads for sources to discuss uniforms. The title of his book wouldn't necessarily stand out to most family history researchers. However, this is one book that might have pointed her in the right direction to this very useful newspaper article at the U.S. Library of Congress. I found it through some online research and a little help from A.I. Even then, I spent three hours browsing digital images of the Pennsylvania Gazette and Dunlap's Pennsylvania Packet until I finally found the ad. Eureka!
Wheaton states that he was a part of Morgan's Rifles -- men handpicked from the Va. 12th for their marksmanship. The article's description of his "hunting shirt" is possible evidence for this. However, it's important to note that the 11th and 12th Virginia were later merged. Later historians broadly referred to all these men as "Morgan's" men, whether or not they were technically in "Morgan's Rifles". A hunting shirt was common clothing for men from Virginia. YouTube videos and social media have made a great deal out of the "hunting shirts". In fact, it was a common look for frontiersmen. More importantly, Vause placed the ad; it is good evidence that James was under Vause's command (Va. 12th) at the time and not Daniel Morgan.
If he was in Captain Vause's company, then he was in the Philadelphia area and left just before Morgan's riflemen went north to Saratoga. She states he was "in the Philadelphia General Hospital in July and was inoculated for smallpox" (Wheaton doesn't state her source here, but I believe this is in the May or June 1777 monthly muster and pay roll via the National Archive).
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