CLINE FAMILY ASSOCIATION

Peter Cline

Revolutionary War Soldier

 12th Pennsylvania Regiment

Continental Army

 United States

Revolutionary War Service [Updated Below, 3/13/2021]

Peter Cline filed his Revolutionary War pension application in 1832 in Montgomery County, Virginia.  According to Peter Cline's pension application, he was a current Pike County, Kentucky resident  but had previously resided in Berks County, Pennsylvania during the Revolution.  He enlisted with Captain Henry Miller and served in the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment which was formed in September, 1776.  Peter further stated that he was engaged in the following battles against the British: the Battles of Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, and Germantown.  He was probably engaged at Princeton as well.  He then marched from the Wide Marsh (White Marsh) in Pennsylvania to Germantown, Pennsylvania, then to the mouth of the Schuylkill, then up the same to Valley Forge. 

It appears then, that Peter Cline served in the Army from at least 1776 through September, 1778.  Peter Cline's pension application, made when he was 76 years old, states that he joined the army in 1774 and left September, 1777.  However, while he may have been part of a militia unit in 1774, he must have joined the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment in September, 1776, when that regiment was formed.

He also states that he left the Army in September, 1777 but this must be off by one year.   The battles of Long Island, White Plains and Trenton occurred in 1776 and early 1777.  However, the Battle of Germantown, and the Continental Army's involvement at White Marsh and Valley Forge, occurred after September, 1777.  Germantown was early October, 1777; Washington's Army was camped at White Marsh (Peter says "Wide Marsh") in November, 1777 and the battle at White Marsh occurred in early December; the Continental Army then marched to the mouth of the Schuylkill, then to winter quarters at Valley Forge, reaching their 1777-1778 winter quarters on December 19, 1777.  Peter Cline testifies that he participated in these marches, which occurred after he indicates that he left the service.  Also, the Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey occurred on June 28, 1778 and was the last major battle in the Middle Colonies.  Leaving the Army in September, 1778 instead of September, 1777 would coincide with the cessation of major hostilities in the North. 

A Copy of Peter Cline's Pension Application

Montgomery County Court, Virginia, 1832:

On the 3rd day of Setember 1832 personally appeared before the court of the County of Montgomery, Peter Cline, a resident of the County of Pike and the State of Kentucky, aged 76 years, who being first duly sworn according to the law, doth on his oath, make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the Act of Congress passed June 7th, 1832, that he enlisted in the Army of the United States in the year 1774 with Captain Henry Miller and served in the 12th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line under the following named officers: Capt. Henry Miller, Lieutenant Henderson, Major Patterson, Lieutenant Col. Potter, Col. Cook, Ensign Taylor, left the service sometime in September 1777, resided in Reddingtown, Barracks County and State of Pennsylvania at the time he entered the service.  Was engaged in the following battles: The battle of Long Island, White Plains, Trenton and Germantown and marched from the wide marsh in Pennsylvania to Germantown in Pennsylvania, then back to Chestnut Hill, then to the mouth of the Schuylkill, then up the same to the Valley Forge.  He herby relinquishes any claim to a pension or annuity except the present and declares that his name is not on the Pension roll of any agency in any state.  Sworn to and subscribed the day and year aforesaid.

                                                                                                           his

                                                                                             Peter    x   Cline

                                                                                                     Mark

And the said court do hereby declare their opinion that the above named applicant was a soldier and served as he states.

See Clines & Allied Families, at 32-33.

UPDATE (March 13, 2021): Additional research has shed some new light on Peter Cline's service during the Revolutionary War. First, we know that Peter was in the 12th Pennsylvania Continentals. However, we know that he did not enlist in this unit until November 30, 1776 according to the United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783, 84-Pennsylvania (Jacket 37-93) (Pgs. 145-146 of 692). So, the question becomes --- which unit did Peter serve in during the battles of Long Island and White Plains? Unfortunately, there are no records currently known that would positively identify Peter's unit that was involved in these two battles as referenced in his pension application. However, based upon the available evidence, it appears more likely than not that he was in the Pennsylvania Flying Camp.

Some years ago, I corresponded with a Cline cousin, a retired officer in the Army, regarding Peter's Revolutionary War record. His first name now escapes me (my apologies Cousin!), and our email exchanges have been lost, but he was the first to suggest Peter's possible enlistment in the Flying Camp to me. Prior to his suggestion, I had assumed that Cecil Cline's analysis in his second book, "Peter Cline, Revolutionary Soldier," which identified the First Pennsylvania under Colonel Hand to be the unit Peter served in during the earlier campaigns of the Revolution, to be correct. I had also entertained the possibility of Peter's service in the 1st Maryland, based upon the fact that at least one other soldier in this unit, and possibly two others, including our Peter, had served in this unit and then the 12th Pennsylvania together (discussed below). However, upon further research, I believe that the Pennsylvania Flying Camp is the unit Peter was involved in for the engagements at Long Island and White Plains. 

First, Peter undoubtedly joined a Berks County militia unit in or around 1774 as stated in his pension application. He would have been 18 in 1774 so this makes sense. In Pennsylvania, these units were known as "Associators." Recall also that the Revolution began in Massachusetts in 1775 with Lexington and Concord and later, the battles around Boston. However, by late 1775/early 1776, the British position in Boston had become indefensible, and they eventually evacuated Boston, enroute to New York, in 1776. 

In the spring of 1776, there was significant need of an American defense in and around New York City. Because of the ongoing problems with militia units (loose discipline and reluctance to serve far from home), and further reluctance for the recruitment of professional units, a compromise, known as the "Flying Camp," was born. See, Francis E. Devine, The Pennsylvania Flying Camp, July - November 1776, Pennsylvania History - A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, Vol. 46, No. 1, Pgs 59-78, Penn State Jan. 1979.  The "Flying Camp was to be culled from the militias of Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania." Id. at 60. As noted by Devine, in the minds of many generals, the Flying Camp was "clearly distinguishable" from the militia, but "in the minds of other officers of regular continental and state battalions of whom the dintinction was not of practical consequence, the Flying Camp was mere militia." Id., fn. 7.

Berks County, Pennsylvania, provided much of its Flying Camp commitment directly from the ranks of the militia, but several companies were raised expressly for the Flying Camp. Id. at 62. These units "were ordered to proceed directly to New Jersey in late July [1776] commanded by the second in command of the Berks Flying Camp Battalion, Lt. Col. Nicholas Lutz." Id. The "original ordering of all militia to New Jersey was applied to Berks until Col. Henry Haller's Berks Battalion was fully formed. As a result, [Lt. Col. Lutz's advance group] was one of the several battalions which suffered heavily in early fighting before being fully organized." Id. "Sometime before 20 August ... a sizeable number of members of the Pennsylvania Flying Camp had left New Jersey and were being transported toward Long Island. Included were the several companies of Haller's Berks Battalion that had been sent ahead under Lt. Col. Nicholas Lutz." Id. at 65. This unit and other Pennsylvania units "took an active and sometimes prominent part in the subsequent battle [of Long Island]." Id. at 66. Based upon the analysis here, Peter Klein was very likely part of this unit that proceeded to Long Island with Lt. Col. Lutz.

BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND

"About midnight on 27 August [1776], Maj. Edward Burd, second in Command of Lutz's Berks detachment, with a company or two, relieved the picket in front of the western flank of the American advanced line. Around one o'clock Burd's force, patrolling the Narrows Road, encountered in the dark three or four hundred British troops --- at least three times their number. In the ensuing exchange of fire Burd and some of his men were captured. The rest fell back towards the main force in the area. The main force had retreated in disorder to high ground near the Red Lion Tavern, where it was partly rallied after daybreak by Gen. Samuel Parsons, and held until reinforcements arrived. The battle of Long Island thus began with an attack on a unit of the Pennsylvania Flying Camp." Id. at 66.

BATTLE OF WHITE PLAINS AND RETREAT ACROSS NEW JERSEY

Devine further discusses Lutz's Berks unit's activities during battle of Long Island and subsequent battle of White Plains in October 1776. Then, in late November 1776, "the final two weeks of the Flying Camp's formal existence were spent by its Pennsylvanian remnants retreating with Washington across New Jersey. On 1 December [1776], the day most of its enlistments expired, six of its battalions at half to two-thirds strength were at Trenton," but did not include Haller's Battalion, which was weakened to the point that its remnants were under Colonel Hand's 1st PA Continentals. Id., at 78.

Peter's enlistment, which likely ended December 1, 1776, coincides exactly with his enlistment with the 12th Pennsylvania Continentals on November 30, 1776, as identified in the records of the United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783, 84-Pennsylvania (Jacket 37-93) (Pgs. 145-146 of 692; see also pgs. 160-161 of 692). The 12th Pennslyvania recruited in several Pennsylvania counties, including Berks, and it is likely that Peter was attracted to a unit, an official unit of Continentals, that promised improved organization, equipment and pay. 

Moreover, the 1st Pennsylvania was recruited in the summer of 1775, for enlistment periods of one year. They were in Boston in 1775 and 1776, but Peter never mentions any service in Boston, and for Peter to have joined the 12th PA, he would have been required to leave the 1st PA, an intact unit, in the middle of his second, one-year enlistment of this unit, which is unlikely.

 PETER CLINE'S SERVICE IN THE 12TH PENNSYLVANIA CONTINENTALS

On November 30, 1776, Peter Klein began his service with the 12th Pennsylvania Continentals as a private in Captain Nicholas Miller's Company (Company B). He enlisted on the same day with Privates Michael Waltz (Woltz) and Henry Miller. While Miller's history is unknown, Michael Waltz is known to have been from Berks County and was also married in Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Reading, PA, so it is very likely that Peter and Michael knew each other, and that both likely also knew Henry Miller. Interestingly, Michael Waltz's 1818 pension application indicates that he first participated in the 1st Maryland Regiment under Colonel Smallwood. Coincidentally, a Peter Klein and a Henry Miller also served in this unit, but in a different company than Michael Waltz. Moreover, all three enlisted on different days and the company histories for the 1st Maryland indicate that these companies were almost exclusively raised from the organic counties from which they came. See, Linda Davis Reno, The Maryland 400 in the Battle of Long Island, McFarland & Co., Jefferson N.C. (2008). As such, without more evidence, I believe that this striking coincidence is simply that - a coincidence.

Also, the 12th PA Continentals did not arrive in time to join Washington's forces for the Battle of Trenton on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1776. However, the records clearly show that the 12th PA was involved in the Second Battle of Trenton, also called the Battle of Assunpink Creek, on January 2, 1777, as well as the Battle of Princeton, which occurred the next day on January 3, 1777. This period, referred to as the "Ten Days" (12/25/1776 - 1/3/1777), produced three consecutive American victories which pushed the British largely from New Jersey, save several outposts, and was the decisive period that saved the Revolution from total defeat. 

Of further note, family lore, passed down through the generations, reports that Peter Cline was wounded twice during the Revolution. As noted by Cecil Cline: "Harry Dale [Cline] has some notes given to him by Marlin Cline that were taken when Marlin was researching the Clines in 1938. In an inteview with Harry Dale's great grandfather, Mose Christian Cline, Marlin wrote: 'Mose Christian told me that his grandfather, also named Mose Christian [born 1818], who was Peter's grandson, had told him that his grandfather had been wounded twice in the battles with the British; a saber wound to the shoulder and a bayonet wound to the hip." See, Cecil Cline, Peter Cline, Revolutionary Soldier and His Descendants (2007) at pg. 21. While we do not know for sure the precise battle or battles in which Peter was injured, the records of the United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783, may shed some light on this.

The  payroll records for the month of January 1777, compiled at some point in February 1777, include a column for "Casualties." Most of the soldiers had dashed lines through this column, meaning that they were not a casualty for the month of January. However, for others, the Casualties column has listed "Died," "Sick," or "Sick" with a reference to the town where they are sick, as well as "Deserter" and "Furlough." There is no reference to being "wounded," but this is obviously impossible, as soldiers were routinely wounded in battle. Importantly, further research reveals that those furloughed were routinely those who were, in fact, wounded in battle, and who were allowed to return home to recover, on condition that they return to their respective unit as soon as possible. See, Daniel Blackie, Disabled Revolutionary War Veterans and the Construction of Disability in the Early United States, c. 1776-1840, Academic Dissertation, Univ. of Helsinki, 2010, pgs. 73-74. 

This record includes several soldiers listed as furloughed, including Peter Klein, as well as Privates Michael Waltz, Henry Miller and John Neal. These soldiers were obviously wounded in battle. Others were listed as sick, with Pvt. Joseph Harens listed as "Sick at Pluckaming" [Pluckemin, NJ], the site where Washington's Army briefly encampted Jan. 5-6, 1777 after the Battle of Princeton, en route to Morristown, NJ. Pvt. Francis Lud. Harmany is simply listed as sick, and another, Edward O'Brien, is listed as "Deserted Jan. 3d," the day of the Battle of Princeton. One soldier, Sgt. Benjamin Taylor (likely the "Ensign Taylor" referenced in Peter's pension application) was listed as "Died" at Reading, January 4, 1777. Reading was the location of an army hospital. Id., at pg. 51.

It appears then that Peter was wounded sometime in January 1777. The most likely battle would have been the 2nd Battle of Trenton and not the Battle of Princeton, because he never mentions participation in the Battle of Princeton in his pension application, something he surely would have recalled. Moreover, Michael Waltz also fails to mention the Battle of Princeton in his list of engagements in both of his pension applications for 1818 and 1820 respectively (no pension application from Henry Miller has been found to date). Thus, it is very likely, based upon the known evidence to date, that Peter Cline received at least one of his wounds at the 2nd Battle of Trenton. He and Michael Waltz must have returned to the 12th PA sometime in early February 1777 as both signed their pay vouchers for their January 1777 pay.