Charles & James Hargrove in the American Revolution By Steve Compton Virginia

Charles & James Hargrove in the American Revolution
By Steve Compton
Virginia
The American War of Independence lasted from April 19, 1775, until September 3, 1783.
Those eight years saw battles in all of the original 13 states from Maine to Georgia. From
1775 to 1778, the fighting was concentrated in New England and the mid-Atlantic states.
Despite being better trained and equipped, the British were unable to defeat George
Washington’s Continental Army. Frustrated, the British then turn their efforts to the southern states.
One record survives of a man named James Hargrove who enlisted for three years’ service on January 18, 1777. This enlistment took place in the right place and time to have been our ancestor James Hargrove Sr., the son of Charles Hargrove of Virginia. There were, however, several men with the same name in Virginia at that time, so it is difficult to say for sure that this man was our ancestor.
This James Hargrove served as a “mattross” for “Captain James Pendleton’s Company of
Colonel Charles Harrison’s Regiment of artillery in the service of these United States in
August 1778.” Our ancestor James would have been about 20 years old when this enlistment took place.
A matross was the “grunt” of an artillery crew, charged with hauling, loading, and cleaning heavy weapons such as cannon, mortars, and howitzers. A typical artillery crew consisted of several matrosses serving under a gunner who was in charge of aiming and firing the weapons. As a matross, James would have also been armed with a musket and bayonet, and responsible for guarding the big guns and wagons on the march, as well as assisting when breakdowns occurred.
James’ artillery regiment assembled at Williamsburg, Virginia in the spring and summer of
1777. On 13 March 1778, they were ordered to join Washington’s main army at Valley
Forge, Pennsylvania.
With Washington’s army, this regiment played a pivotal role in the Battle of Monmouth in
New Jersey on June 28, 1778. Beginning in the early afternoon and continuing for two hours, ten to 14 American field guns dueled with eight British cannons and two howitzers.
Afterward, the British army withdrew. That fall, Capt. Pendleton recorded only 27 men remaining on his artillery company roster, one of whom was James Hargrove.
In 1779 Harrison’s regiment was renamed the 1st Continental Artillery Regiment and continued to serve under Washington. However, James Hargrove’s three-year enlistment expired in January 1780, and he moved to South Carolina either along with or to join his family before the summer of 1780.