Joseph Grammer and The Battle of White Plains, New York-July 1781

I took a field trip to White Plains, New York to access probate files from the Westchester County Surrogate’s Court. On the return trip I saw a historical marker at Armonk, New York. ¹The marker at Smith Tavern² commemorates the thousands of French troops who marched past that location during 3 July 1781 to 5 July 1781. So I closed my eyes and imagined the many men and wagons and horses on the road that even today is just two lanes. Thousands of men who spoke a foreign language, armed, and walking miles in the summer heat. It must have been quite a site for the locals.

A Revolutionary War application for one of these French troops, a man named Joseph Grammer, adds insight into the campaign.³ Grammer/Gammer lived to be counted on the 1850 census where he claimed to be 100 years old! ⁴ His pension file contains a letter written to the pension office by Henry Priche[t?] (Pritchett?) on 21 December 1852.⁵ Prichet asks if the pension application was rejected because Grammer was a “furner” [foreigner?] and asks for reconsideration because Grammer was then 104 years old and still “very helpful.” The pension office replied in 1853 that Grammer rendered service in the French Army and was not entitled to a U.S. pension.⁶

An annotation on Grammer’s transcribed pension application assists in placing him among these troops:⁷

• Grammer states he left Brest, France aboard ship and arrived in Rhode Island. While under the command of George Washington he was involved in a “severe” battle at White Plains.
• The annotation states “Gammar may have sailed to America with Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau. Rochambeau left Brest in May of 1780 and arrived at Newport RI on 10 June 1780.”
• The marker at Smith’s Tavern shows the troops that passed this location were under the command of George Washington and Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau.

Smith’s Tavern (below)⁸

Armonk marker (two photographs below), Vanessa Wood, photographer, 21 Dec. 2021.

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1. The marker is located on NY 22, 41° 07′ 35″ N, 73° 41′ 40″ W.
2. Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org), “Campbell County, Virginia,” rev. 14:49, 21 Jun. 2021. Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org), “Smith Tavern,” rev. 15:53, 30 Mar. 2021.
3. “Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files,” pension no. R. 4,183, Joseph Gammer, 23 July 1832, digital images, Ancestry (https://www.fold3.com/image/22083493 : viewed 15 December 2021); citing NARA microfilm publication M804, roll 1045.
4. 1850 U.S. census, Roane County, Tenn., pop. sched., sub div. 20, p. 375-B (stamped), fam. 746, dwell. 788, Joseph Grammer; digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8054/images/4206051_00213 : viewed 15 December 2021).
5. “Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files,” pension no. R. 4,183, Henriy Prichet letter, 21 December 1852.
6. “Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files,” pension no. R. 4,183, U. S. Pension Office letter, 23 May 1853.
7. C. Leon Harris, transcriber, “Pension Application of Joseph Gammar (Grammar) R4183,” Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters (http://revwarapps.org/r4183.pdf : viewed 15 Feb. 2022).
8. Daniel Case, photographer, “Smith Tavern, Armonk, NY.jpg,” 7 Dec. 2008, Wikimedia Foundation (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smith_Tavern,_Armonk,_NY.jpg : viewed 15 Feb. 2022).