Descendants of Joseph Temple* and Ann Arnold*

During the American Revolutionary War, young men could enlist at the age of 16. Humphrey appears on a list of General Nelson’s Corps of Light Dragoons in Baltimore, July 29, 1778. He would have been 17. In the pension application of Robert Bolling, Robert tells us that he enlisted in Nelson’s Corps of Light Dragoons under the command of General Thomas Nelson of the State of Virginia. He informs us that they trained in Port Royal, Caroline, County Virginia. After about 4 months of training, they marched to Philadelphia. On August 8, 1778, they “were discharged after receiving the thanks of Congress, which was then and there sitting” (Harris). Leon Harris tells us that Nelson was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. That he raised the Corps of Light Dragoons at his own expense. He later helped to organize the Virginia militia and succeeded Thomas Jefferson as Governor on June 12, 1781 (Harris).

​

Humphrey Temple also appears on a roll with no date, which states, “Taken out of a Letter from Colo Bland of the 22d Feby 1779.” He is listed as a volunteer for one campaign under Colonel Temple for the 1st Regiment Light Dragons. Colonel Temple is Humphrey’s, Uncle Benjamin Temple. Published in "The Virginia Genealogist" is a transcription of paroled Virginians, which list Humphrey Temple as 2nd mate on the Thetis who was taken prisoner by the British and paroled on May 7, 1782, by the Commissary General of Naval Prisoners (Gentry 167).

​

According to Dandridge, “each State had her own small navy…”(186). Among the names Dandridge list as part of the Virginia Navy was the Thetis, which he adds, seems to be captured from the British (189). Paullin tells us that:

​

…sometime during the summer, a fleet was sent to sea from Boston… In August the American vessels foil in with the Jamaica fleet, bound for London, and convoyed by a 32- gun frigate and three other armed vessels. The Americans succeeded in cutting out from the fleet ten large merchantmen, heavily laden with rum and sugar. Of the ten vessels, seven arrived at Boston and one at Cape Ann. The names of these eight ships, whose average burden was 285 tons, were as follows: " Holderness," "Dawes," "George," "Friendship," "Blenheim," "Thetis," "Fort William," and " Neptune." This was one of the richest captures which the Continental fleet made during the Revolution. The ships with their cargoes sold for more than one million dollars (172).

In the October 4, 1779 session, in an act to regulate the navy of the commonwealth, the governor was directed to sale a number of navy ships to raise money. A further act stated that the Thetis and several other ships be retained in the navy. These ships were to be manned and equipped as vessels of war (Hening 217).

​

In 1779, the colonies were in the middle of the Revolutionary War. In a May session of that year, to encourage more men to enlist in the navy and marines, the General Assembly approved additional bounties and pensions. Anyone enlisted for the remainder of the war would receive $750 (Paullin 410). In the cause of a reenlistment, the bounties were adjusted subtracting any bounty already paid from the $750. In addition, each person enlisting was to receive “…a coat, waistcoat, pair of overhalls, two shirts, a pair of shoes, and a hat…”(Hening 23). He was to receive the same articles of clothing each year he was in the service. At the war's end, each of these men were to receive 100 acres of land in the commonwealth (Hening 24).

​

In his book Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants, Bockstruck has three listings for Humphrey Temple of Virginia. In each one, his rake is listed as a mate. The first is May 19,

1838, for 500 acres. The second May 19, 1838, for 2166 2/3 acres and the third on March