James Holmes Sr. and his son William was with out a doubt from South Carolina. It is from James Holmes

Sr.'s application for a pension that he filed for in 1830 that gives some clues where to look in South

Carolina and perhaps  who to look for. James stated .that "left the service in the Spring of 1782 and

that He served two years and a half. He entered the Service in Spartanburg District South Carolina; from

there he marched through Greenville District South Carolina to Levia? Fort on Savannah River." On further

documents James claimed "You will perceive by a search of the records that I have drawn my bounty-land

You will also see that William Holms, My Father who served at the same time and in the Same Regiment will

see he drew his bounty land " Another Clue of where these Holmes lived was in one of the letter James

Holmes Sr. wrote concerning his service record, he mentioned " that he took a leave from service and

went home to Greenville Co., SC to visit his mother." Also mentioned was the fact that James Bounty Land

was " 200 acres in Greenville Dist"

From South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution:

Holmes, James R5171

While residing in Greenville District, he enlisted during 1779 under Lt. Thomas Farrow in Captain

Benjamin Tutt's Independent Company (Moved to TN) A. A. 3717, R148

Holmes, William, Sr.

He served 346 days in Captain Benjamin Tutt's Independent Company during 1779 and 1780 A. A. 3719C;

R149; X493

Spartanburg District SC was created in 1785 form District 96 ...Old District 96 was created in 1769

from portions of Colleton and Granville Counties as one of seven original judicial districts. District

96 was split in 1798 to form: Abbeville, Edgefield, Newberry, Laurens and Spartanburg Districts, and

Ninety-Six was discarded as a district name

A Very Brief History of Greenville County, South Carolina

While the lower parts of South Carolina had been settled for many years, Greenville County remained part

of the old Cherokee hunting grounds and white men were strictly forbidden to enter the area. The Cherokee

ceded these lands to South Carolina in 1777. The Indians remained in their mountain homeland for several

years after signing their grant, however, and not many white people ventured into the beautiful Cherokee

country before the Revolution.

Greenville County was established in 1784. From this time thousands of settlers migrated to the area.

It's name is variously said to honor General Nathaniel Greene of Revolutionary fame or to recall Isaac

Green, an early settler. Most evidence points to the last inference.

James Holmes and a Thomas Holmes were mentioned in 1776, James Holmes Sr. of Perry County TN would of

been too young to be the one mentioned below,

September 4, 1776
The Pennsylvania Gazette

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 4.

Augusta, July 3, 1776.

“Sir,

“I take the liberty of inclosing your Excellency the copies of two depositions which came by express

from Major Williamson yesterday, likewise a copy of an intercepted letter from Henry Stuart, to the

frontier inhabitants of North Carolina and Virginia.

“I am afraid the emissaries of government have at last accomplished their hellish designs with the

Cherokees, yet I believe they may have mistimed matters, as I hope we shall be able to give them a

good drubbing before they can get assistance from the King’s troops or any other nation.

“Last night Major Williamson had upwards of a thousand men embodied, and in a few days expect to have

five, when they intend marching immediately into their nation. Should this happen, your Excellency will

doubtless see the necessity of having some force on the frontiers of this province. I shall order the

draught that has been made of this regiment to Broad River and Ogechee as soon as possible, but not to

go over the line till I receive your Excellency’s orders, which I shall wait for with impatience. I shall

likewise be glad to know how far we are to act in concert with the Carolinians, or if we are only to guard

our own frontiers. I have not heard from the Creeks for some time past. The last accounts were favourable.

I mentioned to your Excellency some time ago our intention of carrying two Indians to Ninety-Six, which I

did; they saw a poor fellow suffer death, and we have since sent them off to their nation, perfectly

satisfied. I am, with due respect, your Excellency’s very humble servant, R. RAE.”                                                    

To his Excellency A. Bullock, Esq; “South-Carolina, Ninety-six district.

“Personally appeared Aaron Smith, son of Captain Aaron Smith, of Little River, in the said district,

planter, who being duly sworn maketh oath, that, this morning about daybreak, a number of Indians,

about eight or ten in number, came to this father’s house, and killed him and Lorick Smith his son,

and fired upon him and his brother who made their escape, and that he believes all the rest of the

family are killed.

(Signed.)  AARON SMITH.”

(Copy.) JOHN PURVES, J.P.

N.B. This Little River is in South-Carolina, six miles from the Indian land.South-Carolina, Ninety-six district.

“Before me, John Purves, one of the Justices of the Peace for said district, personally appeared David Shettroe,

of Keowee, who being duly sworn, maketh oath that yesterday morning, about a quarter of an

hour before the first cock crew, two Indians came to his house on the river bank, near fort Prince

George, and called to him to get up, which he did and opened the door, when they came in and asked for

water, which he gave them. The youngest of the two, named the Glass, desired him to make some fire that

they might see; the other named the Tarapin; as he went up to the chimney to blow up the fire, the Glass

laid hold of him, and told him he was his slave, it was very bad times, the white people were going to

break out, and he should not run away from him; then the Tarapin stepped up to an old man named William McTeer,

who was lying on the floor, and told him he was his slave, and must go along with him. They drove this deponent

and McTeer before them until they came to the house of Mr. James Holmes in Keowee, where he

saw a great number of the Lower Towns Cherokee Indians, where they had taken Mr. Holmes and his wife and a white

child prisoners; also Thomas Holmes, John Lammas and his wife, and two or their children (boys) and

a man that had gone from Enoree on business. That while he staid there they also brought one John Garrick, and a

man that came from Rocky run, prisoners. That the Indians took all Mr. Holmes’s effects, drank as

much rum as they chose, and then stove a hogshead, and let the rum that was in it run out; that about dawn

of day the Indians drove all the white people out of the house, and sent a party up the river with them to guard

them, except this deponent, who staid and saw them plunder Mr. Holmes’s house. The fellow who took

this deponent prisoner gave him two deerskins, told him to make shoes for himself, to walk over the hills

to Mr. Cameron, for he must go with him there; that during his confinement one Ratcliffe, a white man, kept riding

about among the Indians, laughing and scoffing at the prisoners; that an Indian fellow told him,

when in confinement, that George Parris, a half breed, was gone down to acquaint the King’s people over Saluda to

come to join the Indians, to help and to fight for the King; that the Indian, who pretended to be this deponent’s

master, sending him to hunt a horse for him to ride, about two hours before sunset yesterday, he made his escape

from them; farther that he saw them bring several guns, pipe hatchets, and sundry other effects, the property of

Edward Wilkinson, Esq; to the house where he was taken, and that he was in the employ of Edward Wilkinson, Esq;

and that he cannot write.

Signed his DAVID + SHETTROE.

Sworn before me this 30th  day of June, 1776. JOHN PURVES, J.P.

Other interesting information on this family of Holmes :

Greene, Historic Resource Study and Historic Structure Report; Ninety Six: A Historical Narrative

Denver: National Park Service, Branch of Historical Preservation, 1981). There is also considerable information

on the Holmes in this valuable report, which was written in connection with the

establishment of the Ninety Six National Historic Site.

In 1783 and 1784, the new town of Cambridge was laid out on land confiscated from Tory James Holmes,

whose farm buildings just west of Spring Branch had been fortified with a stockade in 1780-81 (the reconstructed

stockade may be seen on the Ninety Six National Historical Site, though nothing remains of Cambridge). The old town

of Ninety Six, destroyed (as was Holmes's house) in the course of the work of fortification and the fighting that

occurred in those two years, was abandoned, and the new town was laid out a quarter mile to its west. Half-acre lots

were sold beginning in 1784. Ambitious plans were laid by the town developers, including one for the establishment

of South Carolina's first public university. Lots were sold to promising people, including John Ewing Colhoun, soon

to be elected United States Senator. (More than likely the James Holmes of above was an uncle to James Holmes Sr. of

Perry Co TN. Probably the James Holmes that was sitting in 96th District with William Holmes and Walter.)

HOMES, James     1779 Colony, SC Resident Old 96th DISTRICT

HOMES, Walter    1779 Colony, SC Resident Old 96th DISTRICT

HOMES, William   1779 Colony, SC Resident Old 96th DISTRICT

A Frontier Outpost

Village on the Cherokee Path

Ninety Six was originally a geographical term. Traders out of Charleston thought that this stopping place

was 96 miles from the Cherokee town of Keowee in the Blue Ridge foothills. Following an ancient path worn

by Indians, they packed firearms, blankets, and trinkets into the backcountry and swapped them for deer

skins and furs. By 1700 or so this trail, known as the Cherokee Path, was a major commercial artery. Over

it flowed goods essential to the prosperity of the young colony.

The region then was a wilderness paradise, with temperate climate, rich soil, vast forests of hardwood, clear

-running streams, abundant game. After the power of the Cherokee was broken in 1761, settlers flooded into the

country beyond the Saluda River. Ninety Six lay in the middle of this land boom. The first settler here was one

Robert Gouedy, who opened a store in 1751. A veteran of the Cherokee trade, he parlayed that hazardous enterprise

into a huge business that rivaled that of some Charleston merchants. He grew grain and tobacco, raised cattle,

served as a frontier banker, and sold cloth, shoes, beads, gunpowder, tools and rum. He eventually amassed over

1,500 acres, and at his death in 1775 some 500 persons were in his debt.

On the eve of the Revolution, Ninety Six was a thriving village of 12 houses, a sizable courthouse, and a sturdy

jail. At least a hundred persons lived in the vicinity, and the land was cleared for a mile around.

On the question of independence, sentiment was probably even more divided than along the coast. In what

has been called the first major land battle in the South, 1 ,800 loyalists on 18 November 1775 attacked

one-third that number of patriots under Maj. Andrew Williamson gathered at Ninety Six. After several days

of fighting, the two sides agreed to a truce. But patriot spirit was running high, and the low-country leaders

soon mounted an expedition that swept away organized loyalist resistance. Yet crushing the King's friends did not

bring peace to the backcountry. Instead, a savage war of factions broke out that lasted

until 1781.

Greene's siege that year left the village a smoking ruin. The departing loyalists set fire to the few buildings

still standing and even tried to destroy the star fort. Within a few years a new town began to arise near the

site of the old one. Taking the name Cambridge in 1787, it flourished for a while as a county seat and the home

of an academy. The loss of the courthouse in 1800 started a decline from which the town never recovered. By mid-

century, both old Ninety Six and newer Cambridge were little more than memories. Stockade Fort    

This strongpoint--the west redoubt attacked by Lee's legion--was built around the farm of one James Holmes, an

active loyalist, to guard Spring Branch, the only reliable water supply for the village.

The Jury Lists of South Carolina, 1778-1779, Miscellaneous Act No. 1123 - The Determination of Jury Lists

for District Ninety-Six, Page 78,98 and 101

(Near 96th Court House)

James Holmes

(Between Turkey Creek and Savannah River)

William Homes

(Spartan Dist)

Walter Homes

With the bounty land that James received being said to be in Greenville Dist. SC. I believe that the following is James Sr.

1790 HOLMS JAMES Greenville Dist SC 70   02-01-02-00-00

2 males over 16, 1 male under 16 and 2 females

At this time this is all the information that I have obtained on the South Carolina Group. If you have anything further to

add or any comments to make, please contact me at Ba044@aol.com