Levi Bemis: A Vermont Revolutionary

In This Article

His Story

On March 2, 1781, Levi Bemis entered Revolutionary War service from Brattleboro, Vermont. The American Revolution had already lasted nearly six years, and the struggle for independence remained unsettled. Bemis enlisted as a private in Captain James Blakeslee’s company, serving in a Vermont regiment commanded by Colonel Samuel Fletcher.

His service lasted until December 20, 1781. By then, the American victory at Yorktown had transformed the course of the war, although the peace treaty recognizing American independence would not be signed for nearly two more years.

Bemis’s surviving pension records do not describe his daily experiences in the army or identify battles in which he personally participated. They do, however, preserve the essential details of his enlistment, commanding officers, discharge, and later application for a federal pension.

More than fifty years after his enlistment, Bemis was living far from Vermont. In November 1832, he applied for a Revolutionary War pension while residing in Gill Township, Sullivan County, Indiana. He was seventy-five years old.

His story connects two very different periods of early American history: the struggle for independence in New England and the westward movement that brought settlers into Indiana during the early nineteenth century.

It also illustrates the importance of reading historical records carefully. One surviving document spells his surname “Bemmis” and contains descriptions of his residence and military service that differ from a later official pension summary. Those differences are preserved here rather than overlooked.

From Brattleboro to the Revolutionary Army

According to a military history summary prepared by the federal pension bureau in 1930, Levi Bemis was residing in Brattleboro, Windham County, Vermont, when he enlisted on March 2, 1781.

Brattleboro stood near the Connecticut River in southeastern Vermont. During the Revolutionary War, the region was part of a frontier society whose residents faced military demands, political uncertainty, and the continuing challenge of defending communities and transportation routes.

Vermont’s political circumstances were particularly unusual. Having declared its independence in 1777, Vermont operated as a separate republic during the Revolution and was not admitted to the United States as the fourteenth state until 1791.

Despite that political distinction, Vermont troops participated in the American war effort. Local regiments and militia organizations helped provide manpower for military service and regional defense.

Bemis was approximately twenty-four years old when he enlisted, based on his reported age of seventy-five in 1832.

The surviving transcriptions do not identify his birthplace, parents, occupation, or reasons for joining the army. Brattleboro is therefore documented as his residence at enlistment, not necessarily his place of birth.

Nine Months in Fletcher’s Vermont Regiment

Bemis served as a private under Captain James Blakeslee in Colonel Samuel Fletcher’s Vermont Regiment. The pension bureau’s 1930 summary gives his exact enlistment and discharge dates as March 2 and December 20, 1781.

This amounted to a little more than nine and a half calendar months between the recorded dates. A separate pension notation summarizes his service as nine months.

His service took place during an important year of the Revolution. American and French forces were increasingly coordinating their military efforts, while British operations in the South and the defense of northern territory continued to require soldiers and supplies.

In Vermont and the surrounding region, troops served amid concerns about British forces operating from Canada, military routes through the northern frontier, and the security of settlements.

Although Bemis belonged to a Vermont regiment during this period, the surviving pension summary does not identify his stations, marching routes, or particular military assignments.

It would therefore be inaccurate to place him at a specific battle or fort without additional evidence from company muster rolls, pay records, or a detailed firsthand declaration.

What the record establishes is that Bemis served as a private in Fletcher’s regiment and was discharged on December 20, 1781.

A Veteran in the Indiana Frontier

By November 13, 1832, Levi Bemis was living in Gill Township, Sullivan County, Indiana. His movement from Vermont to Indiana reflects a much broader transformation of the United States during the decades following the Revolution.

Indiana had entered the Union in 1816. During the early nineteenth century, its population expanded as settlers established farms, towns, and communities across the state.

The pension records establish Bemis’s residence in Sullivan County by 1832, but they do not explain when he arrived in Indiana or where he may have lived between his discharge in 1781 and his pension application.

On November 13, 1832, Bemis executed an application for a federal pension. The pension bureau’s later summary states that he was seventy-five years old at the time and that his claim was allowed.

The Pension Act of June 7, 1832, expanded eligibility for surviving Revolutionary War veterans whose qualifying military service could be established. It provided an important means of recognizing the service of elderly veterans, many of whom had received little long-term financial support after the war.

Bemis’s file bears the pension number S.32116. A separate notation associated with his application records nine months of private service and the amount of thirty dollars, although the transcription alone does not establish the precise administrative meaning or payment period represented by that figure.

For Bemis, the application preserved official recognition of service performed more than half a century earlier.

The Bemmis Spelling and Conflicting Records

One document in Levi Bemis’s pension file identifies him as “Levi Bemmis.” Another document uses the spelling “Bemus.” Variations in surname spelling were common in historical records, particularly when clerks recorded names from spoken testimony or copied information between documents.

The Bemmis entry also presents an apparent discrepancy concerning the soldier’s residence and military unit.

As transcribed, the document mentions Sullivan County in Tennessee and describes service in a Massachusetts line under officers whose names appear as Blalesby and Flechter.

The pension bureau’s January 6, 1930, summary instead identifies Bemis’s 1832 residence as Gill Township, Sullivan County, Indiana, and his service as a private in Captain James Blakeslee’s company of Colonel Samuel Fletcher’s Vermont Regiment.

The resemblance between the officers’ names suggests that the documents may be describing the same service, but the differences in state and regiment cannot be resolved solely from the transcription.

The 1930 summary is especially useful because it provides precise dates and identifies the pension claim by number. Nevertheless, the earlier manuscript should be examined directly before concluding whether the conflicting words reflect handwriting, transcription errors, clerical mistakes, or differences in the underlying testimony.

For this biography, the principal service chronology follows the pension bureau’s identified summary, while the alternate spelling and conflicting entry remain part of the documented historical record.

From His Account

Military Service

Conflict	American Revolutionary War
Allegiance	United States
Rank	Private
Company	Captain James Blakeslee
Regiment	Colonel Samuel Fletcher’s Vermont Regiment
Residence at Enlistment	Brattleboro, Windham County, Vermont
Enlistment	March 2, 1781
Discharge	December 20, 1781
Service Duration	Approximately nine months; exact dates recorded in the pension summary
Known Battles	None individually verified from the available transcriptions
Residence at Pension Application	Gill Township, Sullivan County, Indiana
Pension Application	November 13, 1832
Age at Application	75
Pension Status	Claim allowed
Pension Number	S.32116
National Archives ID	53945600

Record discrepancy: An alternate manuscript transcribed under the name Levi Bemmis mentions Sullivan County, Tennessee, and the Massachusetts Line. The service details in the table follow the pension bureau’s January 6, 1930, summary, which identifies Indiana and Colonel Samuel Fletcher’s Vermont Regiment. Both records require direct manuscript comparison to resolve the discrepancy.

Later Life & Burial

Levi Bemis survived the Revolution and was living in Indiana by the time he applied for a federal pension in 1832.

His documented residence was Gill Township, Sullivan County, Indiana, where he was seventy-five years old when his pension application was executed on November 13, 1832.

The available transcriptions do not establish when Bemis left Vermont, whether he lived in other states before settling in Indiana, or how he supported himself during the decades following his military service.

The pension bureau’s 1930 summary confirms that his claim was allowed, but it does not provide a death date or burial location.

No cemetery, gravestone, or death record has been securely connected to the pensioner in the documents examined for this biography.

Research in Sullivan County probate records, early Indiana census schedules, pension payment registers, and cemetery records may help establish the final years of his life.

Family & Descendants

Parents and Birthplace

The pension bureau’s summary identifies Levi Bemis as seventy-five years old in November 1832, suggesting a birth year of approximately 1757.

However, his exact birth date and birthplace are not recorded in the transcribed materials reviewed. Brattleboro, Vermont, was his documented residence at enlistment, not a verified birthplace.

His parents and siblings have not been established from these records.

Marriage and Children

The January 6, 1930, pension bureau summary explicitly states that there are no data concerning Levi Bemis’s family in the pension claim.

Accordingly, the materials reviewed do not identify a wife, marriage date, or children.

A separate pension-file entry in the larger transcription collection names Marcy Bemis, with additional surnames White and Buckminster, but that entry belongs to a different indexed pension record. It does not establish a family relationship with Levi Bemis and should not be used to identify his spouse.

Any proposed marriage or parent-child connection must be supported by independent vital, church, probate, census, or other contemporary records.

Descendants and Future Research

No documented line of descendants has been established for Levi Bemis from the pension transcriptions examined.

The strongest starting points for further genealogical research are Brattleboro, Vermont, where he resided in 1781, and Gill Township, Sullivan County, Indiana, where he lived in 1832.

Early census records, land transactions, probate files, marriage registers, and local church records from those communities may help establish his household and identify relatives.

Until a reliable documentary connection is found, individuals with the Bemis, Bemmis, or Bemus surname should not automatically be treated as his descendants.

Original Sources & Historical Note