William Polen wasn’t merely applying for a pension when he appeared before the judges of the Delaware County Circuit Court at the age of seventy in November 1832: he was offering his country a piece of living history! Polen’s testimony became part of a wave of thousands submitted under the 1832 Pension Act, an enormous effort to honor those who had fought for independence. Through his words, we’re reminded that the Revolution was not only won on the battlefield, but also safeguarded by the stories of the men who lived it.
To mark the United States’ 250th birthday, the Daughters of the American Revolution has joined forces with America250, the nationwide commemoration of our country’s semiquincentennial, to pay tribute to Revolutionary War Patriots. As part of the celebration, I’ll be sharing the stories of those laid to rest in Delaware County, with help from Kathi Hirons Kesterson -the regent of the Paul Revere Chapter of Muncie’s DAR– over the next several Fridays.
William Polen, or Poland, was a native of New Jersey1. Unfortunately, early records -even those as vital as his exact birthdate- were sparsely kept. “I have no record of my age,” Polen said in his service declaration. “…my age was set down in the blank leaf of a hymn book which I had in my possession for many years and which has been torn out and lost by accident…I was born on the 14th of October, the year not exactly recollected, but I believe it to have been in 1762. My father lived in that state until I was big enough to hoe corn2.”
William Polen and his family relocated to Berkeley County, Virginia, when he was about sixteen. Not long after, with his parents’ blessing, he enlisted to serve the burgeoning United States. His first tour was under Captain Josiah Swearingen in a regiment led by Colonel John Mercer3. From Shepherdstown, he and his fellow soldiers -many of them boys barely past childhood- marched over the mountains to confront Native forces on the frontier.
Their journey ended at the future site of Fort McIntosh, where Polen helped construct fortifications and remained stationed for two or three months5. At the time, Polen was promised -or believed he was promised- a hundred acres of land by his superiors6.
From Fort McIntosh, Polen and his company continued their march down the Muskingum River under Brigadier General Lachlan McIntosh. Along the way, they seized an undefended Native American town and built Fort Laurens on the site7. Polen almost certainly became acquainted with William Daugherty, another Patriot who took part in the same campaign en route8. Afterward, Polen returned to Fort McIntosh, where he received a written discharge acknowledging three months of service9.
Polen didn’t stay idle for long after returning home. In September 1780, he re-enlisted in Captain Michael Bedinger’s militia company and marched to Battletown, Virginia, where he served for about a month. The following September, he joined Captain Jacob Linder’s company and set out from Shepherdstown on a journey that took him through Fredericksburg and Williamsburg before reaching the siege of Yorktown.
The battle had just begun when Polen arrived, placing him in the thick of what would become the decisive conflict of the Revolutionary War! Polen fought alongside his company under Colonel Merriweather for the next six weeks. When General Cornwallis finally surrendered, he assisted in collecting captured British weapons10.
After the battle, Polen helped march prisoners from Yorktown to Fredericksburg, Maryland. He received a second discharge, too, but it met an unfortunate end. “I did receive a written discharge from Capt. Swearingtons tour & Linders from the service,” Polen later recounted, “which was stolen from me in my pocket Book11.”
Despite standing at Yorktown as a nineteen-year-old witness to one of the most monumental days in American history12, much of William Polen’s life was marked by a string of unfortunate twists. The page of his hymnal recording his birthday was torn out. His pocketbook vanished. His discharges were stolen, and the hundred-acre land grant promised to him under Revolutionary-era bounty land offers never materialized.
Otherwise, Polen’s postwar life appears to have been a prosperous one. According to tradition, he married a woman named Elizabeth. Together, they built a family that carried his legacy forward. The couple raised at least five children -Daniel, Peter, William, Nancy, and Rebecca13– each a thread in the growing fabric of their eventual life in Delaware County.
Unfortunately, even a full life and a growing family couldn’t shield Polen from the hardships that lay ahead. Like many Revolutionary War veterans, he spent years waiting for his service to be formally recognized in a long stretch marked by perseverance and endurance. After decades of misfortune, recognition finally came in the form of a modest pension of $23.33 per year. It was a small, but meaningful, acknowledgment of a life intertwined with the nation’s fight for independence.
William Polen died on February 19, 1837, at the age of seventy-four. His story might easily have slipped through the cracks of history, just as so many records from that era did. Fortunately, though, it didn’t. His headstone at Rees Cemetery has been placed three separate times, and his name endures on a bronze plaque in the Delaware County Courthouse. Against the odds, Polen’s legacy has survived. Nearly two and a half centuries after the siege of Yorktown, we honor not only his service but also the thousands of unsung patriots whose lives shaped the foundation of our nation.
Sources Cited
1 Beeson, C. (1964). Revolutionary War Soldiers Buried in Delaware County. Daughters of the American Revolution. Paul Revere Chapter [Boston]. Book.
2 Builders of a Nation (1910, May 14). The Muncie Star. p. 4.
3 (See footnote 2).
4 William Polen, pension application S.32453 (Va.), Rev. War Pension File; digital image, Fold3
(https://www.fold3.com/image/27197299 : accessed Sept 2025). Transcribed by Kathryn Hirons
Kesterson.
5 (See footnote 2).
6 (See footnote 2).
7 (See footnote 4).
8 Old Records Here Show Facts of Revolution (1931, December 10). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 5.
9 (See footnote 4).
10 (See footnote 2).
11 (See footnote 4).
12 Barnet, B. (1976, July 3). Pvt. Polen Watched Redcoats Quit on Grandest Day in World History. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 35.
13 (See footnote 2).
I think that for most of us, getting transported back to that time would bring hardships unimaginable to we moderns.
Absolutely right.