I hope this narrative answers a few questions recently posed on this list. As a bicentennial project a quarter century ago, I attempted to catalog all those residents who served during the Rev War and who lived in a small unincorporated Maine town before, during and/or after the war. This area now comprises the towns of Prospect, Stockton Springs and most of the town of Searsport, Maine. In 1775 there were about 40 families settled, in 1790 there were about 75 families settled, in 1810 216 families and 1830 398 families. I spent a lot of effort on the project including searching everything in NARS M-804 and M-805 (and some M-246) and the Rev War records of Massachustts (then included Maine), NH, RI, CT and the Continental Army. I also found two men in the Continental Navy, one deserter from the Britsh Army, one deserter from the German mercenaries [Braunschweiger], and an active Loyalist spy. Perhaps a local bias was the fact that nearby Fort Pownall was manned 1759-1775, being dismantled 16 April 1775, three days before Lexington and Concord. Although it was a small garrison, many of the young men were recruited in July 1775 (following the events at Bunker's Hill). The second bias was the British occupation of Penobscot July 1779 to Jan 1784 which resulted in some families moving to the west for refuge or at least sending their teenage sons to safety. This study was made a long time ago and the details are probably in a file box in the barn (maybe a mouse nest by now!) so I must rely on an aging memory. Here are my recollections: 1775-1777 Although most of the unmarried males living locally volunteered and served, by 1777 the 'glory of war' had tarnished and I can not recall a voluntary enlistment by a local after 1777 except for "Crazy Hate" Hatevil Colson, a local character of note who served July 1775 to Dec 1783. 1777-1779 A few men serving in the local militia regiment were called to active duty during the 1777 incident at Machias and agaign during the 1779 Penobscot Expedition. 1779-1783 A few families were forced from their homes and their young men served in the Regiment left at Camden to guard the Bay. My present recollection is that an estimated 80% of the unmarried males aged 18 to 25 served in some military capacity. Of the married men under age 40, only those under 30 with children served and then it was a rare few. Although there was a local company of militia, the officer's never served in a military capacity. Most of those who served and settled after the war had served as young men. The exceptions are a Captain of the Charlestown RI milita company who settled in 1787 and a Lieutenant in the Westery RI artillery battery who purchased land locally in 1775 but did not settle until after the peace. As for pensioneers, I would guess that only around 40% of the men who served (or their widows) ever received a pension. A few of those who applied for a pension were rejected because they could not prove to the satisfaction of the pension board that they had served the rquired time. After the 1818 act the local courthouses were visited by an officer of the Pensions Board from Washington DC who personally interviewed each man. As a rule he was seeking a discharge paper, a notarized deposition from a commanding officer stating the man's service record, and/or three sworn depositions from men who served with the applicant. There are some interesting comments buried in the attestation comments. I cannot recall anyone who served in the Continental Army being rejected. It is apparent from the notes that the Pensions Board checked the muster rolls and other records then in its possession. I only found two cases where the applicant claimed service of a longer duration than was performed. In one case the former commanding officer said that the actual service was less than two months. The second case was a cruise on a warship which lasted less than six months -- the man's service record stating enlistment and discharge dates exists today -- he served only about twenty-two weeks; however, his pension was approved based on oral testimony. The act of 1818 required the man to be in the need for support whereas the later act did not have that requirement. I think that the principal reason that so many who served but did not receive pensions was that the either did not need one in 1818 or else they had died before the need requirement was removed. In the 1840 US census, the town had a population of 3492 in 605 families but there were only 3 pensioners remaining. I didn't have much luck with the DAR records and in a couple of cases ended up challenging several claims because the service record didn't match the descendants. Yes, all this info was passed to the DAR through the local chapter president. Today I probably would start with Virgil D. White, _Genealogical Abstracts of Revolutionary War Pension Files_, 4 volumes, 5266 pages (vol 4 has the index containing 399,096 full names). Key in the series title is the word "abstracts" -- if you find your party, you should read the entire file because there is a 99% chance you'll find something important which has been omitted from the extract. Bob Brooks