Editor’s Note: The Enterprise is pleased to partner with the Colonel Abram Penn Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution to present My Patriot Ancestor, an ongoing series.
The American Revolutionary War was fought primarily across the thirteen North American colonies, extending into Canada, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. A soldier in this war faced many hardships, including chronic starvation, freezing exposure due to inadequate clothing and uncontrolled outbreaks of deadly diseases like smallpox and dysentery from crowded camps. Add to that, they suffered from unpaid or worthless wages and grueling physical labor, all the while fighting highly trained British soldiers. One of these soldiers is Betty Cassell Banks’ patriot ancestor, Edward Cochran.
Edward Elliot Cochran, Sr. was born in Charles County, Maryland in 1748. His family moved to the area that is now Franklin/Henry County, Virginia when he was a young child. He married Mary Edwards in 1760 and they had at least twelve children. Like most of the early settlers in this region of Virginia, his lifelong livelihood was farming. He maintained a homestead, grew crops, managed livestock, and passed down substantial farming acreage to his many children.
On January 29,1779 when Cochran was thirty-one years old, he enlisted in the 1st Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army. This regiment was among the original Continental Army units formed in 1775 taking part in major actions like the defense of Charleston and the Philadelphia Campaign before shifting focus to the western frontier. Cochran joined the regiment when it was under Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark and fought in the Northwest Campaign to secure the frontier from the British. This campaign is often underestimated when thinking of the overall war, but its importance becomes clear in the land claimed at the end of the Revolution. It allowed the United States to successfully claim the vast region between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River during the 1783 Treaty of Paris.
Edward Cochran was discharged from the army on August 22, 1780. He received the equivalent of $4,170 and he was issued a land warrant for fifty acres of land in Montgomery County, VA. Cochran died July 1, 1816 in Rocky Mount, Virginia one year after the death of his wife, Mary. They are buried in the Cochran-Rakes-Via Cemetery in Patrick County.
Note: Land warrants….the Continental Congress lacked the power to tax and relied on printing “continental dollars” that rapidly became useless. With the national government essentially bankrupt and burdened by massive war debt, officials offered veterans “bounty land warrants to incentivize enlistments. Many veterans returned home impoverished. Selling their warrants to land speculators provided immediate necessary cash. Unfortunately, the warrants were sold much lower than their issued value.
Information for this article is from Wikipedia, the Library of Virginia, Find A Grave, Wilderness Road Regional Museum, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Daughters of the American Revolution and the authors’ records.
Everyone has a story. Let us help you tell yours. Any woman 18 years or older, regardless of race, religion or ethnic background, who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution is eligible for membership. NSDAR is a non-profit, non-political volunteer women’s service organization. Help researching and proving your lineage can be provided by the Colonel Abram Pen Chapter by contacting Ann Robertson McConnell at [email protected].
