Voluntarily taking the place of his younger brothers that were drafted

From the American Revolution Pension Application of First Cousin Six Times Removed, Moses Moss (1758-1837).

Moses Moss was born into a large family in Virginia before the American Revolution. Moses Moss served in the Revolution and then, after the war, moved to Kentucky along with some of his other family members. In supporting testimony to his application from his younger brother William B. Moss, a clergyman:

And the aforesaid William B Moss upon oath before the said Court also states that he is seventy years old, and that he resided in Loudoun County Virginia during the Revolutionary War and though young at that time yet he was old enough to recollect distinctly many occurrences – and he well remembers that at the time the parents of Moses Moss, the above applicant was said by them to be 17 years old a permitted him (the Applicant) to go with Simon Cockrell who was his uncle to the South Western part of Virginia (Nolichucky) to live and where the said applicant remained several years – And upon his return home, Cockrell came with him and he at that time heard the said applicant and Cockrell both give accounts of the said applicant's having rendered services he believes exactly corresponding with the statement in the foregoing declaration and he knows also that Cockrell was a man of high reputation as well as a clergyman. He also states that he well recollects that said Moss having (after his return from Cockrell's) voluntarily taking the place of his younger brothers that were drafted – his marching with the militia to the neighborhood of York at the time of the siege – of hearing of his long sickness and that the father of said Moses made two trips after him – not having succeeded the first time in finding him and supposing him to be dead – he likewise recollects his extremely emaciated appearance when he did get home and thinks he heard the details of that service corresponding with his statement in the afore declaration

At seventeen, it would have been 1775 when Moses Moss was sent to live with his uncle on the frontier. He returned after four years.

Three striking things in this account. We know from the records and statistics just how prevalent and dangerous was disease in the Army with cumulative losses to disease greater than those in action. And yet we read relatively few accounts of those conditions. Which is why this bureaucratic form is unusual.

First item is the description of him after his illness.

He likewise recollects his extremely emaciated appearance when he did get home.

Almost breaks one's heart.

Second item is the burden of the war in physical and psychological terms on those not in the Army.

[He recollects] of hearing of his long sickness and that the father of said Moses made two trips after him – not having succeeded the first time in finding him and supposing him to be dead

Again the heartbreak. Walking a couple of hundred miles to a battlefield to try and discover your son only to leave thinking him dead. Then doing it all over again to find him at last.

Third item is the practice of older brothers serving second and third tours of duty to spare their younger brothers who were eligible for the draft from the horror and hardships of the eighteenth century battlefield.

Moss having (after his return from Cockrell's) voluntarily taking the place of his younger brothers that were drafted.

Incredible selflessness and duty.

Fourth item is the fact that while Moses Moss was far from home at Yorktown, other brothers and uncles of his were simultaneously at that siege. Given the chaos of war and primitive logistics, did they know? Was it one of them who alerted Moses's father that he was still alive?

Questions unlikely to be answered at this remove but cracking a small window into a different time.