In 1838, Congress passed an act providing benefits to men who had served in the Continental Army during the Revolution. The following enlisted men, now in their 70s and 80s, listed duty at Yorktown in their applications:

Enoch Breeden

Edward Cason

Samuel Faulconer

Robert Layton

Alexander Moore

Ptolemy Powell

John Sorrell

Richard Steers

John Stewart

George Trible

Francis Turnley

Abraham Wilson

Source: Virginia County Records, edited by William Armstrong Crozier: Revolutionary Pensioners, pp. 525-534. (For officers' commissions, see pp. 522-524.) Virginiana Room, Central Rappahannock Regional Library. For more information on Spotsylvania soldiers, see also "Spotsylvania County Patriots: 1774-1786" by Robert K. Krick, J. Roger Mansfield and Merle C. Strickler, also in the Virginiana Room.

Next week: A new start for Fredericksburg: the 1780s

PAULA S. FELDER of Fredericksburg is a historian and author specializing in the area's 18th-century past. She will accept questions about the series or specific neighborhoods. Contact her by mail in care of Gwen Woolf, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401, or by e-mail to gwoolf@freelancestar.com. "Fredericksburg's Origins" also can be followed on The Free Lance-Star's Web site at fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/Projects/cityhistory/index_html.