Yet a boy when the Revolutionary war fighting turned to the Southern Theater, Absalom Hooper ran away from his widowed mother to enlist in the South Carolina Line. Although he enlisted for the duration of the war, young Hooper was captured by the British during the Siege of Charleston. Undaunted by his wounds, he escaped and fled to Georgia. There he joined a militia unit to fight for the remainder of the war. After peace was declared, he lived first in Georgia, then in upper South Carolina, and finally in Haywood (now Jackson) County, North Carolina.

In his later years, Hooper received a pension from the State of South Carolina. That state ceased its pension payments when Hooper became eligible for a federal government under the Act of 1832. His lack of complete written documentation of his enlistment and discharge forced Hooper to give prolonged testimony describing his enlistment, officers, and military actions.

After Absalom Hooper's death, it took eight long years for his wife Sarah to provide sufficient evidence to obtain a widow's pension. Her testimony - as well as affidavits by her neighbors, her brother-in-law, and her sons - reveals personal details about her marriage, residences, and family members. Annotations to the pension file identify locations, dates, and commanders of military engagements. The compiler explains the pertinent Acts of Congress for Revolutionary War pensioners. Footnotes include several biographies of individuals whose names appear in testimony.

Among some of the index entries are the following--

Military locations:

Augusta (GA), Bacon's Bridge (SC), Beaufort Island (SC), Big Briar Creek (GA), Bull's Plantation (SC), Charleston, Fort's Cornwallis, Grierson, and Tonyn, Freeman's Station, Little St. Mary's River (GA/FL), Long Swamp Creek of the Hightower River (GA), Savannah (GA), Stono (SC), Sullivan's Island (SC), Ninety Six (SC), Purrysburg (SC), Two Sisters Ferry, and Zubley's Ferry.

Geographical sites:

Broad River (GA), Broad River (NC/SC), East La Porte (NC), Green River (NC), Pigeon River (NC), Pendleton District (SC), Table Rock (SC), and Wilkes County (GA).

Officers:

General John Ashe, Lieutenant/Captain Jesse Baker, Sergeant John Bird, Col. Thomas Brown, Colonel Elijah Clark, Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Cornwallis, Comte d'Estaing, Captain Richard Dogged [Doggett], Captain Daniel Gunnal, Colonel William Henderson, General Robert Howe, General William Howe, Colonel William Henderson, General Benjamin Lincoln, General Augustine Prevost, and General Anthony Wayne.

Other personal names mentioned include

Absalom and Sarah Salers Hooper's twelve children, James and Jane (Gribble) Buchanan, Andrew D. Cathey, Nancy (Buchanan) Cowan, Johnathan and Martha (Hudson/Hutson) Coward, Churchwell Hooper, Clemmons Hooper, Joseph Keener, John McKey (Mackey, Macky), Mrs. Margaret Black Gribble Montieth, Daniel Philips, and Zebulon Baird Vance.