I believe the answer to the question is that there were TWO Joseph Hales living at the same time. One was from Pennsylvania and one was from Virginia.
I have read through over 200 Rev War documents out of 450 that include the name "HALE," and similar spellings. Just today I found a pay roll for the 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment for one Joseph Hale, sergeant, dated January 1, 1781, for service in 1780.
According to the DAR files for the Joseph Hale of this profile, this Joseph served under Capt. Sevier in the Virginia Militia. Capt. Sevier was killed at the Battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina in 1780. There are many, many sites that discuss Capt. Sevier and his heroism. There is no reason to doubt what is on file with the DAR. There are no "red flags" on the listing.
The PA 3rd Regiment became the PA 4th Regiment, and saw action primarily in PA and NJ. The same Joseph Hale could not have been in both units at the same time.For the PA 3rd/4th Regiment, I Googled it and found some Wikipedia articles, one of which states the unit was furloughed in New Jersey in January 1781 (not long after the date of the pay roll found). I also found this - https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/3rd_Pennsylvania_Regiment_(R.... Unfortunately there is no list of enlisted men for the Regiment.
I am confident that there were two soldiers in the Revolutionary War with the same name. I recommend creating a separate new profile for Joseph Hale of Pennsylvania, to which I will add the Rev War pay document I have found. I would heartily recommend using a descriptive display name such as Sgt. Joseph Hale of Pennsylvania on his profile. We should consider inserting "of Virginia" into the display name for this Joseph Hale.
What do you all think?
