I have seen many references that pointed to Michael fighting in the war. After not finding any official records through my usual channels, I finally decided to sign up for Fold3, a website with historical military records. These records provided many of the specifics mentioned above as well as many of the locations he traveled to and camped at during his service. All of the references I had seen previously matched up with the copies of the records but there were two pieces of information that really stood out. 1) Michael was at the Valley Forge encampment in the late winter and early spring of 1778. We know that he joined the army in July of 1777 so it was likely he was encamped there for the entire winter, but there are few records stating his whereabouts in 1777. 2) Due to exposure (winter of 78/79) he lost both of his feet. From the records, it is clear that he was "Sick (at) Lancaster" for nearly the entire year of 1779.
The map below shows his journey during the war. For more details see the PA to CA to IA page.
View DAC - Discovery Tour in a larger map
