Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Col. Isaac Shelby (1750-1826)

Born in Frederick County, Maryland, near Hagerstown, Isaac Shelby was the son of Evan Shelby and Letitia (Cox) Shelby. The family moved to western Virginia in 1772 and ran a trading post. He was a lieutenant in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774. The next year he surveyed land in Kentucky and settled there in 1776. During the American Revolutionary War, Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, appointed Shelby to secure provisions for the army on the frontier. He was elected to the Virginia legislature in 1780. He served as a lieutenant, captain, and colonel in the War and fought with distinction, particularly at the Battle of Kings Mountain.
Along with James Williams and Elijah Clarke, Col. Shelby led a force of Overmountain Men from Fort Watauga (near present-day Elizabethton, Tennessee) to victory at the Battle of Musgrove's Mill in South Carolina on August 19, 1780. By securing their defensive patriot position on the banks of the Enoree River, Shelby, Williams, and Clarke were able to defeat a much larger force consisting of two hundred British Loyalists and three hundred British provincial regulars.
On September 26, 1780, a greater number of the Overmountain Men again assembled at Fort Watauga and formed a militia under Col. John Sevier and Col. Shelby. These Patriot troops days later crossed the Appalachians at Roan Mountain and successfully engaged the Ferguson's Loyalists at Kings Mountain, a southern battle recognized as one of the turning points of the American Revolution. In an address before this October 1780 battle, Col. Shelby encouraged his men to fight in frontier fashion: "Let each one of you be his own officer, taking every care you can of yourselves, and availing yourselves of every advantage that chance may throw in your way. If in the woods, shelter yourselves and give them Indian play! Advance from tree to tree, pressing the enemy and killing and disabling all you can."
After the creation of the Southwest Territory and the State of Kentucky during the early 1790s, Isaac Shelby enjoyed an even more prominent Kentucky career. He was chosen governor in 1792 and again in 1812. Between his terms as state executive, he served as sheriff of Lincoln County, Kentucky, from 1796 to 1798. His last significant contribution to the region came in 1818 when he, Andrew Jackson, and others negotiated the "Jackson Purchase," which removed control of the western districts of Kentucky and Tennessee from the Chickasaw Indians. To honor this service, the Tennessee General Assembly named Shelby County (Memphis) for him. He died in Lincoln County, Kentucky, in 1826.

Gen. Thomas Sumter (1734-1832)

Thomas Sumter, American soldier and politician, was born August 14, 1734 in Hanover County, Virginia. He served in the Virginia militia during the French and Indian War and was present at Edward Braddock's defeat in 1755. Some time after 1762 he removed to South Carolina. Sumter is best known for his service during the Revolutionary War, but he saw little action until after the fall of Charleston in May 1780. In July 1780, he became a brigadier-general of state troops. During the remainder of the war he carried on a partisan campaign, and earned the sobriquet of the "Gamecock." He failed in an attack at Rocky Mount August 1, 1780 (which included the loss of Col. Andrew Neel), but on the 6th defeated 500 Loyalists and regulars at Hanging Rock, and on the 15th intercepted and defeated a convoy with stores between Charleston and Camden. His own regiment, however, was almost annihilated by Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton at Fishing Creek on the 18th. A new force was soon recruited, with which he defeated Maj. James Wemys at Fishdam on the night of November 8-9, and repulsed Tarleton's attack at Blackstock's on the 20th, where he was wounded. In January 1781, Congress formally thanked him for his services. He was a member of the state convention which ratified the Federal constitution for South Carolina in 1788 (though he opposed that instrument), of the national House of Representatives in 1780-93 and again in 1797-1801, and of the U.S. Senate from 1801-1810. At the time of his death at South Mount, South Carolina June 1, 1832, he was the last surviving general officer of the War of Independence.

(Source: NNDB, http://www.nndb.com/people/123/000052964/)

Rev. Doak's Sermon & Prayer

On 25 September 1780, the massive Sycamore Shoals muster was held on the Watauga River in eastern Tennessee. The purpose of the muster was to form an army to cross the mountains, join with Col. Charles McDowell's forces in the Carolinas, and defeat the Loyalist forces commanded by British Maj. Patrick Ferguson. On 26 September 1780, after selection of the soldiers (aka "The Overmountain Men"), a sermon and prayer were delivered by Rev. Samuel Doak, the local Presbyterian minister. (Rev. Doak was also the first president of Washington College near Greeneville, Tennessee.) Here are his words:

    "My countrymen, you are about to set out on an expedition which is full of hardships and dangers, but one in which the Almighty will attend you. The Mother Country has her hands upon you, these American Colonies, and takes that for which our fathers planted their homes in the wilderness–our liberty. Taxation without representation and the quartering of soldiers in the homes of our people without their consent are evidence that the Crown of England would take from its American Subjects the last vestige of Freedom. Your brethren across the mountains are crying like Macedonia unto your help. God forbid that you shall refuse to hear and answer their call–but the call of your brethren is not all. The enemy is marching hither to destroy your own homes.
    "Brave men, you are not unacquainted with battle. Your hands have already been taught to war and your fingers to fight. You have wrested these beautiful valleys of the Holston and Watauga from the savage hand. Will you tarry now until the other enemy carries fire and sword to your very doors? No, it shall not be. Go forth then in the strength of your manhood to the aid of your brethren, the defense of your liberty and the protection of your homes. And may the God of Justice be with you and give you victory.
    "Let us pray.
    "Almighty and gracious God! Thou hast been the refuge and strength of Thy people in all ages. In time of sorest need we have learned to come to Thee–our Rock and our Fortress. Thou knowest the dangers and snares that surround us on march and in battle. Thou knowest the dangers that constantly threaten the humble, but well beloved homes which Thy servants have left behind them.
    "O, in Thine infinite mercy, save us from the cruel hand of the savage, and of Tyrant. Save the unprotected homes while fathers and husbands and sons are far away fighting for freedom and helping the oppressed. Thou, who promised to protect the Sparrow in its flight, keep ceaseless watch, by day and by night, over our loved ones. The helpless woman and little children, we commit to Thy care. Thou wilt not leave them or forsake them in times of loneliness and anxiety and terror.
    "O, God of Battle, arise in Thy might. Avenge the slaughter of Thy people. Confound those who plot for our destruction. Crown this mighty effort with victory, and smite those who exalt themselves against liberty and justice and truth. Help us as good soldiers to wield the Sword of the Lord and Gideon. Amen."

Monday, October 29, 2007

A Homecoming of Sorts


American Revolution Flags Sell for $17.4M
By RICHARD PYLE
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 15, 2006; 10:01 AM
NEW YORK -- An anonymous bidder paid nearly $17.4 million Wednesday, Flag Day, for four rare flags from the American Revolution. The remarkably intact regimental standards captured by a British officer in 1779-80 were put up for auction by one of his direct descendants 225 years later.
"These are inspirational, an extraordinary window into the birth of our country," said David Redden, a vice chairman of Sotheby's, which conducted the sale.
Redden said that during wars of the 18th century, the primary targets in a battle were the opposing commanders and their units' flags, as trophies of victory.
"You can imagine the soldiers carrying them, who suffered grievous wounds and made sacrifices to defend what were sacred objects," he said. "You look at them, and you really get a sense of looking at something that has a great deal of spiritual significance."
The final sales price for the four flags was well over Sotheby's pre-sale estimate of $4 million to $10 million. The buyer, who bid by telephone, asked not to be identified, Sotheby's spokeswoman Lauren Gioia said.
Only about 30 Revolutionary War flags are known to exist, and all except the four sold at auction are in museums or other institutional collections, Sotheby's said. Most are in fragments, with only bits of historic information available about them.
The four flags, by contrast, are in good condition and their histories were well documented by Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, a firebrand British officer who captured them in battles nearly a year apart.
On July 2, 1779, the 24-year-old Tarleton led his cavalry unit, known as the Green Dragoons, in a surprise attack on the Continental Army's 2nd Light Dragoons, a Connecticut regiment also known as Sheldon's Dragoons, at Pound Ridge.
The redcoats routed the Americans, capturing supplies, weapons and the unit's battle flag–a banner with 13 red and white stripes and a field with a painted thundercloud.
Nine months later and almost 600 miles to the southwest, Tarleton did it again on May 29, 1780, capturing three flags belonging to a Virginia regiment led by Lt. Col. Abraham Buford, in a clash at Waxhaws, on the line between North and South Carolina.
In a postwar memoir, Tarleton said "upwards of 100 officers and men were killed and "three colours ... fell into the possession of the victors."
The three flags, Sotheby's said, are "the only intact set of American battle flags surviving" from the Revolutionary War.
The main flag is of gold silk, depicting a beaver gnawing on a palmetto tree, the state symbol of South Carolina. The others are gold and blue silk, bearing the word "Regiment."
Sotheby's identified the seller of the flag collection as Capt. Christopher Tarleton Fagan, a direct descendant of the officer whose forces captured them.
The Connecticut Dragoons flag, with an estimated presale value of $1.5 to $3.5 million, was sold for $12.36 million. The group of three Buford flags, known as the Waxhaws Colors, went for $5.056 million, after a presale estimate of $2.5 to $6.5 million.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Francis Marion (1732–1795)

Francis Marion was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Continental Army and, later, Brigadier General in the South Carolina Militia during the American Revolutionary War. He became known as the "Swamp Fox" for his ability to use decoys and ambushes to disrupt enemy communications, capture supplies, and free prisoners. His strategic use of guerrilla tactics helped set in motion the decline of open battles in the conflict. Before the Revolutionary War, he was a sailor.
Marion is considered one of the fathers of modern guerilla warfare, and is credited in the lineage of the U.S. Army Rangers.
When Charleston fell on 12 May 1780, Francis Marion escaped capture because he had broken an ankle in an accident and had left the city to recuperate. Following Gen. Isaac Huger's defeat at Moncks Corner and the Waxhaw Massacre of Col. Abraham Buford's men by British Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton and his Green Dragoons, Marion organized a small troop, at first consisting of between 20 and 70 men—the only force then opposing the British Army in the state. At this point, he was still nearly crippled from the slowly-healing ankle.
He joined General Horatio Gates just before the Battle of Camden, but Gates sent him to take command of the Williamsburg Militia in the Pee Dee area, asking him to undertake scouting missions and impede the expected flight of the British after the battle. Marion thus missed the battle, but was able to intercept and recapture 150 Maryland prisoners, plus about twenty of their guards, who had been en route from the battle to Charleston. The freed prisoners, thinking the war already lost, refused to join Marion and deserted.
However, with his militiamen, Marion showed himself to be a singularly able leader of irregulars. Unlike the Continental troops, Marion's Men, as they were known, served without pay, supplied their own horses, arms, and, often, their own food. All supplies that were not obtained locally were captured from the Loyalist forces.
Marion rarely committed his men to frontal warfare, but repeatedly surprised larger bodies of Loyalists or British regulars with quick surprise attacks and equally quick withdrawal from the field. After the surrender of Charleston, the British garrisoned South Carolina with help from local Tories, except for Williamsburg, which they were never able to hold. The British made one attempt to garrison Williamsburg at Willtown, but were driven out by Marion at the Battle of Mingo Creek.
The British despised Marion and repeatedly tried to neutralize his force, but Marion's intelligence-gathering was given advantage by overwhelming Patriot loyalty in the Williamsburg populace.
Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, sent to capture Marion, despaired of finding the "old swamp fox", who eluded him by travelling along swamp paths. Tarleton and Marion were sharply contrasted in the popular mind. Tarleton was hated because he burned and destroyed homes and supplies, whereas Marion's Men, when they requisitioned supplies, or destroyed them to keep them out of British hands, gave the owners receipts for them. After the war, most of the receipts were redeemed by the new state government.
Once Francis Marion had shown his ability at guerrilla warfare, making himself a serious nuisance to the British, Gov. John Rutledge (in exile in North Carolina) commissioned him a brigadier-general of the South Carolina state troops.
When Gen. Nathanael Greene took command in the south, Marion and Lieutenant Colonel Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee were ordered in January 1781 to attack Georgetown, but were unsuccessful. In April, however, they took Fort Watson and in May, Fort Motte, and succeeded in breaking communications between the British posts in the Carolinas. On August 31, Marion rescued a small American force trapped by Major C. Fraser with 500 British. For this, he received the thanks of the Continental Congress. Marion commanded the right wing under General Greene at the Battle of Eutaw Springs.
In 1782, during his absence as State Senator at Jacksonborough, his brigade grew disheartened and there was reportedly a conspiracy to turn him over to the British. But in June of that year, he put down a Loyalist uprising on the banks of the Pee Dee River. In August, Francis Marion left his brigade and returned to his plantation.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Counties of Virginia

  • 1634: Formed in 1634 as one of the eight original shires (counties) of the Virginia Colony, York County is one of the oldest counties in the U.S.
  • 1654: New Kent County was established in 1654 from York County.
  • 1691: King and Queen County was established in 1691 from New Kent County.
  • 1721: Spotsylvania County was established from Essex, King and Queen, and King William counties.
  • 1734: Orange County was established from Spotsylvania.
  • 1738: Formed from Orange County, Augusta County was created in 1738 by an Act of the General Assembly which provided that its territory should remain a part of Orange County until there were sufficient inhabitants to support a local government.
  • 1743: Frederick County was created from Orange County.
  • 1744: The Virginia General Assembly created Albemarle County by taking the northern portion of Goochland County.
  • 1746: Lunenburg County was established on May 1, 1746 from Brunswick County.
  • 1752: Halifax County was established in 1752 from Lunenburg County.
  • 1753: Bedford County was established on December 13, 1753 from parts of Lunenburg County.
  • 1761: Albemarle County was divided, forming Buckingham and Amherst counties, at which time the county seat was moved from the formerly-central Scottsville to a piece of newly-central land, christened Charlottesville.
  • 1767: Pittsylvania County was formed in 1767 from Halifax County.
  • 1770: Botetourt County was formed from Augusta County.
  • 1772: Fincastle County was created from Botetourt County, whose boundaries extended all the way to the Mississippi River. Fincastle County was abolished in 1776, and divided into three new counties - Montgomery County, Washington County, and Kentucky County (which later became the Commonwealth of Kentucky).
  • 1777: Montgomery County was established from Fincastle County. Henry County was established from Pittsylvania County.
  • 1778: Rockbridge County was formed in 1778 from Augusta and Botetourt Counties. (The settlement within the bounds of present day Rockbridge, however, began in 1737 in Borden's Grant. The area was then a part of Orange County, Virginia. Augusta County began keeping records in 1745, and covered what is now many states.) Rockingham County was established in 1778 from Augusta County.
  • 1785: Franklin County was formed in 1785 from parts of Bedford County and Henry County.
  • 1786: Russell County was formed from Washington County.
  • 1790: Wythe County was formed from Montgomery County.
  • 1793: Lee County was formed from Russell County.
  • 1799: Tazewell County was formed from parts of Wythe and Russell Counties.
  • 1815: Scott County was formed from parts of of Russell and Lee Counties.
  • 1855: Wise County was formed from parts of Lee, Scott, and Russell Counties.
  • 1858: Buchanan County was formed from parts of Russell and Tazewell Counties.
  • 1880: Dickenson County was formed from parts of Wise and Buchanan Counties.

  • Uncle Samuel McDowell

    Patrick Henry was one of the most influential (and radical) advocates of the American Revolution. He is perhaps best known for the speech he made in the Virginia House of Burgesses on 23 March 1775, urging the legislature to take military action against the encroaching British military force. The House was deeply divided, but was very much leaning toward not committing troops. As Henry stood in Saint John's Church in Richmond, he ended his speech with his most famous words: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" This speech is credited, by some, with single-handedly delivering the Virginia troops to the Revolutionary War.
    My 5x great-uncle Samuel McDowell (1735-1817) was one of two delegates from Rockbridge County to the Virginia Conventions of 1775, and was present that day in the House of Burgesses. His life remains a lesson in citizenship and patriotism. Samuel McDowell had been a captain in the French and Indian War, commissioned 16 August 1759. On 21 November 1759, he was installed as County Commissioner and Justice in Augusta County, Virginia. He was a captain of the Rangers Company at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. At the Battle of Point Pleasant, he served as aide-de-camp to Gen. Isaac Shelby, who later became the first governor of Kentucky. Samuel became a colonel in the Revolutionary War, serving in Gen. Nathanael Greene's campaign in North Carolina, and was with the army that drove Gen. Cornwallis to Wilmington. In 1775, in conjunction with his kinsman Thomas Lewis, son of Augusta County settler John Lewis and brother of Gen. Andrew Lewis, hero of Point Pleasant, Samuel was chosen to represent the freeholders of Augusta County in the convention which met at Richmond, Virginia. He was also a member of the second convention that met at Williamsburg in 1776. As an officer, Samuel McDowell distinguished himself in the Battle of Guilford Court House. In addition, he raised a battalion at his own expense to aid in repelling the invasion of Virginia by Benedict Arnold.
    In 1783, uncle Samuel McDowell moved his family to what became Fayette County, Kentucky (but was then still part of Virginia), where he was a surveyor. He was appointed to the first District Court ever held in Kentucky, 3 March 1783, and was President of the convention which was called to frame the constitution for the state of Kentucky on 19 April 1792.
    All this, and 13 children, too.

    (info: "Rockbridge County, Virginia Notebook", The News-Gazette, Lexington, Virginia)

    Harmony Hall, Elizabeth Neale & Gen. Cornwallis

    Harmony Hall, White Oak, North Carolina
    Around 1768, Col. James Richardson built Harmony Hall, his home, on a 12,000 acre tract on the Cape Fear River near the village of White Oak, North Carolina. A native of Stonington, Connecticut, who ran a West Indies shipping line, he had earlier been shipwrecked off Cape Hatteras and, while waiting for the arrival of one of his ships, had explored the area. He liked the Cape Fear River bottom lands so much that he decided to settle and make his home there. About the same time he met and married a young widow, Elizabeth Neale Purdie, whose parents came from Barbados. Together they moved into Harmony Hall.
    It was here, according to local legend, that the seeds of Gen. Cornwallis’ defeat at Yorktown were sown. As the story goes, late in the Revolution, Cornwallis made Harmony Hall his headquarters on his way to Wilmington. One evening, while ascending the stairs, Mrs. Richardson overheard the general and his aide planning their campaign against Gen. Nathanael Greene, whose army was in South Carolina. She wrote a note to her husband, then with Greene, outlining the British plans, and immediately dispatched it by the plantation overseer on horseback. With Mrs. Richardson’s information, the American forces were able to anticipate the British movements, thus hastening the British retreat across the Carolinas to their ultimate surrender at Yorktown.
    Whether this legend is true or not remains the subject of argument. Regardless, in Bladen County a historical marker exists for Harmony Hall which tells of Elizabeth's overhearing the plans of Gen. Cornwallis, quartered in her home, then dispatching the information to Greene's army in South Carolina--thus aiding in the defeat of the British and eventually the retreat of Cornwallis. Some believe the Cornwallis story came about because of Jane Meredith’s (c. 1970) novel Harmony Hall, but the story was widely circulated long before that. 

    (Source: Harmony Hall Plantation, Bladen County Historical Society)

    Col. Samuel Watson (1731-1810)

    From the "Nearby History" column of historian Louise Pettus in South Carolina's York Observer:

      "On the 6th of April 1765 [Samuel] Watson registered two plots of land totalling 760 acres , whereon Watson now liveth, in Mecklenburg on Rockey Allison's Creek . . ."
      At this time much of present-day York County was claimed by Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Watson's house, like his Pennsylvania home, was constructed of brick. The house was located about half way between the town of York and the Catawba River on Highway 49. Whatever the date of his arrival, the Allison Creek land grant places Watson in the heart of the Bethel congregation, which was located in the northeastern area of the part of York County west of the Catawba. The Bethel congregation covered 10 miles in every direction. As a Bethel elder, Watson became an influential member of the church as well as highly respected in the community.
      The Lyman Draper papers at the University of Wisconsin describe Watson as a man 5 ft, 5 in. in height, of compact build, and genial in disposition. However, like most Scotch-Irishmen of his time, he had no love for the English. When talk of rebellion became general, Watson quickly rose to the cause.
      Watson was elected to the South Carolina Provinicial Congress of 1775-1776, one of 46 delegates from the back country. In February of 1776 Watson participated in the framing of South Carolinas first written constitution. The British, naturally, saw this constitution as defiance of their sovereignty. Watson volunteered his services to the South Carolina Regulars. It was not long before the S. C. troops were made a part of the Continental Army of the newly-formed Continental Congress.
      By 1778 Watson was a lieut-colonel in Col. Thomas Neel's New Acquisition District Regiment of Horsemen, a part of Thomson's Regiment of Rangers. He went with Neel in what is called the Charleston Expedition in the summer of 1779. Neel was killed at Stono Ferry on June 20, 1779 and Watson took his place.
      In June 1780 nearby Hill's Ironworks were burned by the British. The terrified workers fled to Watson's plantation which quickly became a center of resistance. A commissary was set up there to issue supplies to any Whigs who would carry a musket against the British.
      At the Battle of Hanging Rock in lower Lancaster County, a musket ball hit Watson's sword, breaking his ribs and knocking him off his horse. The grandson wrote Draper that the family kept the prized sword with the ball half buried in its metal along with Watson's giant musket which kicked mightily.
      Watson was also at the skirmish at Williamson Plantation near Brattonsville. The encounter is also called the Battle of Hucks Defeat in some of the literature. Other battles in which Watson participated were Rocky Mount, Sumter's Defeat and Biggin Church....
      In his old age Samuel Watson was paralyzed. He died November 25, 1810 at the age of 79 and is buried in Bethel Cemetery in York County.

    Friday, October 26, 2007

    Col. Andrew Neel

    (Commemorative marker at the
    Rocky Mount, South Carolina battle site)
    Andrew Neel, son of Colonel Thomas Neel, rose to the rank of Colonel after his father fell at the Battle of Stono in June 1779. He was detached by General Thomas Sumter at Clems Branch, South Carolina to command the troops of York and Chester. He afterwards fell in the Battle of Rocky Mount, 1 August 1780.
    From History of South Carolina, by Yates Snowden, Henry Gardner Cutler; Lewis Publishing Company, 1920:
      “On the 1st of August, Sumter attempted to carry Rocky Mount in three assaults, without success. He then ordered Colonel [Andrew] Neel to storm a loop-holed fortified house in which the British were strongly posted. Neel was killed and the storming party repulsed.”

    Thursday, October 25, 2007

    The Carolina Backcountry

    From Historical Properties of York County, South Carolina, York County Historical Commission:

    "The Carolina back country was nearly devoid of European settlers prior to 1750, but by the time the American Revolution reached the area in 1780, the back country contained an estimated population of more than a quarter of a million. The largest proportion of these were Scots-Irish Presbyterians, although there were also numbers of English, Welsh, native Irish, native Scots, Swiss, French, and Germans."

    Cape Fear Plantations, c.1725-1760

    (click image to enlarge)
    (Source: North Carolina Office of Archives & History, in association with the University of North Carolina Press)

    "The New Rising"

    When Charleston fell to the British on 12 May 1780, the British took 5,683 Continental troops as captives. State government collapsed. Charleston was the capital of South Carolina and there was no organized resistance elsewhere in the state. In fact, most residents acquiesced and allowed Lord Cornwallis and his forces to occupy South Carolina at their leisure.
    York was the first, and for some weeks the only, district to refuse to accept allegiance to the British king. The "new rising," as the resistance movement in the New Acquisition (of which York was part) was called, was led by Colonels William "Billy" Hill, Samuel Watson, and Edward Lacey, along with Capt. Andrew Neel. Within the month, they agreed to gather their followers under the direction of Thomas Sumter, a Virginia-born resident of the High Hills of the Santee.
    A high percentage of the farmers of the New Acquisition were Scots-Irish Presbyterians with a long history of opposition to the English and their ecclesiastical oppression in "the old country." The British forces, quite aware of this long-standing hatred, singled out Presbyterian churches for burning, calling them "sedition shops," and also targeted the libraries of Presbyterian ministers.
    The first military unit to form with the goal to regain the state met in York District. William Hill and Andrew Neel were elected as leaders. They established a camp, raised the American flag, and sent word to other potential leaders of their action.
    In June and July of 1780 there was much military action in the area as Thomas Sumter rallied not only William Hill's forces but those of Edward Lacey and William Richardson Davie behind him.

    (Source: Gen. Thomas Sumter in York County, by Louise Pettus, 2005)

    Gen. Winn, regarding Rocky Mount:


    from General Richard Winn's Notes, 1780:

      "...March'd all night at day was ready for Action and Should have completely Surprised the place had it not have been for a Tory Colonel by the Name of Black with about 100 Tory Militia from Broad River to reinforce the Mount they getting to the place late encampt Out with intention of going on Early in the Morning these people we had no Knowledge until we were among them Winn being in the Advance gave them a fire & they Ran and left many of their Horses & Cloathing, this gave the alarm to the Mount, however in a few Minutes the place was attacked Colonels Winn & Niel [sic Andrew Neel], marched up in front of the Abbatis [sic, abatis] and Sustained a heavy fire for some time from the Block House which was returned, here Colo Niel [Neel] was Killed. Colo Winn being in a Clear Old field and finding his Men much Exposed Ordered a Retr[ea]t for a Small Distance...."

    South Carolina Districts & Counties, 1785

    (click image to enlarge)
    The 1785 act gave the Cheraws District the counties of Chesterfield, Marlboro, and Darlington; it divided Camden District into York, Chester, Fairfield, Lancaster, Richland, Claremont, and Clarendon counties. It gave Ninety-Six District the counties of Spartanburg, Union, Laurens, Newberry, Abbeville, and Edgefield. And it divided Orangeburg District into Orange, Lewisburg, Lexington, and Winton (an early version of Barnwell) counties.

    (Source: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, http://www.state.sc.us/scdah/guide/countymap2.htm)

    South Carolina Districts, 1769-1784

    (click image to enlarge)
    Georgetown District extended from the North Carolina line to the Santee River. Charleston District lay between the Santee and the Combahee Rivers. Beaufort District sat between the Combahee and the Savannah Rivers. Northwest of Georgetown was the Cheraws District, bounded on the west by Lynches River; west of the Cheraws was the large district of Camden, bounded on the west by the river system of the Santee, Congaree, and Broad; south and west of Camden, two more large districts extended to the Savannah River—Orangeburg District to the south, and Ninety-Six District to the north.
    (Source: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, http://www.state.sc.us/scdah/guide/countymap2.htm)

    South Carolina Proprietary Counties, 1682

    (click image to enlarge)
    In 1682, after the first hard years of settlement, the Proprietors ordered three counties laid out. Berkeley County, centering around Charleston, extended from the Stono River on the south to Seewee Creek (present-day Awendaw Creek) where it emptied into Bulls Bay on the north. Craven County lay north of Berkeley County, and below Berkeley, Colleton County extended to the Combahee River. Later, a fourth county, Granville, was laid out between the Combahee and the Savannah rivers.

    (Source: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, http://www.state.sc.us/scdah/guide/countymap2.htm )

    The Neel Double Headstone

    (click on image to enlarge)
    inscription reads:
    In Memory of Colo. Thomas Neel who departed this life June 20 1779 in the 40th year of his age.
    In Memory of John Neel who departed this life May 19 1778 in the 16th year of his age.

    The scepter'd prince the burthen'd slave
    The humble and the haughty die
    The poor the rich the base the brave
    The dust without distinction lie.

    (location: Bethel Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Clover, York County, South Carolina)

    York County, South Carolina 1820

    (click image to enlarge)

    York County Gets A Toehold

    The colony of South Carolina was founded in 1670, and was divided into three counties 12 years later. Craven County, which roughly encompassed the northern half of South Carolina, included the southern half of present-day York County, while the top portion of present-day York County was considered part of North Carolina.
    Before the boundary between the two Carolinas was fixed in 1772, the northern portion of York County was originally part of Bladen County, North Carolina. In 1750 it was included in the newly created Anson County, North Carolina; the first land grants and deeds for the region were issued in Anson County.
    In 1762 Mecklenburg County, North Carolina was formed from western Anson County, and included present-day northern York County. Five years later the area became part of Tryon County, which comprised all of North Carolina west of the Catawba River and south of Rowan County. The area would remain a part of Tryon County until 1772, when the boundary between North and South Carolina was finally established.
    After its transfer to South Carolina in 1772, much of the area was known as the New Acquisition. In 1785, York County was one of the original counties in the newly created South Carolina, and its boundaries remained unchanged until 1897, when a small portion of the northwestern corner was ceded to the newly-formed Cherokee County.

    (Source: Wikipedia)

    Col. Thomas Neel (1739-1779)

    Thomas Neel was the second of ten children. His father was originally from the Cape Fear coastal area of North Carolina, but had moved to Mecklenberg County as one of its earliest settlers. This family would come to sacrifice more than most for their countrymen and the Patriot cause. From Carolina historian Louise Pettus:

      In 1764 he [Thomas Neel] was one of a committee of four to select a site for Bethel Church and became one of its first elders. He was elected to the North Carolina General Assembly to represent Tryon County. In the Assembly he was active in rallying backcountry representatives to gather petitions for building roads and ferrys. He was appointed as a member of the board of trustees of Queen's College in Charlotte. He served as a justice of the peace and as a judge of Tryon County from 1769 to 1772.
      In 1772 Neel served on the Boundary Commission that drew the North Carolina-South Carolina boundary line west of the Catawba River. Meantime, he was acquiring land in South Carolina. As soon as the boundary was settled he applied for a South Carolina land grant for 779 acres that had originally been patented in North Carolina. This land was near the Catawba River south of present-day Highway 49 near Buster Boyd Bridge.
      Neel's first military experience was in North Carolina Governor Tryon's expedition against the regulators of Alamance County in 1771. Holding the rank of Captain, Neel commanded the Tryon County troops. By 1775 he was a Colonel in command of the militia of both the New Acquisition and Tryon County [therefore serving both North and South Carolina].
      When South Carolina declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776, Neel was elected to the First South Carolina Provincial Congress. He spent little time with the Provincial Congress. Instead, he led the militia in what is called either the Cherokee Campaign or the Snow Campaign. The Cherokee Indians were scalping white settlers who were settling on traditional Cherokee hunting grounds. One of those scalped was the wife of Thomas Neel, Jean Spratt. Jean Spratt Neel had long coal-black hair. It is believed that the Cherokees intended to claim her scalp as that of a Catawba Indian, their traditional enemy. Thomas Neel was already in the field at the time of his wife's scalping. Struggling through waist-deep snow, Neel and his men surprised the Cherokee and destroyed many of their towns and villages.
      In 1777 and 1778 Neel headed a regiment in the Florida and Georgia Campaigns that operated out of Phillip's Fort in Georgia. His last expedition was the defense of Charleston. Neel was shot through the head and killed in the battle of Stono.
      Thomas Neel and Jean Spratt had three sons and four daughters. Daughter Sarah married David Johnston, a Revolutionary soldier with Capt. Jacob Barnett's horse troop. And daughter Mary married Lt. Col. James Hawthorne. Hawthorne fought in several major battles and an unknown number of skirmishes, and was twice wounded during the Revolutionary War. He served under Col. Thomas Neel in the Snow Campaign in 1775, and was Lt. Col. to Col. Neel in that fateful battle at Stono.
    All three of Thomas and Jean's sons fought in the Revolution, and like their father, gave their lives for it. Son Andrew rose to the rank of Colonel and was detached by Sumter at Clems Branch as commander of the troops of York and Chester. He afterwards fell in the 1780 battle of Rocky Mount. Andrew's twin Lt. Col. Thomas Neel was killed in 1781. At age 16, youngest son Lt. John Neel was serving in Col. Joseph Hayes' Fifth Regiment when they fell victim to the (literal) butchery of Maj. William Cunningham's Loyalist militia in an ambush at Hayes' Station in 1778. He lies buried next to his father in Bethel Presbyterian Cemetery in York County, South Carolina.

    Thomas "Kanawah" Spratt (1731-1807)

    Thomas "Kanawah" Spratt was born in 1731 onboard ship while his parents and older sisters were crossing the Atlantic from Ireland. Thomas was his parents' only son, and lived to become a legendary figure in their region of the Carolina frontier. According to Carolina historian Louise Pettus:

      Some writers say that Thomas "Kanawah" Spratt was on his way to settle in either Abbeville [South Carolina] or Fairforest (near present-day Spartanburg) when the Catawba Indians persuaded him to settle among them. The nickname "Kanawah" was given to Spratt by the Catawbas. Spratt fought with the Indians on several occasions, and it is said that on an expedition in the area of present-day West Virginia, Spratt displayed such courage that the Indians named him for the nearby river. That's the same way the Catawba chief earned the name "New River."
      The Catawbas were greatly attached to Spratt. Evidence was given of that in a tale about Spratt participating in the signing of the famed Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence on May 20, 1775. Spratt was to be a signer but "instead of dipping into an ink well, he dipped into a gallon jug." Spratt was placed in the county jail, and when some Catawba Indian friends heard of it, they "got on their horses, rode up to the jail, ripped off two or three planks and took Kanawha out, put him on his horse, then they raced their steeds around and around the court house several times––yelling and whooping––after which the Catawbas and Kanawah headed their horses back down Nation Ford Road for their homes in what is now Fort Mill."

    Samuel Campbell Clegg (1740-1779)

    There's a great little book, Partisans & Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution, by Walter Edgar, © 2001. It focuses on the South Carolina campaign, which, much like Washington's January 1777 Battle of Princeton, was an ultimate tide-turner when things were going terribly wrong for the patriots. Most interesting (to me, at least) was how, between the covers of this book, the Neels, McDowells, and other ancestors of mine all came together in this relatively small area of the Carolina backcountry, the Waxhaws. Apart from the patriots, though, I have to remember my loyalist 6x great-grandfather Samuel Campbell Clegg.

      After the successful siege of Savannah by the British forces, a Colonel Boyd was dispatched to recruit a band of Loyalist militia in the back country of the Carolinas and to join the British forces in Augusta, Georgia. Colonel Andrew Pickens and his patriot forces planned to engage the Loyalists before they could cross the Savannah River. However, his scouts discovered the Loyalist band of about 600 men encamped on Kettle Creek, near present day Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia. On 14 February 1779 the Loyalists were surprised and defeated by the Whigs commanded by Colonels Andrew Pickens, John Dooly and Elijah Clarke. About 20 men were captured and 78 surrendered. All were marched to the stockade in Augusta, Georgia.
      South Carolina authorities proclaimed the men criminals under civil jurisdiction, rather than prisoners of war; and most of them were marched to the Ninety Six jail in South Carolina. "On March 8, the prisoners crossed the Savannah and were held one night at Mathis Pond near Edgefield. A second night they were crowded into an unsanitary, cramped bull pen on Williamson's [Col. Andrew Williamson] Whitehall Plantation. They arrived under guard at the Ninety Six jail on March 10." They were charged with sedition and treason, crimes punishable by hanging and forfeiture of all property. For various reasons, about half of the men were released and charges dropped. About 20 men were sentenced to death and scheduled to be executed on April 17. The men were transferred to Orangeburg for security reasons. All but five men were granted reprieves and those were marched back to Ninety Six where they were hanged at Star Fort in late April 1779. The five men were Samuel Clegg, James Lindley, John Anderson, Aquilla Hall, and Charles Draper. (Source: Wikipedia)
    Within Col. Elijah Clarke's command were my 5x great-grandfather William Lewis Queen, his brother (my uncle) Samuel Queen, and my 4x great-grandfather Joseph Wise. William Lewis Queen had been previously wounded and captured by the Tories, and imprisoned for about six weeks at Ninety Six. He probably had few regrets about what went down in 1779, but who knows. Seems the Southern campaign during the Revolution was essentially a civil war, loyalists vs partisan patriots, sometimes brother vs brother, with few Brits involved outside the officers. Very emotionally complex times.

    Martha McDowell, Colonel Buford, and the Butcher


    My cousin Martha McDowell, daughter of Col. Samuel McDowell and Mary McClung, was born 26 June 1766 in Rockbridge County, Virginia. I don't know much about Martha, except that she married Col. Abraham Buford, a military man caught in a terrible, terrible situation still argued about in history circles.
    Abraham Buford was a Continental Army officer during the Revolutionary War, most known as commanding officer during the "Waxhaw Massacre". Born in Culpeper County, Virginia, Buford quickly organized a company of minutemen upon the outbreak of war in 1775, eventually rising to the rank of colonel by May 1778. Assuming command of the 11th Virginia Regiment in September, he would be assigned to the 3rd Virginia Regiment in April 1780 and sent south to relieve the British siege of Charleston, South Carolina.
    Banastre Tarleton [pictured, portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds] was a British officer and politician. His reputation for ruthlessness earned him the nickname "Bloody Ban" and "Butcher" amongst American revolutionists. On May 29, 1780, Lt. Col. Tarleton, with a force of 150 mounted soldiers, overtook the detachment of 350 to 380 Virginia Continentals led by Col. Buford near Lancaster, South Carolina. Buford refused to surrender or even to stop his march. Only after sustaining heavy casualties did Buford order surrender. The battle has always been controversial, since after breaking Buford's line Tarleton's men slaughtered many of the Virginians who surrendered, hacking them down with their sabres. Some sources, such as Buford's Adjutant Henry Bowyer and Surgeon's Mate Robert Brownfield, claim that Buford belatedly raised a white flag but was ignored by Tarleton. In Tarleton's own account, he virtually admits the massacre, stating that his horse had been shot from under him during the initial charge and his men, thinking him dead, engaged in "a vindictive asperity not easily restrained." In the end, 113 Americans were killed and another 203 captured, 150 of whom were so badly wounded that they had to be left behind. Tarleton's casualties were 5 killed and 12 wounded. The British called the affair the Battle of Waxhaw Creek, while the Americans knew it as the Buford Massacre or the Waxhaw Massacre.
    Col. Buford escaped on horseback with his remaining men and would hold no further commands for the remainder of the war. He and Martha eventually settled in Scott County, Kentucky.

    (sources: Wikipedia - Waxhaw Massacre, Banastre Tarleton, Abraham Buford)

    The Tryon Resolves

    In Tryon County, North Carolina there were many loyal subjects of the king, but there was likewise a band of patriots who, as early as August, 1775, adopted and signed the following declaration:

      The unprecedented, barbarous and bloody actions committed by British troops on our American brethren near Boston, on 19th April and 20th of May last, together with the hostile operations and treacherous designs now carrying on, by the tools of ministerial vengeance, for the subjugation of all British America, suggest to us the painful necessity of having recourse to arms in defense of our National freedom and constitutional rights, against all invasions; and at the same time do solemnly engage to take up arms and risk our lives and our fortunes in maintaining the freedom of our country whenever the wisdom and counsel of the Continental Congress or our Provincial Convention shall declare it necessary; and this engagement we will continue in for the preservation of those rights and liberties which the principals of our Constitution and the laws of God, nature and nations have made it our duty to defend. We therefore, the subscribers, freeholders and inhabitants of Tryon County, do hereby faithfully unite ourselves under the most solemn ties of religion, honor and love to our county, firmly to resist force by force, and hold sacred till a reconciliation shall take place between Great Britain and America on Constitutional principals, which we most ardently desire, and do firmly agree to hold all such persons as inimical to the liberties of America who shall refuse to sign this association.

      [signed] John Walker, Charles McLean, Andrew Neel, Thomas Beatty, James Coburn, Frederick Hambright, Andrew Hampton, Benjamin Hardin, George Paris, William Graham, Robt. Alexander, David Jenkins, Thomas Espey, Perrygreen Mackness, James McAfee, William Thompson, Jacob Forney, Davis Whiteside, John Beeman, John Morris, Joseph Harden, John Robison, James McIntyre, Valentine Mauney, George Black, Jas. Logan, Jas. Baird, Christian Carpenter, Abel Beatty, Joab Turner, Jonathan Price, Jas. Miller, John Dellinger, Peter Sides, William Whiteside, Geo. Dellinger, Samuel Carpenter, Jacob Mauney, Jun., John Wells, Jacob Costner, Robert Hulclip, James Buchanan, Moses Moore, Joseph Kuykendall, Adam Simms, Richard Waffer, Samuel Smith, Joseph Neel, Samuel Loftin

    Wednesday, October 24, 2007

    Gen. Joseph Graham, re: Kings Mountain

    "Colonel Charles McDowell, of Burke county, on the approach of Ferguson with so large a force, had gone over the mountains to obtain assistance, and was in consultation with Colonel John Sevier and Colonel Isaac Shelby what plan should be pursued, when the two paroled men spoken of arrived and delivered their message from Colonel Ferguson. It was decided that each of them should use his best efforts to raise all the men that could be enlisted, and that this force, when collected, should meet on the Wataga, on the 25th of September. It was also agreed that Colonel Shelby should give intelligence of their movements to Colonel William Campbell, of the adjoining county of Washington, in Virginia, with the hope that he would raise what force he could and co-operate with them. They met on the Wataga the day appointed, and passed the mountains on the 30th of September, where they were joined by Colonel Benjamin Cleaveland, and Major Joseph Winston, from Wilks and Surry counties, North Carolina. On examining their force, it was found to number as follows, viz:

      "From Washington county, Virginia, under Col. Wm. Campbell 400
      "From Sullivan county, North Carolina, under Col. Isaac Shelby 240
      "From Washington county, North Carolina, under Col. John Sevier 240
      "From Burke and Rutherford counties, North Carolina, under Col. Charles McDowell 160
      "From Wilks and Surry counties, North Carolina, under Col. Cleaveland and Major James Winston 350
      Total 1390
    "Col. Ferguson having accurate intelligence of the force collecting against him, early on the 4th of October, ordered his men to march, and remained half an hour after they had started writing a despatch to Lord Cornwallis, no doubt informing him of his situation and soliciting aid. The letter was committed to the care of the noted Abraham Collins (him of counterfeit memory) and another person by the name of Quinn, with injunctions to deliver it as soon as possible. They set out and attempted to pass the direct road to Charlotte, but having to pass through some whig settlements, they were surprised and pursued, and being compelled to secrete themselves by day and travel by night, they did not reach Charlotte until the morning of the 7th of October, the day of the battle. Colonel Ferguson encamped the first night at the noted place called the Cowpens, about twenty miles from Gilbertstown. On the 5th of October he crossed the Broad River, at what is now called Dear's Ferry, sixteen miles. On the 6th, he marched up the Ridge Road, between the waters of King's and Buffalo creeks, until he came to the fork, turning to the right across King's Creek, and through a gap in the mountain towards Yorkville, about fourteen miles. There he encamped on the summit of that part of the mountain to the right of the road, where he remained till he was attacked on the 7th.
    "When the troops from the different counties met at the head of the Catawba river, the commanding officers met, and finding that they were all of equal grade, and no general officer to command, it was decided that Col. Charles McDowell should go to headquarters, supposed to be between Charlotte and Salisbury, to obtain Gen. Sumner or Gen. Davidson to take the command. In the meantime, it was agreed that Col. William Campbell, who had the largest regiment, should take the command until the arrival of a general officer, who was to act according to the advice of the colonels commanding, and that Major McDowell should take the command of the Burke and Rutherford regiment until the return of Col. McDowell."

    (Source: Sketches of North Carolina, Historical and Biographical, Illustrative of the Principles of a Portion of Her Early Settlers, by Rev. William Henry Foote, New York, Robert Carter, 58 Canal Street, 1846)

    The Sycamore Shoals Muster

    Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River was a favorite rendezvous point for early settlers of northeastern Tennessee. In summer of 1776, the site was made a defensive strong point by the construction of Fort Caswell, later called Fort Watauga.
    On 25 September 1780, a great muster of the militia was held, including forces from (present-day) Washington County, Tennessee, commanded by Col. John Sevier, and (present-day) Sullivan County, Tennessee, commanded by Col. Isaac Shelby. (These areas were then still a part North Carolina.) To this group was added several hundred militia from Washington County, Virginia, under the command of Col. William Campbell.
    The purpose of the muster was to form an army to cross the mountains, join with Col. Charles McDowell's forces, and defeat the Loyalist forces commanded by British Maj. Patrick Ferguson. The resulting engagement, and ultimate Patriot victory, would become known as the Battle of Kings Mountain, fought 7 October 1780.
    On 26 September 1780, after selection of the soldiers for the campaign, a sermon and prayer were given by the local Presbyterian minister, Rev. Samuel Doak.

    "The Mountain Men," per Teddy Roosevelt

    From The Winning of the West, Vol. 3, by Theodore Roosevelt, published 1900, G.P. Putnam's Sons:

    "Having reduced South Carolina to submission, the British commander [Ferguson] then threatened North Carolina; and Col. [Charles] McDowell, the commander of the whig militia in that district, sent across the mountains to the Holston men praying that they would come to his help. Though suffering continually from Indian ravages, and momentarily expecting a formidable inroad, they responded nobly to the call. Sevier remained to patrol the border and watch the Cherokees, while Isaac Shelby crossed the mountains with a couple of hundred mounted riflemen, early in July. The mountain men were joined by McDowell, with whom they found also a handful of Georgians and some South Carolinans; who when their States were subdued had fled northward, resolute to fight their oppressors to the last. The arrival of the mountain men put new life into the dispirited whigs."

    Patrick Ferguson (1744–1780)

    In 1780, the British Army sent General Lord Cornwallis to invade North and South Carolina. His mission was to defeat all American forces in the Carolinas and keep the two colonies within the British Empire. A key part of Cornwallis' plan was to recruit soldiers from local Loyalists. Towards this goal, General Clinton appointed Maj. Patrick Ferguson as Inspector of Militia in South Carolina. Ferguson's directive was to recruit Loyalist militia in the Carolinas and Georgia, and to intimidate any colonists who favored American independence.
    After winning several victories over American forces, Cornwallis occupied Charlotte, North Carolina in the summer of 1780. He subsequently divided his army and gave command of one section to Ferguson. Ferguson's wing of Cornwallis's army consisted of Loyalists he had recruited. When Ferguson publicly threatened to invade the mountains beyond the legal limit on westward settlement unless the colonists there abandoned the cause of American independence, the mountaineers organised an army to fight Ferguson at Kings Mountain, an isolated ridge on the North/South Carolina border. On 7 October 1780, the two armies met in the Battle of Kings Mountain. The battle resulted a pivotal victory for the Patriots.
    During the fighting, Patrick Ferguson was shot from his horse and killed. He was buried near the site of his fall. A lifelong bachelor, he was buried with one of his mistresses, "Virginia Sal", who was also killed in the battle. In the 1920s the U.S. government erected a marker at his gravesite, which today is a part of the Kings Mountain National Military Park, a unit of the National Park Service.
    (source: Wikipedia)

    "The Battle Ground of Kings Mountain"

      THE BATTLE GROUND OF KINGS MOUNTAIN IN SOUTH CAROLINA
      There never has been any uncertainty as to the actual location of the ground on which the Battle of Kings Mountain was fought, but due to the defects and limitations in early maps, the battle has frequently been described as occurring in North Carolina. Many of the early maps show "King Mountain" north of the boundary line, with none of the mountain symbols extending into South Carolina. As a result the battle was accredited to North Carolina.
      In 1772 a portion of the boundary between the two Carolinas was surveyed from the Catawba River westwardly. The origin of this portion of the boundary was the center of the junction of the Catawba and the South Fork of the Catawba. From this junction the line was to run due west to the mountains and there connect with the boundary of the Cherokee Nation.
      The Price and Strother map, engraved in 1808, which purports to be "The First Actual Survey of the State of North Carolina," shows the 1772 line crossing the Broad River 1¼ miles south of the east and west line through the junction of the Broad and the First Broad. This corresponds with the distance on the Gaffney quadrangle of the United States Geological Survey. By other checks of the 1772 line where it crosses streams, with the United States Geological Survey of the line, it is evident that both lines are one and the same.
      On the Price and Strother map, and on all other maps subsequent to 1772 for many years, the boundary line from the junction of the branches of the Catawba is shown as running due west. It was later discovered that due to magnetic errors the line was run north of west. The United States Geological Survey maps show that this deviation is about 2½Âº. The 1772 line has been resurveyed and confirmed, but never has it been changed between the Catawba and the mountains, 68 miles west. The latitude of the 1772 line near its initial point is 35º 09' 01.5". An inspection of the Kings Mountain quadrangle will show that the battle ground is much farther south, hence had the line been run due west, as was intended, the battle ground would nevertheless be within the borders of South Carolina.
    Source: publication of the Historical Section of the Army War College, 1928, excerpt, as requested...
    "70th Congress, 1st Session, House Resolution No. 230, presented by Mr. [William] Stevenson:
    Resolved, That the historical statements concerning the Battle of the Cowpens, South Carolina, of January 17, 1781, and the Battle of Kings Mountain, South Carolina, October 7, 1780, both prepared by the Historical Section of the Army War College, be printed, with illustrations, as a document.
    William Tyler Page, Clerk"

    Kings Mountain Regimental Positions

    Initial patriot militia positions at the base of Kings Mountain, 7 October 1780, according to regimental commanding officers:


    (click image to enlarge)

    Carolina Counties

  • 1712: Archdale Precinct (created 1709) of Bath County was renamed Craven Precinct.
  • 1729: New Hanover Precinct of Bath County was formed from Craven Precinct. (It was named for the House of Hanover, which was then ruling Great Britain.)
  • 1734: Bladen and Onslow Precincts were formed from New Hanover.
  • 1739: With the abolition of Bath County in 1739, all of its constituent precincts became "Counties".
  • 1750: Anson County, NC was formed from Bladen County.
  • 1753: Rowan County, NC was formed from the northern part of Anson County.
  • 1762: Mecklenburg County, NC was formed from the western part of Anson County.
  • 1764: Brunswick County was created from New Hanover and Bladen Counties. Brunswick later gave up some of its lands for Columbus County in 1808.
  • 1768-1779: Tryon County, NC existed for only 11 years (1768-1779). The area it covered was one of the first inland population centers in America, located west of the Catawba River and covering parts of present day North and South Carolina. Tryon County had been formed from Mecklenburg County in 1768, and abolished* in 1779 to form Rutherford and Lincoln counties. From its formation until the Carolina border survey of 1772, Tryon County included all or portions of the South Carolina counties of York, Chester, Union, Spartanburg, and Cherokee counties. This is why Mecklenburg County, NC records contain land grants that are physically in South Carolina.
  • 1777: Burke County, NC was formed from Rowan County.
  • 1779: Rutherford County, NC came into existence in 14 April 1779 during the American Revolution. Prior to 1779, Rutherford County was part of Tryon County.
  • 1788: Iredell County was incorporated when it was formed from adjacent Rowan County.
  • 1792: Cabarrus County was formed from Mecklenburg County.
  • 1842: McDowell County, NC was formed from parts of Burke and Rutherford Counties.

    *Tryon County had been named for North Carolina's British governor William Tryon.

  • Anson County, Large to Small

    Anson County, North Carolina was formed in 1750 from Bladen County. It was named for the British Baron, George Anson, who circumnavigated the globe from 1740 to 1744 and later became First Lord of the Admiralty.
    Like Bladen, its parent county, Anson County was originally a vast territory with indefinite northern and western boundaries. Division began in 1753, when its northern part became Rowan County. In 1762, Mecklenburg County was created from the western part of Anson County. In 1779, the northern part of what remained of Anson became Montgomery County, and the segment east of the Pee Dee River became Richmond County. Finally, in 1842, the western part of Anson County was combined with the southeastern part of Mecklenburg County to create Union County.

    Kings Mountain manuscripts, pre-Draper

    From Western North Carolina: A History (1730-1913), by John Preston Arthur, published 1914, Edwards & Broughton, North Carolina, page 98:

      "The white occupation of North Carolina had extended only to the Blue Ridge when the Revolution began;" but at its close General Charles McDowell, Col. David Vance and Private Robert Henry were among the first to cross the Blue Ridge and settle in the new county of Buncombe. As a reward for their services, no doubt, they were appointed to run and mark the line between North Carolina and Tennessee in 1799, McDowell and Vance as commissioners and Henry as surveyor. While on this work they wrote and left in the care of Robert Henry their narratives of the battle of Kings Mountain and the fight at Cowan's ford. After his death Robert Henry's son, William L. Henry, furnished the manuscript to the late Dr. J. F. E. Hardy, and he sent it to Dr. Lyman C. Draper, of Wisconsin. On it is largely based his 'King's Mountain and its Heroes' (1880)." 

    Rabun County's Native History

    As early as 1760, explorers came to the area of Georgia now known as Rabun County. In the 1700s, the Cherokee population in the area was so heavy that this portion of the Appalachian Mountains were sometimes called the "Cherokee Mountains." Early explorers and settlers divided the Cherokee people into three divisions depending on location and dialect: Lower, Middle, and Over-the-Hill.
    There were at least four Cherokee settlements in what would become Rabun County: a Middle settlement called Stikayi (Sticoa, Stekoa) was located on Stekoa Creek, probably southeast of the present-day Clayton. An Over-the-Hill settlement called Tallulah was located on the upper portion of the Tallulah River. There were also two Cherokee settlements of unknown division: Chicherohe (Chechero), which was destroyed during the Revolutionary War, located along Warwoman Creek, east of Clayton, and Eastertoy (Eastatowth, Estatowee) which was located near the present-day Dillard.
    Despite the prominence of Cherokee, there is evidence of other Native Americans in the region before them. A mound similar to others across North Georgia (e.g., the Etowah mounds) is located about one mile east of Dillard, Georgia, and is likely a remnant of an earlier mound-building culture known as the Mississippian culture.

    (source: Wikipedia)

    Counties of Georgia


  • May 20, 1733: The original Creek land cession to Georgia founder James Edward Oglethorpe formally recognized English colonial proprietorship of lands extending up the west side of the Savannah River (the border of South Carolina) to the Fall Line region and into the Piedmont.
  • 1758: Original Georgia lands were reorganized to form a series of parishes, including St Paul Parish in the lower Piedmont region west of the Savannah River around present-day Augusta.
  • 1777: Richmond County created from the old St. Paul Parish; Wilkes County also created just to the north along the Savannah River from Cherokee/Creek land cession of 1 June 1773.
  • 1784: Franklin and Washington Counties created on Georgia's northern and western frontier from Cherokee land cession of 31 May 1783 and Creek land cession of 1 November 1783; Georgia then extended from the Savannah River on the east to the Oconee River on the west.
  • 1786: Greene County created from the northern Piedmont portion of Washington County.
  • 1790: Columbia County created from part of Richmond County; Elbert County created from part of Wilkes County.
  • 1793: Hancock County created from portions of Greene and Washington Counties; Warren County created from portions of Columbia, Hancock, Richmond, and Wilkes Counties; Oglethorpe County created from part of Wilkes County.
  • 1796: Jackson County created from part of Franklin County; Lincoln County created from part of Wilkes County.
  • 1801: Clarke County created from part of Jackson County.
  • 11 May 1803-26 June 1806: Baldwin and Wilkinson Counties created from Creek land cessions of 16 June 1802 and 14 November 1805; with the distribution of this land in the 1807 Land Lottery, Georgia now extends west to the Ocmulgee River.
  • 1807: Jones, Morgan, Putnam, and original Randolph (later Jasper) Counties created from portions of original Baldwin County.
  • 1811: Madison County created from portions of Clarke, Elbert, Franklin, Jackson, and Oglethorpe Counties.
  • 1812: Jasper County created from old Randolph County (renamed).
  • 1818: Gwinnett and Walton Counties created from Cherokee land cession of 8 July 1817 and Creek cession of 22 January 1818.
  • 15 May 1821: Fayette, Henry, Houston, and Monroe Counties created from Creek land cession of 8 January 1821; with the distribution of this land in the 1821 Land Lottery, Georgia then extended west to the Flint River.
  • 24 December 1821: Newton County created from portions of Henry, Jasper, and Walton Counties.
  • 1822: Bibb County created from portions of Houston, Jones, Monroe, and Twiggs Counties; Crawford County created from part of Houston County; DEKALB County created from portions of Fayette, Gwinnett, and Henry Counties; Pike County created from part of Monroe County.
  • 1824: Upson County created from portions of Crawford and Pike Counties.
  • 1825: Butts County created from portions of Henry and Monroe Counties; Taliaferro County created from portions of Greene, Hancock, Oglethorpe, Warren, and Wilkes Counties.
  • 1826-1827: Carroll, Coweta, Muscogee, and Troup Counties were created from Creek land cessions of 24 January 1826, 31 March 1826, and 15 November 1827; with the distribution of this land in the 1827 Land Lottery, Georgia then extended west to its present Piedmont boundary at the Chattahoochee River and beyond.
  • 14 December 1827: Harris County created from portions of Muscogee and Troup Counties; Marion County created from portions of Lee and Muscogee Counties; Meriwether and Talbot Counties created from part of Troup County.
  • 1828: Campbell County created from portions of Coweta, Carroll, DeKalb, and Fayette Counties.
  • 1830: Heard County created from portions of Carroll, Coweta, and Troup Counties.
  • 1832: Lumpkin County was created on December 3, 1832. The county was named for former governor of Georgia Wilson Lumpkin. Lumpkin's daughter, Martha Atalanta Lumpkin Compton, was the source for the city name of Marthasville (which was the previous name for Atlanta).
  • 1837: Macon County created from portions of Houston and Marion Counties; White County was formed from Habersham and Hall.
  • 1851: Spalding County created from portions of Fayette, Henry, and Pike Counties.
  • 1852: Taylor County created from portions of Macon, Marion, and Talbot Counties.
  • 1853: Fulton County created from part of DeKalb County.
  • 1854: Chattahoochee County created from portions of Marion and Muscogee Counties.
  • 1856: Haralson County created from portions of Carroll and Polk Counties.
  • 1857: Glascock County created from part of Warren County.
  • 1858: Clayton County created from portions of Fayette and Henry Counties; Banks County created from portions of Franklin and Habersham Counties.
  • 1870: Douglas County created from portions of Campbell and Carroll Counties; McDuffie County created from portions of Columbia and Warren Counties; Rockdale County created from portions of Henry and Newton Counties.
  • 1875: OconeeCounty created from part of Clarke County.
  • 1905: Stephens County created from portions of Franklin and Habersham Counties.
  • 1914: Barrow County created from portions of Gwinnett, Jackson, and Walton Counties.
  • 1920: Lamar County created from portions of Monroe and Pike Counties.
  • 1924: Peach County created from portions of Houston and Macon Counties.
  • 1932: Fulton County absorbed old Campbell and Milton Counties.
  • Elijah Clarke (1742-1799)

    Among the few heroes of the Revolutionary War from Georgia, Elijah Clarke was born in 1742, the son of John Clarke of Anson County, North Carolina. As an impoverished, illiterate frontiersman, he appeared in the ceded lands, on what was then the northwestern frontier of Georgia, in 1773.
    Elijah Clarke's name appears on a petition in support of the King's government in 1774. However, he subsequently joined the rebels and, as a militia captain, received a wound fighting the Cherokees in 1776. The following year, he commanded militia against Creek raiders. As a Lieutenant Colonel in the state minutemen, Clarke received another wound at the Battle of Alligator Bridge, Florida. Then on February 14, 1779, as a lieutenant colonel of militia, Clarke led a charge in the rebel victory at Kettle Creek, Georgia.
    All of Georgia and most of South Carolina fell to the British in 1780. Elijah Clarke and thirty men passed through the Native American lands to continue the fight in the Carolinas. As a partisan, Clarke led frontier guerrillas in inflicting a heavy toll against the British and American Loyalists at Musgrove's Mill, Cedar Springs, Wofford's Iron Works, Augusta, Fishdam Ford, Long Cane, and Blackstock's. Although he was not present at the battles at King's Mountain and Cowpens, his campaigns were partially responsible for both of those major patriot victories. Besides receiving several battle wounds, Clarke also survived smallpox and the mumps during the Revolution. The state of Georgia rewarded his services with a plantation. He also obtained thousands of acres of land grants, some by questionable methods, and participated in the notorious Yazoo land fraud of the 1790s.

    (Source: The New Georgia Encyclopedia, http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org)