Our Ancestors' Stories

William was born in Sunderland, Massachusetts and moved to Vermont at the outbreak of the war.  He enlisted in Captain Parmela Allen's Company of Major Ebenezer Allen's detachment, Vermont Militia on February 20, 1780 and was discharged on December 1, 1780.  He enlisted a again in Captain James Blakslee's Company of Lt. Col Samuel Fletcher's Regiment, Vermont Militia on July 1, 1781 and was discharged on November 25, 1781.  During this time Fletcher's Regiment was stationed at Mount Independence, Vermont to prevent the British garrison at Fort Ticonderoga, New York from advancing into Vermont.  

In March 1777, Jonathan Lawrence joined Colonel Malcom’s New York regiment as a Second Lieutenant. He spent two months at Valley Forge with the Continental Army and fought in the Battle of Monmouth on his way north. During the summer of 1778, he was promoted to First Lieutenant acted as Assistant Adjutant General to the regiment at Fort Clinton, overlooking the Hudson at Bear Mountain.  In the spring of 1779 Malcom’s regiment was merged with another and Jonathan Lawrence lost his army position. But was soon appointed a captain in the NY militia, troops made up of local men who signed on for six months at a time.  One of Jonathan's duties was to gather information about enemy troops, which was then passed on to General Washington. Washington mentioned Jonathan several times in dispatches, calling him sensible and discreet. On July 21, 1780, Captain Lawrence captured the famous British spy James Moody, near Englewood, NJ.  On June 19, 1781, Washington issued an order appointing Jonathan to the rank of Captain in the Corps of Sappers and Miners.  Jonathan was later a founding member of the Society of the Cincinnati.  

Philip Stowits served under Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer in the militia of Tryon Cunty, NY fighting against British Regulars and Loyalist forces in the Mohawk River Valley during the Saratoga Campaign. While marching to relieve the besieged Ft. Stanwix in August of 1777, they were ambushed in what is now known as the Battle of Oriksany. Philip Stowits, along with half of the Tryon County Militia, lost his life during what is considered the bloodiest battle of the war. 

Raleigh Cater was born in Lancaster County, Virginia. During the Revolution he furnished supplies to the Continental Army from Plentiful Level Plantation in what is now Nottoway County, Virginia which he owned. He was married two times, first in Lancaster to Sarah Sharpe and next to Lucy Anne Crenshaw, daughter of William Crenshaw of Nottoway County. In 1772, between the date of his first and second marriages, Raleigh moved from Lancaster to what was then Amelia County. In 1782, Raleigh Carter was a justice of the Amelia County Court, and doubtless continued as such until Nottoway County was formed. In 1792 he was high sheriff of Nottoway. Raleigh died in Nottoway County prior to 1820.    

Samuel was born in Joppa, Maryland as the youngest son of Richard Caswell, Sr. and his wife Christian Dallam. The family moved to near present-day Kinston, North Carolina following the older son, future NC Governor Richard Caswell. Samuel was a lieutenant in the Dobbs County, NC militia. He served in the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge, and subsequently in the North Carolina State Troops as commissary officer of the powder magazine at Kin(g)ston with the rank of Captain.     

Burwell Davis was born Aug. 14, 1756 in what was then known as Granville County, NC (now Warren County). At the age of 22, he was called to serve in the North Carolina militia under the command of Captain Barton Harris, and was assigned to a regiment of the militia commanded by Colonel Thomas Eaton and General John Ashe. Davis participated in the Battle of Briar Creek before being discharged, but was again called to serve in March 1781 before the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. There he was under the command of Colonel Thomas Alston, the Marquis Francis de Malmedy and Colonel Charles Eaton. Davis marched to the area of Guilford Courthouse, but did not participate in battle. After marching to Ramsey's Mill and South Carolina, he was discharged again. Davis married Martha "Patsy" Hawkins in Warren County about 1783. They had seven children. He died on Aug. 11, 1846, four days short of his 90th birthday. A marker celebrating his life was erected in the church cemetery at Shady Grove.   

John was born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. He was among a group of men from Nash County, likely militia, recorded as being present at Kinston on March 26, 1780 under Lieutenant William Merritt. He also served North Carolina's Revolutionary government from 1778 until 1782 as a court appointed road overseer, land evaluator, and juror.    

Major William Edmondson, was 2nd in command of the Virginia troops at the Battle of King’s Mountain. Two of his brothers were killed, one brother-in-law killed, and one cousin wounded in the battle. They are listed on the monument located on the King’s Mountain Battlefield.    

James served as a matross (soldier of artillery) in Capt. William Pierce’s 1st Artillery, Continental Troops, commanded by Col. Charles Harrison. James enlisted in 1777 and was discharged in 1786. He also furnished supplies to the Continental Army, served as a magistrate in Albemarle County, Virginia, and was a subscriber toward postal carriage for prompt delivery during the Revolution.   

John McCoy served as a private with NC 1st Regiment when it was reconstituted in 1781.  While serving in an advance party at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, South Carolina John was shot and killed by British regulars.  A fellow solider described in written testimony how John McCoy was killed in action. “Just before the commencement Captain Raiford and twenty four men, of whom this applicant was one, were ordered by Col. Armstrong to advance ahead with two field pieces and the officers belonging to the artillery, and when we had advanced some distance in a run we discovered an advanced party of the British foot on our left in ambush just ready to fire and at that moment Capt. Raiford, commanded us to squat, and as we were in the in the act of doing so, the British fired and killed John McCoy and John Russel, two of my mess-mates.”  

Samuel Meredith was born in Hanover County, Virginia and was a captain in Colonel William Byrd's regiment in 1768. For his services he was granted 2,000 acres land in what is now Kentucky on July 11, 1774. Governor Patrick Henry granted Samuel additional lands in Kentucky for services in the French and Indian War. In 1775, he was captain of an independent company from Hanover County, which he resigned on May 2 in favor of his brother-in-law, Patrick Henry, accepting instead a lieutenancy in the company. Samuel was a member of the convention of May 1776. In 1778 he subscribed 500 pounds to old Washington Henry College in Hanover and for several years was president of the Board of Trustees. In 1779 Governor Thomas Jefferson confirmed to Samuel the Kentucky lands granted in 1774, and that same year Samuel purchased the home of Joseph Cabell called "Winton" near New Glasgow in Amherst County and moved there. Colonel Meredith was then in service with the Amherst militia. In 1785-1786, Samuel was also one of the trustees of Warminster Academy from 1791, and was long a justice of the peace, when the justices sat on the county bench, and for some years before his death was the presiding justice, and was also high sheriff in 1807. He was buried at "Winton” beside his wife. The old Cabell building still stands, and the old family burying ground is on the property.  

Francis Miller was born at sea on a voyage from Philadelphia to Charleston, SC.  Francis entered the Revolutionary War in 1775 and fought at the battle of Cross Creek, North Carolina to subdue Scotch Tories. By the Spring of 1776, Francis had been promoted to Captain of the Riflemen Rangers, with 100 men under his command. The Rifleman Rangers fought the Cherokee Indians.  In the Fall of 1780 Captain Miller and his Riflemen marched from Mecklenburg, NC to Rugley's Mill in South Carolina where, at the request of Colonel William Washington, he helped to make a wooden cannon about the size of a six-pounder.  The Loyalists were strongly posted in the log barn, in front of which was ditch and abatis. Having no artillery, Washington could make but little impression upon the garrison, so he resorted to a stratagem. Fashioning a pine log to resemble a cannon, he placed it in such a position near the ridge as apparently, to command both the house and barn of Colonel Rugley. He then made a formal demand for surrender, menacing the garrison with the instant demolition of their fortress. Alarmed at the apparition of a cannon, Rugley sent out a flag and with his whole force of one hundred and twelve men, immediately surrendered. Poor Rugley never appeared in arms afterward. Cornwallis, in a letter to Tarleton, said "Rugley will not be made a brigadier."  Captain Miller fought in two other important battles in the Southern Campaign: The Battle of Hanging Rock, fought in SC on August 6, 1780, and The Battle of Guilford Court House, in Guilford County, NC on March 15, 1781.  He died on February 19, 1843 in Greenfield, Illinois. Source: Miller, NJ. CPT Francis Miller. CPT Francis Miller (1753-1843) - Find a Grave Memorial. 

Neill, son of James Morrison, was born in Philadelphia and married Annabelle Johnston of New Castle, Delaware. Neill, Annabelle and James moved to the Four-Mile Creek area of Mecklenburg County in Providence township. Neill served as magistrate for Mecklenburg County and was a Captain in General Rutherford’s 1776 Cherokee Campaign. Neill was also one of the original signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. His son, William, fought the British at Sullivan’s Island and Camden, South Carolina, and was wounded but recovered. He became a doctor and served as a representative to the North Carolina Legislature in 1796. Neill’s daughter, Jane, signed a resolution like other women in Charlotte that they would not speak to young men in town who did not volunteer for the military. Jane married Major Thomas Alexander, one of the last Revolutionary War veterans to attend a Mecklenburg Declaration celebration. Tradition has it that Neill Morrison was friends with John Flennikin and that they served in the militia company with James Jack. Captain Jack delivered the copy of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence to the North Carolina representatives at the Continental Congress.

John North was born in North Carolina. From 1773 to 1775, he volunteered as a Ranger on the frontier of South Carolina, under Capt. Richard Pollard. He served for about a month on the waters of Flint River, after which he was discharged. He later moved into Georgia, and at Louisville from 1775 to 1777 he again volunteered as a Ranger serving under Capt. Alexander Irwin in the militia under the command of General John Twiggs. John served for two years protecting the frontier in Georgia in what was then called the Rocky Comfort and Ogeechee River countries. He was discharged at Rocky Comfort. In 1785, John was given a land grant of 287.5 acres in Washington County, Georgia as a bounty. He died in 1850 in Marion County, Indiana.

Ledstone Noland was born in Maryland in 1750. He married Elizabeth before the war in Rowan County, North Carolina in 1770.  Ledstone served as a private in the North Carolina militia enlisting for service in August 1776 under the command of Captain John Johnson in a unit led by General Griffith Rutherford and Colonel Francis Locke.  His company saw multiple engagements with British troops and native Americans from Rowan to Transylvania Counties; most noteably the Battle of Waxhaws on May 29, 1780, the Battle of Colson's Mill n July 21, 1780, and the Battle of Shallow Ford on October 14, 1780.  Noland left the militia in November 1783.  He eventually settled in what is now Jackson County Missouri where he was laid to rest on July 6, 1839. 

John Cocke Pleasants was the son of Joseph Pleasants and Martha Cocke and was born in Henrico County, Virginia. He was a Quaker by faith but was commissioned Captain in the 5th Virginia Regiment where he supported the troops by providing supplies which continued until his resignation or death. He died after 1776, possibly in 1783 when a copy of his will was filed due to his original will having been destroyed by the enemy. He and his wife Susannah Woodson had 7 or 8 children and there is evidence of service among his five sons as well. His heirs lived generally around the same area with some eventually settling in Kentucky. 

Robert was the son of Henry Raper, Jr. and wife Elizabeth.  They lived in Pasquotank County, North Carolina.  He enlisted as a private on April 6, 1776 for 3 years under the recruiting officer Edward Veal.  They were marched to New Bern and placed under Captain Robert Fenner's Company, 2nd North Carolina Regiment under Colonels Alexander Martin and John Patton. The regiment marched to Charleston, South Carolina and stayed there a year. The regiment then marched to Philadelphia and were under the command of General George Washington.  Raper was at the Battle of Brandywine on Sept 11, 1777 and Germantown on October 4th.  He spent the winter at Valley Forge.  His company fought at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778.  They then marched back to Charleston, South Carolina under the command of General Benjamin Lincoln.  Raper was captured on May 12th, 1780 and escaped 2 months later, heading back to Pasquotank County. He and his family moved to Nash County by 1822 which is the now the western part of Wilson County, North Carolina.  

John Whitehead was born in New Kent County, Virginia. He moved to Amherst County, Virginia in about 1760 with his wife Sarah. The deed book of Amherst County shows he purchased a tract of land of 125 acres on the head waters of Huff Creek for farming in what is now the Sardis neighborhood in 1762. During the Revolution John was a staunch patriot and was a private in a company raised in Amherst by Colonel William Cabell. He served under the Marquis de Lafayette in the Virginia campaign and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He served in the cavalry of the Virginia Continental Line and paid Supply Tax to the Continental Congress in 1783.     

Joseph Williamson was born in Bertie County, North Carolina. He was the son of Francis Williamson, Jr. and wife Martha Harris.  They moved to Johnston and Dobbs counties, which became Nash County in 1777 and Wilson County in 1855. Joseph was a learned man and served as Justice of the Peace for Edgecombe County from 1764-1777 and in Nash County from 1777-1786.  He was appointed a Captain in the Dobbs County Militia and served under Major John Drake.  He was also a constable and tax collector from 1779 to 1780. Joseph was buried at his home on the north side of Contentnea Creek at Rock Ridge in Wilson County where the old mill was.  His house was torn down about 30 years ago and the rock designating his grave is no longer there.