After the battle of Guilford the British retired to Wilmington, and but little military service was performed in North Carolina during the summer of 1781.  About the 1st of September Fannin surprised Hillsboro and took Governor Burke prisoner.  General Rutherford, who had been taken prisoner at Gates’ defeat, was set at liberty, and returned home about this time.  He immediately gave orders to General Graham, in whose military prowess and influence he placed great confidence, to raise a troop of cavalry in Mecklenburg county.  These troops of dragoons, and about two hundred mounted infantry, were raised and formed into a legion, over which Robert Smith was made Colonel and General Graham Major.  They immediately commenced their march toward Wilmington.  South of Fayetteville, with ninety-six dragoons and forty mounted infantry, made a gallant and successful attack against a body of Tories commanded by the noted Tory Colonels, McNeil, Ray, Graham and McDougal.  This action took place near McFalls’ Mill, on the Raft swamp, in which the Tories were signally defeated, their leaders dispersed, and their cause greatly damaged.  In this spirited engagement one hundred and thirty-six Whigs opposed and vanquished six hundred Tories, reflecting great credit upon the bravery and military sagacity of General Graham.

A short time afterward he commanded one troop of dragoons and two of mounted infantry, and defeated a band of Tories on Alfred Moore’s plantation, opposite Wilmington.  On the next day he led the troops in person, and attacked the British garrison near the same place.  Shortly afterward he commanded three companies in defeating Colonel Gagny, near Waccamaw lake.  This campaign closed General Graham’s services in the Revolutionary war, having commanded in fifteen engagements with a degree of courage, wisdom, calmness and success, surpassed, perhaps, by no officer of the same rank.

Hundreds who served under him have delighted in testifying to the upright, faithful, and undaunted manner in which he discharged the duties of his trying and responsible station.  Never was he known to shrink from any toil, however painful, or quail before any danger, however threatening, or stand back from any privations or sacrifices which might serve his country.  After the close of the war he was elected the first Sheriff of Mecklenburg county, and gave great satisfaction by the faithful performance of the duties of that office.  From 1788 to 1794 he was elected to the Senate from the same county.  About the year 1787 he was married to Isabella, the second daughter of Major John Davidson.  By this marriage he had twelve children.  Not long after his marriage he removed to Lincoln county and engaged in the manufacture of iron.  For more than forty years before his death he conducted a large establishment of iron works with great energy and success.

In 1814 General Graham commanded a Regiment of North Carolina Volunteers against the Creek Indians, and arrived about the time the last stroke of punishment was inflicted upon this hostile tribe by General Jackson, at the battle of the Horse Shoe.  For many years after the war he was Major General of the 5th Division of the North Carolina Militia.  By a life of temperance and regular exercise, with the blessing of God, he enjoyed remarkable health and vigor of constitution.