It was at the suggestion of Col.  Shelby that General Greene sent out the expedition which achieved the brilliant victory at the Cowpens.  In 1781, Col.  Shelby served under Gen. Marion, and with Col.  Mayhem, was in the skirmish near Monk’s Corner.  On attacking this post it immediately surrendered with one hundred and fifty prisoners.  Soon afterward he obtained leave of absence from Gen. Marion to attend the General Assembly of North Carolina, of which he was a member from Sullivan County.

In 1782 he was again a member, and was appointed a Commissioner to settle the preemption claims upon the Cumberland, and lay off the lands allotted to the officers and soldiers south of where Nashville now stands.  He returned to Boonsboro on the April following where he married Susanna Hart, whose father was one of the partners of Judge Henderson.  The liberties of his Country being nearly established he devoted himself to his farm on the first pre-emption and settlement granted in Kentucky.  In May, 1792, he was elected the first Governor of the new State.  In 1812, a stormy period in our history, he was again elected to the same position.  When the war with Great Britain broke out his well known energy and Revolutionary fame induced the Legislature of Kentucky to solicit his services in the field.  At the head of four thousand volunteers he marched to the shores of Lake Erie to assist Gen. Harrison in the celebrated battle of the Thames.  For his bravery in this battle, Congress honored him with a gold medal.  In 1817 President Monroe appointed him his Secretary of War, but on account of his advanced age he declined the honor.  His last public act was that of holding a treaty with the Chickasaw Indians, in 1818, in which General Jackson was his colleague.  In 1820 he was attacked with a paralytic affection but his mind still remained unimpaired.  In July, 1826, he expired from a stroke of apoplexy, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, enjoying the love and respect of his country and consoled by the rich hopes of a joyful immortality.  Worthily is his name preserved in North Carolina in a region that witnessed his exalted patriotism and valor.

COLONEL JAMES D. WILLIAMS.

Col.  James D. Williams, a brave and meritorious officer, was mortally wounded at King’s Mountain, near the close of the action.  He died on the next morning, and is buried within two miles of the place where he so gallantly fell.  Tradition says his first words, after reviving a little, were, “For God’s sake, boys, don’t give up the hill.”

He was a native of Granville county, N.C.  He moved to Laurens county, S.C., in 1773, and settled upon Little river.  He early espoused the patriot cause, and was active in raising troops and defending the territory of the “Ninety-Six” District, abounding with many evil-disposed loyalists.