Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 386 pages of information about Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical.

Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 386 pages of information about Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical.

In October, 1776, he again served under the same Captain, and in Colonel Caldwell’s regiment, but the command of the regiment during this tour of duty, was under Major Thomas Harris, who marched to Camden, S.C., and remained there about three months.

In 1776, he served in the cavalry company of Captain Charles Polk, who marched to Fort Johnson, near the mouth of Cape Fear river, Colonel Thomas Polk commanding.  He again served as a private in 1778, in the company of Captain William Gardner and Lieutenant Stephen Alexander, General Rutherford commanding, who marched to Purysburg, S.C., and there joined the regulars under General Lincoln, at a camp called the “Black Swamp.”  In 1780, shortly after Gates’ defeat, he joined Captain William Alexander’s company, and Colonel Thomas Polk’s regiment, under General Davie, marched to the Waxhaws, and was in the engagement fought there against the Tories.

He again served under Captain William Alexander, as one of the guard over wagons sent to Fayetteville to procure salt for the army.

In September, 1781, he was elected Captain of a cavalry company, under Major Thomas Harris, and marched against the Tories at Raft Swamp.

Besides the tours herein specified, Captain Alexander performed other important services, of shorter duration, in scouring the surrounding country, and protecting it against the troublesome Tories.

In 1814, Captain Alexander moved to Giles, now Lincoln county, Tenn., and in 1833, to Maury county, where he died at an extreme old age.

The Alexanders, who performed a soldier’s duty in the Revolutionary War, residing principally in Mecklenburg county, were very numerous, several of whom can here receive only a passing notice.

John Alexander, son of James Alexander, was in active service for upwards of five years.  He was the husband of Mrs. Susanna Alexander, long known and highly esteemed in Mecklenburg county as the ministering angel, who was eminently instrumental in saving the life of Captain Joseph Graham, after he was cut down by the British cavalry, near Sugar Creek Church, and left by them, supposed to be dead.  She found him by the roadside, conducted him to her house, dressed his wounds, made by ball and sabre, and tenderly cared for him during the night.  On the next day, his symptoms becoming more favorable, she conveyed him to his mother’s, about four miles distant, on her own pony.  Her husband died in 1805.  In 1846, when eighty-six years of age, and in needy circumstances, she was granted a pension by the General Government, in behalf of her husband’s military services, and lived to be nearly one hundred years old, enjoying the kind regard and veneration of all who knew her.

Dan Alexander, who moved to Hardeman county, Tenn., was born in Mecklenburg county, in March, 1757.

He first entered the service in 1778, for three months, in Captain William Alexander’s company, (commonly called “Black Bill Alexander,”) and Colonel Irwin’s regiment.

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Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.