The Wilkes County Regiment was authorized on December 9, 1777 by the Province of North Carolina Congress at the same time that
Wilkes County, North Carolina
Wilkes County is a county located in the US state of North Carolina. It is a part of the state's western mountain region. As of the 2020 census the population was 65,969, in 2010 the census listed the population at 69,340. Its county seat is ...
was created from
Surry County, North Carolina and
Washington District, North Carolina
The Washington District of North Carolina was in a remote area west of the Appalachian Mountains, officially existing for only a short period (November 1776 – November 1777), although it had been self-proclaimed and functioning as an independent ...
. The regiment was subordinate to the
Salisbury District Brigade
The Salisbury District Brigade was an administrative division of the North Carolina militia during the American Revolutionary War (1776–1783). This unit was established by the Fourth North Carolina Provincial Congress on May 4, 1776, and disba ...
of militia. It was engaged in battles and skirmishes against the British and Cherokee during the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia between 1779 and 1782. It was active until the end of the war.
Officers
The colonels and commanders of the regiment were:
*
Col. Benjamin Cleveland (commander, 1777-1782)
*
Col. Elijah Isaacs (2nd colonel, 1779-1783)
*
Col. Benjamin Herndon (2nd colonel, 1781-1783)
Known Lieutenant Colonels and Majors:
* Lt. Col. Hardgrove
* Lt. Col. John Herndon
* Lt. Col. William Nash
* Lt. Col. William Shepherd
* 1st Maj. John Brevard
* 2nd Maj. William Lewis
* Maj. Josiah Branham
*
Maj. Jesse Hardin Franklin (later Governor of North Carolina, 1820-1821)
* Maj. Nathaniel Gordon
* Maj.
Joseph Hardin Sr.
Joseph Hardin Sr. (April 18, 1734 – July 4, 1801) was an Assemblyman (in the Provincial Congress) for the Province of North Carolina, and was a signatory of the Tryon Resolves. Early in the War for Independence, as a member of the militia fr ...
* Maj. Francis Hargrove
* Maj. Benjamin Herndon
* Maj. Joseph Herndon
* Maj. Elijah Isaacs
* Maj. William Lenoir
* Maj. Joseph Lewis
* Maj. James Smith
* Maj. James Stevenson
The regiment had 78 known companies headed by captains. Companies consisted of lieutenants, ensigns, sergeants, corporals, privates, drummers and fifers. Notables captains and other troops included:
* Capt Richard Allen (1778-1781, may have been Colonel of the regiment after the war
* Private John Hammond under Captain Larkin Cleveland (the 2nd to last Revolutionary War Patriot to die, 1760-1868)
* Captain and Major
William Lenoir later went on to become a major general in the North Carolina militia after the war.
See also
*
List of American Revolutionary War battles
This is a list of military actions in the American Revolutionary War. Actions marked with an asterisk involved no casualties.
Major campaigns, theaters, and expeditions of the war
* Boston campaign (1775–1776)
* Invasion of Quebec (1775†...
*
Salisbury District Brigade
The Salisbury District Brigade was an administrative division of the North Carolina militia during the American Revolutionary War (1776–1783). This unit was established by the Fourth North Carolina Provincial Congress on May 4, 1776, and disba ...
*
Southern Campaigns: Pension Transactions for a description of the transcription effort by Will Graves
*
Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War
The Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War was the central theater of military operations in the second half of the American Revolutionary War, 1778–1781. It encompassed engagements primarily in Virginia, Georgia and South Carolina. ...
References
Bibliography
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{{NCRevWarUnits
North Carolina militia
Wilkes County, North Carolina