GUILFORD COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
~ BATTLE OF GUILFORD COURTHOUSE ~

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS ~ "I" THROUGH "Q"

This is a new and ambitious project, one which was triggered by inquiries from others. You may submit a known participant's name, but please give us all of the following information: (1) name, (2) dates and places of birth and death, (3) county and state of residence at the time of the battle, and (4) references to your sources for documentation. Those who died in the battle, or soon afterwards as a result of their wounds, are shown with their names in red.

If you don't know whether your ancestor has ever been recorded as a participant, the bad news is that nothing has been published on this subject yet. The good news is that the park office does keep a card file on those who have been documented to date, and the source of that documentation. You may contact them by e-mail (see "contact us" on the website shown immediately below this paragraph) - please remember to include the information listed above - but also please remember that their staff members are park rangers and not genealogists! They do not have storage room for family group sheets, descendant reports, etc. However, they would appreciate very much receiving scans or photocopies of original documentation, such as vouchers, testimony offered by fellow patriots, etc. Please send those copies to the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park office.

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

I will accept submissions for this list, but I do want to know - and provide to others - the sources involved. Those can range from "family tradition" to the pension application with its ID number, etc. I would like to limit most submissions to 100 words or less, and 50 or so is better. If you want to submit the text of the pension application for the website military archives, I can assist you with that, and then reference people to that archive. I want to balance a need for succinct listings with the need for references to documentation, whatever that may be. Also, please remember that this particular Guilford NCGenWeb list is a work in progress, and it will probably remain so forever! I do not have the time to hunt these men down, so I am dependent on your submissions. Please state that is your purpose when contacting me, and give me the source data for your ancestor's participation in the battle. Thank you!

Katherine Dick Benbow, county coordinator

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SAMUEL JACKSON ~ see information
CAPT. PETER JACQUETT ~ from Delaware, he commanded a company of light infantry in the Continental Army.  (pp. 60-61, "The Monuments at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park," by Thomas E. Baker)
 


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WILLIAM KERR ~ age 79 in 1835, living then in Dearborn Co., IN.  See pension application.
CAPT. ROBERT KIRKWOOD ~ from Delaware, he commanded a company of light infantry in the Continental Army. They were on the right flank of the American first line, then fell back and fought on the right of the second line, before retiring to take up their final position on the right of the third line. They fought there until Greene called for a general retreat.  (pp. 60-61, "The Monuments at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park," by Thomas E. Baker)
 

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BRIG. GEN. ROBERT LAWSON ~ one of the commanders of the 1200 Virginia militiamen in the second line, posted in the forest about three hundred yards to the rear/east of the first line.  (p. 37, "The Monuments at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park," by Thomas E. Baker)
LT. COL. HENRY "LIGHT HORSE HARRY" LEE ~ 1756 - 1818; commander of a group of cavalry and riflemen; father of General Robert E. Lee. See: http://www.stratfordhall.org/lighthorse.html?HISTORY
PETER LESLEY ~ see pension application
MICAJAH LEWIS ~ born 1755, Albemarle County, VA; died March 1781. He was a major in the North Carolina Militia. It was said that he was actually wounded in one of the cavalry engagements before the battle. He was scouting the enemy position for General Greene and apparently approached too close and was wounded. It is said that he died of his wounds. His brothers, Lt. James Martin Lewis, Capt. Joel Lewis, and William Terrell Lewis, may have been involved in the battle as well. They were with him at King's Mountain, where he was also wounded. Much of the information comes from The King's Mountain Men, by Katherine White, but she says that Micajah's death was at Pyles Defeat in 1781, while family tradition states that Micajah was killed at Guilford Court House.
JOHN LONG ~ see information
COL. CHARLES LYNCH ~ "At Guilford Courthouse, Washington's cavalry, numbering fewer than one hundred men, were brigaded with Kirkwood's Delaware company and Col. Charles Lynch's company of Virginia riflemen to cover the right wing of the first line. When that position gave way, they fell back to a similar position on the second line, before retiring to their final station on the right flank of the third line." (p. 73, "The Monuments at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park," by Thomas E. Baker)
 


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CAPT. McADOO ~ commanded a company of light horse cavalry which served under Col. Lee's command in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.
JOHN McWILLIAM ~ see information
PVT. JAMES MALCOM ~ born c.1750 and died 1829; from Augusta County, VA; member of Capt. Dickey’s Company, Virginia Militia. "Died, in Morgan County, on the 23rd of February, James Malcom, aged 77 years. He was a native of Virginia, but has been a citizen of Georgia for forty years. He was a soldier during the Revolution, was in the Battle of Guilford Court House. ...He has left many relatives and friends to mourn his death." [March 14, 1829, obituary in The Southern Recorder, Milledgeville, GA; DAR has admitted descendants on basis of his service in the VA Continental Line]
MARQUIS OF BRITIGNY [family name unknown] ~ "Like many other idealistic Europeans, the Marquis of Britigny cast his lot with the cause of American independence. The Marquis sailed for the United States in September 1777 with officers and equipment to form a cavalry regiment, but his vessel was captured by the British blockading squadron, and the Marquis' first six months in America were spent in a British prison. On his release the young nobleman traveled to Philadelphia where he unsuccessfully sought a brigadier general's commission. Early in 1779 the Marquis sailed to Martinique where he was employed as agent for the State of South Carolina. After Charleston's surrender in May 1780 he was employed in the same capacity by North Carolina, and procured quantities of arms and equipment which strengthened the state in its efforts to repel invading British armies. The Marquis' service was not limited to his duties as purchasing agent. Although the date and circumstances of his arrival are unknown, the Marquis was at Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1781, leading a detachment of forty North Carolina horsemen who took part in the third line cavalry charge.... Following the battle and the British evacuation of North Carolina, the Marquis resumed his activities in Martinique where he remained until 1782. Following the war, the Marquis returned to North Carolina, residing at New Bern until his death in 1793." [pp. 72-76, "The Monuments at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park," by Thomas E. Baker]
COL. JAMES MARTIN ~ commander of the Guilford militia. He was ordered to call out all of his troops to join Gen. Greene's army. He was posted in the front line on that day. [pp. 13-14, "The Monuments at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park," by Thomas E. Baker]
SALATHIEL MARTIN ~ born 1763; died 6 May 1827; a cousin of Micajah Lewis, he was supposed to have taken part in the Guilford battle as well, according to family tradition. He was a captain in Armstrong's Regiment.
CAPT. JOHN MAY ~ see information from Archives
ADAM MITCHELL ~ served in the Revolutionary War and was in the battle of Guilford Court House. There was fighting on the Mitchell plantation and Elizabeth McMachen Mitchell, Adam's wife, took her six children into the spring house (which was some distance from the house) to escape the British soldiers. Adam's mother, Margaret Mitchell, gathered her belongings in a heap and sat on top of them. She "got her old Scotch blood up" and told the British soldiers that they might burn the house if they wanted to, but they would have to do it with her in it. Adam Mitchell lost thirty-thousand dollars worth of property during the battle. He was advised to claim damages, but he refused, stating that "the colonies need the little money they had."   [from a written family statement dated 1941 by Anne Galbreath Meyer]
THOMAS MOODY ~ born ca. 1710 in County Derry, Ireland; died between 2 Sep. 1783 and 14 May 1784 in Guilford County. Thomas Moody participated at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse when he was over age 70. His Revolutionary War service was documented by a letter from General Nathaniel Greene: "...The bearer of this Thomas Moody, and old Gentleman represents his great sufferings by the enemy when they were in the neighborhood of Guilford. He was in our army in that action & piloted the Artillery, & no doubt was much exposed...." [http://home.netcom.com/~fzsaund/moody.html]
 


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GEORGE OLIVER ~ see information
JAMES OLIVER ~  see information
 


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(young boy) PARNELL ~ first name is unknown; family tradition states that he was a drummer boy at the battle, but there is no other documentation that has been found yet; he may have been from Wilkes County, NC.
JOHN PAISLEY ~ states in his Revolutionary War Pension record (found at Heritage Quest Revolutionary War records database, copies of original pension application), that he served in various campaigns during the War, and was discharged to Guilford County. Shortly after his discharge, he again joined under Captain George Stuart and General Green, and was marched to the Guilford Courthouse, where he participated in that battle.
WILLIAM PAISLEY ~ see information
DAVID PHILIPS ~ see pension application
 

 

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