Part 24 (1/2)
On the 19th of June, 1792, Dr. McLean married Mary, daughter of Major John Davidson, one of the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. In 1814 he was elected to the Senate from Lincoln county. In 1815 he delivered an address at King's Mountain, commemorative of the battle at that place, and caused to be erected, at his own expense, a plain headstone of dark slate rock, with appropriate inscriptions on both sides. The inscription on the east side reads thus: ”Sacred to the memory of Major William Chronicle, Capt. John Mattocks, William Robb and John Boyd, who were killed here on the 7th of October, 1780, fighting in defence of America.” The inscription on the west side reads thus: ”Colonel Ferguson, an officer belonging to his Brittanic Majesty, was here defeated and killed.”
Dr. McLean, after a life of protracted usefulness, died with peaceful resignation on the 25th of October, 1828, in the seventy-second year of his age. His wife survived him many years, being nearly ninety-seven years old at the time of her death. They were both long, worthy and consistant members of the Presbyterian church, dignified their lives with their professions, and are buried in Bethel Graveyard, York county, S.C.
MAJOR WILLIAM CHRONICLE.
Major William Cronicle, the soldier and martyr to the cause of liberty at King's Mountain, was born in the south eastern part of Lincoln county (now Gaston) about 1755. His mother was first married to a Mr.
McKee in Pennsylvania, who afterwards removed to North Carolina and settled in Mecklenburg county. By this marriage she had one son, James McKee, a soldier of the revolution, and ancestor of the several families of that name in the neighborhood of Armstrong's Ford, on the South Fork of the Catawba. After McKee's death, his widow married Mr.
Chronicle, by whom she had an only son, William, who afterward performed a magnanimous part in defence of his country's rights. The site of the old family mansion is still pointed out by the oldest inhabitants with feelings of lingering veneration. ”There,” they will tell you, ”is the spot where old Mr. Chronicle lived and his brave son, William, was brought up.” The universal testimony of all who knew Major Chronicle represented him as the constant, never-tiring advocate of liberty, and as exerting a powerful influence in spreading the principles of freedom throughout the whole lower portion of old Lincoln county. His jovial turn of mind and winning manners, by gaining the good will of all, greatly a.s.sisted in making successful his appeals to their patriotism, and promoting the cause of liberty in which he had so zealously embarked.
Major Chronicle's first service was performed as Captain of a company at Purysburg in South Carolina. Early in the fall of 1780, a regiment was raised in Lincoln county, over which Col. William Graham was appointed Colonel; Frederick Hambrite, Lieut. Colonel, and William Chronicle, Major. It is well known that Col. Graham, on account of severe sickness in his family, was not present at the battle of King's Mountain. The immediate command of the regiment, a.s.sisted by Col.
d.i.c.kson of the county, was then gallantly a.s.sumed by these officers, and n.o.bly did they sustain themselves by word and example, in that ever-memorable conflict. Major Chronicle was brave, perhaps to a fault, energetic in his movements, self possessed in danger, and deeply imbued with the spirit of liberty. His last words of encouragement in leading a spirited charge against the enemy, were ”Come on my boys, never let it be said a Fork boy run,” alluding to South Fork, near which stream most of them resided.
This patriotic appeal was not given in vain. It nerved every man for the contest. Onward his brave boys steadily moved forward, Major Chronicle in the advance, and approached within gun-shot of the British forces. Just at this time, a few sharp shooters of the enemy discharged their pieces, and retreated. The brave Chronicle fell mortally wounded, receiving a fatal ball in the breast. Almost at the same time, Capt. John Mattocks and Lieutenants William Rabb and John Boyd, also fell. Major Chronicle was only about twenty-five years old at the time of his death. The late Capt. Samuel Caldwell and his brother William, were both in this battle. William Caldwell brought home Major Chronicle's horse; his sword and spurs pa.s.sed into the hands of his half brother, James McKee, and the venerated memorials are still in possession of one of his sons, who moved many years ago to Tennessee.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL MARTIN.
Captain Samuel Martin was a native of Ireland, and born in the year 1732. When a young man, he emigrated to America, and first settled in Pennsylvania. After remaining a short time in that State, he joined the great tide of emigration to the southern colonies. He first entered the service as a private in Captain Robert Alexander's company, in June 1776, Colonel Graham's Regiment, and marched to Fort McGaughey, in Rutherford county, and thence across the Blue Ridge Mountains against the Cherokee Indians, who were committing murders and depredations upon the frontier settlements. In January 1777, he attached himself to the command of Captain William Chronicle, and marched to the relief of the post of Ninety Six, in Abbeville county, S.C., and after this service he returned to North Carolina.
About the 1st of November, 1779, his company was ordered to Charlotte, at that time a place of rendezvous of soldiers for the surrounding counties, and while there he received a special commission of captain, conferred on him by General Rutherford. With his special command he marched with other forces from Charlotte by way of Camden, to the relief of Charleston, and fell in with Col. Hampton, at the Governor's gate, near that city. Finding that place completely invested by the British army, he remained but a short time, and returned to North Carolina with Colonel Graham's regiment, about the 1st of June, 1780.
Being informed on the night of his arrival at home that the Tories were embodied in strong force at Ramsour's Mill, near the present town of Lincolnton, he immediately raised a small company and joined General Davidson's battalion, General Rutherford commanding, encamped at Colonel d.i.c.kson's plantation, three miles northwest of Tuckaseege ford. General Rutherford broke up his encampment at that place, early on the morning of the 20th of June, 1780, then sixteen miles from Ramsour's Mill, and marched with his forces, expecting to unite with Colonel Locke in making a joint attack upon the Tories, but failed to reach the scene of conflict until two hours after the battle. The Tories had been signally defeated and routed by Colonel Locke and his brave a.s.sociates, and about fifty made prisoners, among the number a brother of Colonel Moore, the commander of the Tory forces.
Immediately after this battle he received orders from Colonels Johnston and d.i.c.kson to proceed with his company to Colonel Moore's residence, six or seven miles west of the present town of Lincolnton, and arrest that Tory leader, but he had fled with about thirty of his follower's to Camden, S.C., where Cornwallis was then encamped. Soon after this service Captain Martin was ordered to proceed with his company to Rugeley's Mill, in Kershaw county, S.C. Here Colonel Rugeley, the Tory commander, had a.s.sembled a considerable force, and fortified his log barn and dwelling house. Colonel Was.h.i.+ngton, by order of General Morgan, had pursued him with his cavalry, but having no artillery, he resorted to an ingenious stratagem to capture the post without sacrificing his own men. Accordingly he mounted a _pine log_, fas.h.i.+oned as a cannon, elevated on its own limbs, and placed it in position to command the houses in which the Tories were lodged.
Colonel Was.h.i.+ngton then made a formal demand for immediate surrender.
Colonel Rugeley fearing the destructive consequences of the formidable cannon bearing upon his command in the log barn and dwelling house, after a stipulation as to terms, promptly surrendered his whole force, consisting of one hundred and twelve men, without a gun being fired on either side. It was upon the reception of the news of this surrender that Cornwallis wrote to Tarleton, ”Rugeley will not be made a Brigadier.”
After this successful stratagem, seldom equaled during the war, Captain Martin was ordered to march with his company in pursuit of Colonel Cunningham, (commonly called ”b.l.o.o.d.y Bill Cunningham”) a Tory leader, encamped on Fis.h.i.+ng creek, but he fled so rapidly he could not overtake him. During the latter part of August and the whole of September, Captain Martin was rarely at home, and then not remaining for more than two days at a time. About the last week of September he marched with his company by a circuitous route, under Colonel Graham, to the Cowpens. There he united with Colonels Campbell, Shelby, Sevier, Cleaveland and other officers and marched with them to King's Mountain. In this battle Captain Martin acted a conspicuous part, was in the _thickest of the fight_, and lost six of his company. After this battle he continued in active scouting duties wherever his services were needed.
When Cornwallis marched through Lincoln county in pursuit of General Morgan, enc.u.mbered with upwards of five hundred prisoners, captured at the Cowpens, he was ordered to hara.s.s his advance as much as possible.
A short time after Cornwallis crossed the Catawba at Cowan's Ford, he marched as far as Salisbury, when he was ordered by Colonel d.i.c.kson to convey some prisoners to Charlotte. Having performed this service, he proceeded to Guilford Court house, but did not reach that place until after the battle. He then returned home, and was soon after discharged.
In October 1833, Captain Martin, when _one hundred and one years_ old, was granted a pension by the general government. He was a worthy and consistent member of the a.s.sociate Reformed Church, and died on the 26th of November, 1836, aged _one hundred and four years!_ He married in Ireland, Margaret McCurdy, who also attained an extreme old age, and both are buried in Goshen graveyard, in Gaston county.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL CALDWELL.
Samuel Caldwell was born in Orange County, N.C., on the 10th of February, 1759, and moved to Tryon county, afterward Lincoln, in 1772.
He first entered the service in Captain Gowen's company in 1776, and marched against the Cherokee Indians beyond the mountains. In 1779, he volunteered (in Captain William Chronicle's company) in the ”nine months service,” and joined General Lincoln's army at Purysburg, S.C.
In March, 1780, he joined Captain Isaac White's company, and marched to King's Mountain. In the battle which immediately followed, he and his brother, William actively partic.i.p.ated. Shortly after this celebrated victory, he attached himself to Captain Montgomery's company and was in the battle of the Cowpens, fought on the 17th of January, 1781. Soon afterward he marched to Guilford, and was in the battle fought there on the 15th of March, 1781. In the following fall, he subst.i.tuted for Clement Nance, in Captain Lemmonds cavalry company in the regiment commanded by Col. Robert Smith and Major Joseph Graham.
At the Raft Swamp, they attacked and signally defeated a large body of Tories; and in two days afterward defeated a band of Tories on Alfred Moore's plantation opposite Wilmington. On the next day, the same troops made a vigorous attack on the garrison, near the same place.
After this service, he returned home and was frequently engaged in other minor but important military duties until the close of the war.
After the war, Captain Caldwell settled on a farm three miles southwest of Tuckaseege Ford where he raised a large family. He was a kind and obliging neighbor, attained a good old age, and is buried in the graveyard of Goshen church, Gaston county N.C.
CAPTAIN JOHN MATTOCKS.
Captain John Mattocks was one of the brave soldiers who fell at King's Mountain. He belonged to a family who resided a few miles below Armstrong's Ford, on the south fork of the Catawba river, at what is now known as the ”Alison old place.” There were three brothers and two sisters, Sallie and Barbara. The whole family, men and women, had the reputation of being ”_uncommonly stout_.” John and Charles Mattocks were staunch Whigs, ever ready to engage in any enterprise in defence of the freedom of their country, but Edward Mattocks (commonly called Ned Mattocks) was a Tory. All of the brothers were at the battle of King's Mountain, in which Captain Charles Mattocks was killed early in the action when pressing forward with undaunted courage against the enemy. Among the severely wounded, was Ned Mattocks, the Tory brother.