Benjamin Gist:
b c1730 VA or MD
d. c 1810 Jackson Co. Tn.
Was at The Battle of King Mountain, October 7, 1780
Benjamin's parents were believed to be Nathaniel "Captain" Gist b. c1707 MD d. c1787 TN & Mary Howard b. 1713 d. 1755, daughter of Joshua & Joanna (O'Carroll) Howard of Baltimore Co. MD.
His grandfather was Richard "Captain" Gist married to Zipporah Murray, daughter of James & Jemima (Morgan) Murray. Richard Gist was a surveyor who laid out the city of Baltimore, MD. Benjamin's great grandfather was the immigrant Christopher Gist married to Edith Cromwell in Baltimore c. 1679.
Benjamin Gist was married to Mary Jarrett (Wright, perhaps her first husband?) in 1750. In 1745 they moved to the Sandy Creek settlement in Orange City, NC. He built a grist mill on Sandy Creek on land owned by the Earl of Granville. He was appointed overseer of the road near the mill and served as Constable. In 1754 he was one of the founders of a Baptist Church at Sandy Creek.
In 1759 a number of families went to SC with Rev. Phillip Mulkey and organized a Separate Baptist church on the Broad River. In 1762 the congregation moved up to Dining Creek area is SW Union County. Families in this group included: Phillip Mulkey, Obediah & Stephen Howard, Benjamin Gist, Charles & Thomas Thompson,
Joseph Breed, & Rachel Collins.
Benjamin Gist served as Justice of the Peace on the newly formed Washington Co., NC in 1778, Appointed collector of his district and served as both Sheriff and Assessor of roan(sic) Creek District; Commissioner of Public buildings.
He served as Captain of a Company of Militia in the NC Regiment of Colonel John Carter and also under Colonel John Sevier. Patriots from SW Virginia, NW North Carolina, E Tennessee arose in arms and met at Cowpens, SC where they selected eleven hundred of their best men and horses. The Virginians were under Wm. Campbell, those from NC were under Generals John Sevier and Isaac Shelby.
He was one of "The King's Mountain Men" who was at The Battle of King Mountain, October 7, 1780 under General John Sevier. He also fought at Boyd's Bridge shortly after Kings Mountain. The battle of Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780 was said by Thomas Jefferson to be the turning point of the war. The battle proved to the British that the patriots of America could not be conquered in a territory or wilderness spread out over this great continent.
The patriots marched all night through rain, and on the morning of October 7th they arrived at Kings Mountain. The British were already in their positions and held an advantage with twelve hundred strong. One regiment of the Americans made the first attack and then retreated; as they were being charged by the British another regiment of Americans appeared on the mountain top. The life and death struggle for the American Cause was underway with the clang of sabers, the charge and counter charge of cavalry, as the patriots fought the conquering invaders with nerves of steel. In the encounter there was the roar of canons and the shriek of havoc, the bloody struggle, the moan of the wounded and dying, as well as the groans of wounded and the neighs of the riderless horses.
At the battles end the British General was dead, 456 of the British army were killed or wounded, and the balance were taken as prisoners. The Virginians met with more losses that any other regiment with 35 killed or wounded.
The British made another attempt at the invasion of NC and VA, this time under Lord Cornwallis. General Washington joined forces with Lafayette and Count Rochambeau to besiege Cornwallis in Yorktown where he surrendered on October 19, 1781.
Benjamin was the nephew of Christopher Gist the frontiersman who surveyed the Ohio Territory and fought with George Washington in the French and Indian War. Christopher Gist is credited with saving George Washington's life on two separate occasions. This Christopher Gist had a son Nathaniel Gist who was the father of George Gist, the Cherokee, whose Indian name Sequoyah. It was Sequoyah who invented the Cherokee alphabet and enabled the Cherokee to write in their language.
John Gist was the son of Benjamin Gist. John was born in c1757 NC; d.1820 in Monroe KY. John Gist married Hannah Geron(sic) b. c1765 (daughter of Hiram & Susannah Geron) during the revolutionary War he served from Washington -Sullivan counties of NC. In 1782 he was a magistrate with his father Benjamin in Greene Co. NC. When the county was organized under the State of Franklin, John served as Justice of the Peace.
Benjamin Gist, son of John was (b.c1785 d.1848) m 1815 Amelia Kirkendall (b 18 Sept 1796 in SC d. 01 Apr 1862 Mo.) Their daughter Elizabeth Ann Gist, one of 9 children, is my gg grandmother. Elizabeth was b 1834 MO. m. Robert Adams Snodgrass. Their daughter Hester Ann Snodgrass married Wm. Brown McPherson and they moved to TX, then to Indian Territory, now Achille, OK Their son Joseph Milton McPherson married Ora May Hedrick and they are parents of my father Joseph Milton McPherson who married Clara Majorek in 1942. My father served in WWII and was the greatest patriot I've known. His country and family were most beloved.
