John “Devil John” Cleveland
BIRTH 1760
Virginia, USA
DEATH Apr 1802 (aged 41–42)
Franklin County, Georgia, USA
On October 7, 1780, the foundation that would forever change the world was established. Fewer than one thousand American Heroes, through skill, luck, and the leadership of cunning strategists, defeated Patrick Ferguson, a brilliant star of the British military might. Lt. John Cleveland was one of those Heroes.
The Battle of King's Mountain was a family affair for the Cleveland family as it was for so many other families. His father, Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, played a key role in the battle. According to legend, Cleveland climbed up Rendezvous Mountain and blew his horn to summon some 200 Wilkes County militiamen and led them in the battle. In the fierce fighting, Cleveland's horse was shot from under him. Don Troiani's oil painting "Colonel Cleveland's War Prize – October 7, 1780" depicts the prize Cleveland claimed: the slain Ferguson's beloved white stallion which Cleveland rode home to his estate of Roundabout.
The presence of Lt. Cleveland's paternal uncle, Robert Cleveland, proved vital as well: he rallied the militiamen during the heat of the battle, contributing to the patriot victory. Another of Lt. Cleveland's uncles, Lt. Larkin Cleveland, did not fight at BKM: he was en route to King's Mountain, but was severely wounded in an ambush by the Tories on the Catawba River.
With the same blood coursing through his veins as those tried and true officers, John Cleveland fought and fought valiantly. On King's Mountain, he earned his soubriquet, "Devil John", due to his tenacity and fearlessness in the battle.
Lyman Copeland Draper documented the participation of the Cleveland family in the Battle of King's Mountain in his book, "King's Mountain And Its Heroes: History Of The Battle Of King's Mountain, October 7th, 1780, And The Events Which Led To It". Draper has long been recognized as the definitive authority on the battle. Dr. Bobby Gilmer Moss echoed Draper in his book, "The Patriots at Kings Mountain".
The Daughters of the American Revolution documented the Cleveland family's participation in the American Revolution. That organization designated:
Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, DAR Ancestor Number A023058, Captain Robert Cleveland, DAR Ancestor Number A023112, and Lieutenant Larkin Cleveland, DAR Ancestor Number A023103.
"Devil John" Cleveland was the son of Colonel Benjamin Cleveland Colonel and Mary Graves. Susannah Graves, sister of his mother, married the colorful Brigadier General Joseph Martin, a man of legendary courage and namesake of Martinsville, Virginia.
According to North Carolina, Marriage Collection, 1741-2004 about John Cleveland, he married Catherine Sloan on June 9, 1781 in Wilkes County, NC. She was the very wealthy second wife and widow of Hugh Montgomery, DAR Ancestor Number A078975. By Montgomery, she had two daughters:
Rachel, who married Montford Stokes, the NC politician who served as U.S. Senator from 1816 to 1823, and the 25th Governor of North Carolina from 1830 to 1832, and Rebecca Montgomery, wife of General James Wellborn. (From the year 1796 to 1835 General Wellborn served in the State Senate thirty years. He served in succession from 1796 to 1811, from 1817 to 1821, in 1823 and 1824, in 1828 to 1829, in 1832 and in 1834 and 1835. Prior to 1835 members of the General Assembly were elected each year, meaning Wellborn was elected thirty times in 39 years.)
John and Catherine Cleveland had several children of their own:
Absalom Fouche Cleveland
Martha Cleveland
Nancy Catherine Cleveland
General Benjamin Cleveland
Mary Graves Cleveland
Elizabeth Eliza Cleveland
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/244855166/john_cleveland
