Person:William Campbell (85)

Gen. William Campbell was one of the Early Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia

Contents 1 Sources 2 Known Williams 3 Augusta Records 4 Biography 5 Notes	Return to Old Augusta County!	Old Augusta Campbell Tapestry Register Notebooks Data Analysis Bibliography YDNA Index Campbells Records
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Sources

Source:Chalkley's Chronicles

Source:Summers, 1903

Findagrave, Aspenvale Cemetery

Known Williams

Augusta Records

From Chalkley’s Augusta County Records:

• Vol. 2 - Torbett's heirs vs. Campbell--O. S. 47; N. S. 16. Bond 18th November, 1771, by Wm. Campbell and John Tate to Hugh Torbet, of Chester County, and Alexander Mitchel, of Pennsylvania, Lancaster County. Answer of Sarah Buchanan Preston, 1805, that she is only child now living of Wm. Campbell, deceased. She married Francis Preston. Her father died August, 1781. Defendants are, viz: Arthur Campbell, surviving executor of Margaret Campbell and Francis Preston; and Sarah, his wife, late Campbell, heiress of Wm. Campbell, deceased. Plaintiffs are, viz: Saml. Torbett, Anthony Black and Catharine, his wife, late Torbett; Hugh and David Torbett, Andrew Lockridge and Easter, his wife, late Torbett; Jane and Nathaniel Torbett, Mary Torbet, an infant, heirs-at-law of Hugh Torbett, deceased. Bill says: Charles Campbell died 1767 testate, leaving wife Margaret (father and mother of Gen. Wm. Campbell). Margaret died about November, 1777. Genl. Wm. Campbell died about 1782, leaving only one child Sarah, since married to Francis Preston. Thomas Tate married one of the daughters of Margaret Campbell, deceased. Arthur Campbell says Genl. William died August, 1781. Charles Campbell died January, 1767. Copy of Gen. William Campbell's will dated 28th September, 1780, proved in Washington County, 16th April, 1782. Wife Elizabeth, son Charles Henry, daughter Sarah Buchanan Campbell. Copy of Margaret Campbell's will dated 13th October, 1777, proved in Washington County 18th March, 1778. Son William; daughters Elizabeth Taylor, Jean Tate, Margaret Campbell, Ann Poston; son-in-law Arthur Campbell.

Biography

Colonel (later General) William Campbell (1745 – August 22, 1781) Revolutionary War hero of such battles as King’s Mountain, Guilford Court House, and many campaigns against area Loyalists. He inherited the large "Buffalo LIck" tract of land in VA from his father, Charles Campbell. He may also have received a large grant of land for his military service. He was married to Elizabeth Henry, one of Patrick Henry's many sisters. Patrick Henry was Governor of Virginia and the justly celebrated Voice of the American Revolution. Elizabeth Henry and General William Campbell raised at least 2 or 3 children. (See sources below.) After General Campbell's death, his widow, Elizabeth HENRY CAMPBELL, inherited much of his father's land near the Buffalo Lick. She subsequently married General William Russell and gained her own fame as "Madame Russell". She converted and became a zealous Methodist leader in the Salt Lick area where the Madame Russell Methodist Church still exists.

William Campbell is reported to have served on the Virginia General Assembly in 1780 and 1781. During 1780 and the earliest months of 1781, he was still a Colonel. During a battle on 15 March 1781, his position was left vulnerable through the actions of Colonel Henry Lee. Subsequently, Col Campbell resigned his military commission on 20 March 1781 and returned home where he was promptly elected to the Virginia General Assembly in "the spring of 1781". The General Assembly met in Richmond, but was forced to meet in Charlottesville, and later Staunton VA to avoid capture by the British. The House of Delegates appointed him a Brigadier General of militia on 14 June 1781 and he took a leave of absence to serve under General Lafayette as the army drew closer to Yorktown. By August 1781, he led actions near "Three Burnt Chimneys" near Williamsburg VA. Shortly after this he had a pain in the chest which disabled him and he was taken to the home of John Syme at Rocky Mills, Hanover County, Virginia. The general died there on 22 Aug 1781 after a few days illness and was initially buried in Hanover County. General Lafayette gave the best military funeral that circumstances allowed. General William Campbell was dead at the age of 36, from an apparent heart attack, while other reports indicated pneumonia as the cause of death. Subsequently, the General's body was relocated to his home in Aspinvale (old spelling) near Seven-Mile Ford on the Holston (?) River. The modern name for this area is the Aspenvale Cemetery in Smyth County VA. General Campbell died just over a month before the Yorktown Campaign which began 28 Sep 1781. His widow, Elizabeth HENRY CAMPBELL RUSSELL continued to live in the Salt Lick area until later in life, when she moved to the Royal Oak and a home she had built there which she called Aspenvale. The Aspenvale cemetery is supposed to be about a mile from that home.

Summers, 1903

General William CAMPBELL was on a leave of absence from the Virginia General Assembly at the time of his death. (From approximately 14 June to 22 Aug 1781). Following his death, the Virginia General Assembly voted 5,000 acres granted to his only (surviving?) son, Charles Henry CAMPBELL. Two surviving children of General William CAMPBELL and Elizabeth HENRY had court appointed guardians, COL Arthur CAMPBELL and COL William CHRISTIAN. COL Arthur CAMPBELL recorded the land grant adjacent to the Salt Lick, land which would have been owned by his mother, which she received from the General, and he from his father, Charles CAMPBELL. Upon the death of this only son at about age 5, the newly granted 5,000 acres passed to his sister, Sarah Buchanan CAMPBELL.

Notes

For more information on "William Campbell (85)" see the Wikipedia article William Campbell (general), referenced above.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Chalkley, Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish settlement in Virginia: Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County, 1745-1800. (Rosslyn, Virginia: The Commonwealth Printing Company, 1912-1913 in Three Volumes)
   pg. 148.
2. ↑ Wilson, Howard McKnight. The Tinkling Spring, headwater of freedom: a study of the church and her people, 1732-1952. (Fishersville, Virginia: Tinkling Spring and Hermitage Presbyterian Churches, 1954)
   pg. 471.
3.   Quote about William Campbell and his Scots-Irish Soldiers, in Draper, Lyman Copeland. King's Mountain and Its Heroes (1881)
   242-243.

   In the confronting ranks was a very different class of men. Those from the Holston, under Campbell, were a peculiar people — somewhat of the character of Cromwell's soldiery. They were, almost to a man, Presbyterians. In their homes, in the Holston Valley, they were settled in pretty compact congregations; quite tenacious of their religious and civil liberties, as handed down from father to son from their Scotch-Irish ancestors. Their preacher, Rev. Charles Cummins, was well fitted for the times; a man of piety and sterling patriotism, who constantly exerted himself to encourage his people to make every needed sacrifice, and put forth every possible exertion in defense of the liberties of their country. They were a remarkable body of men, both physically and mentally. Inured to frontier life, raised mostly in Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, Virginia, a frontier region in the French and Indian war, they early settled on the Holston, and were accustomed from their childhood to border life and hardships; ever ready at the tap of the drum to turn out on military service; if in the busiest crop season, their wives, sisters, and daughters could, in their absence, plant, and sow, and harvest. They were better educated than most of the frontier settlers, and had a more thorough understanding of the questions at issue between the Colonies and their mother country. These men went forth to strike their country's foes, as did the patriarchs of old, feeling assured that the God of battles was with them, and that He would surely crown their efforts with success. They had no doubts nor fears. They trusted in God — and kept their powder dry. Such a thing as a coward was not known among them. How fitting it was, that to such a band of men should have been assigned, by Campbell's own good judgment, the attack on Ferguson's choicest troops — his Provincial Rangers. It was a happy omen of success — literally the forlorn hope — the right men in the right place.