The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: VA
Qualifying Service: Lieutenant
Colonel William Campbell, leading about 400 members of the Virginia Militia, departed the area of Abingdon, Virginia, on an expedition to track down and defeat the forces of British Colonel Patrick Ferguson, September 22, 1780. William Blackburn served in this expedition as a first lieutenant under the command of Captain Robert Craig.
Colonel William Campbell and his men met up with forces from the Carolinas and present-day eastern Tennessee. Their expedition of about one thousand men took them over the mountains and to a ridge top known as Kings Mountain at South Carolina. It was there, October 7, 1780, that they met and defeated Colonel Ferguson and his band of Rangers and Tory Loyalists. Colonel Ferguson and over 150 of his men were killed with over 150 wounded. A large number were captured.
William Blackburn was one of 30 patriots who lost their lives in this very important battle against the British. Many proclaim this battle to have been a turning point in the Revolutionary War.
As described in the book, “Kings Mountain And Its Heroes,” by Lyman C. Draper, at pages 320-322, all of those killed in the battle were buried “…upon a small elevation, some eighty or a hundred yards south-east of Ferguson’s head-quarters.”
William Blackburn and his brother George were instrumental in the establishment of the Presbyterian Church at Abingdon, Virginia.
Author: Frederick Arnold Weyler
William Blackburn grew up on Mulberry Run of Cedar Creek in current Shenandoah County Virginia. He and brothers, George and Arthur, with two Colville brothers organized the Cedar Creek Presbyterian meeting place (only Anglicans could have churches). In 1771 they moved to the Holston where George and Arthur bought Wolf Hill tracts from Dr. Thomas Walker. William bought a tract on Spring Creek (I-81 Virginia Highlands Airport site) from Edmond Pendleton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. They were callers of Charles Cummings, the “fighting parson” to Sinking Spring and Ebbing Spring.
William married Elizabeth Black, youngest sister of Joseph Black, Martha Black Cusick, Christian Black Acklin, and Jane Colville Black Vance. In 1783 the surviving William Blackburn family moved to Boyds Creek (now Seymour TN across the road from Harrison Chilhowee Baptist Academy) with a caravan of Kings Mountain veterans and families. Parents Samuel and Elizabeth Newell, sister Martha Cusick, half brother Samuel Newell, and half sister Sarah Newell Vance were part of the caravan. Brother Joseph Black joined them in the Eusebia Presbyterian congregation south of the French Broad River two years later.
Some of the Blackburns migrated from Sevier County Tennessee to Edgar County Illinois. Children of William and Elizabeth Blackburn were Mary Jane Blackburn 1769 - 1852; Jean Blackburn 1771 - 1838; Margaret Blackburn abt 1772 -; Elizabeth Blackburn abt 1773 -; Martha 'Patsy' (Blackburn) Houston and 1 other
William Blackburn was Washington County VA militia Lieutenant in Captain Robert Craig’s company under Colonel William Campbell. On Saturday afternoon 07 Oct 1780, Blackburn was killed in action at the Battle of Kings Mountain.
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