Display Patriot - P-128056 - William CAMPBELL

William CAMPBELL

SAR Patriot #: P-128056

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: Patriotic Service / Brigadier General
DAR #: A018793

Birth: bpt 01 Sep 1745 / Augusta / VA
Death: 22 Aug 1781 Rocky Mills / Hanover / VA

Qualifying Service Description:
  1. SIGNED FINCASTLE VA RESOLUTIONS, JAN 1775
  2. CAPT, 1ST VA REGT, KINGS MTN, GUILFORD COURTHOUSE

Additional References:
  1. PURCELL, WHO WAS WHO IN THE AM REV, pg 80
  2. HARWELL, THE COMM OF SAFETY OF WESTMORELAND AND FINCASTLE CO, VA, pg 61
  3. Genealogical, Burial, and Service Data for Rev War Patriots Buried in Virginia (M.E. Lyman, 2016)

Spouse: Elizabeth Henry
Children: Sarah; Arthur; John; Daniel; Joseph; Charles;
Members Who Share This Ancestor
Date Approved Society ACN SAR Member Info Lineage via Child View Application Detail
1981-12-22 KY Unassigned Scott Dudley Breckinridge Jr (119579) Sarah   
Burial:
Aspenvale Cemetery (C-0371766)
Location:
Marion / Smyth / VA / USA
Find A Grave Cemetery #:
49283
Grave Plot #:
Grave GPS Coordinates:
36.814669 / -81.640225
Find A Grave Memorial #:
9507923
Marker Type:
Horizontal Stone & DAR Stake, & SAR Granite Stone
SAR Grave Dedication Date:
18 Aug 2017

Comments:
  • GPS provided by Craig Batten, George Washington Chapter, VASSAR
  • Marked the Memorial established at the Yorktown Victory Monument, 803 Mains St, Yorktown, VA on 18 Aug 2017
  • Yorktown Victory Center GPS coordinates: 37.233322, -76.504882
  • Gravesite inside the stone enclosure of the Campbell-Preston section of the Aspenvale Cemetery
  • photo used with permission of Michael B. Gunn, 185230, Cincinnati Chapter, OHSSAR
  • photos (2 - 4) used with permission of John Britton, GPS coordinates for gs pulled from photo
  • SAR Granite Grave Marker Stone was placed


Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:

General Campbell's grave is the second of two covered with grave ledgers, inside the walled section of Aspenvale Cemetery toward the back



Author: Michael B. Gunn
Born in September, 1745, in Virginia, William Campbell served with Virginia in the Revolutionary War. He signed the Fincastle Virginia Resolutions, January, 1775, as Captain in 1st Regiment, Kings Mountain, Guilford Courthouse. He married Elizabeth Henry; children: Sarah, Arthur and John. He was one of the 5500 American Continental Troops and 3500 Virginia Militia who fought the British under General Earl Cornwallis at the Battle of Yorktown on October 19, 1781, where more than 105 Americans fought and died. A monument was placed there in 1884 to commemorate those Patriots lost at this battle and show gratitude for the assistance of the French for their military assistance here.
 
On October 19, 1931, the DAR placed a bronze memorial tablet containing the names of 105 Patriot Soldiers who died on these grounds. The Inscription reads, “In appreciation of the Service of these Men who made the Supreme Sacrifice in the Yorktown Campaign, 1781. This tablet is erected by the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, October 19, 1931."
 
The Cincinnati Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (CCSAR) continued the Yorktown Day Ceremony on October 19, 2017 with a ceremony to honor the American Soldiers who made the Supreme Sacrifice here at the Yorktown Campaign in 1781 with wreaths and a ceremony of re-dedication: “We, the members of the Cincinnati Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution dedicate this marked Memorial to the glory of God and in the recognition of the memory of these honorable Patriots of the American Revolution.”
 
He died on August 22, 1781 in Rocky Hills/Hanover.
 
References:
 
Purcell. Who Was Who in the American Revolution (p. 80).
 
Harwell. The Committee of Safety of Westmoreland and Fincastle County, Virginia (p. 61).

Send a biographical sketch of your patriot!

Patriot biographies must be the original work of the author, and work submitted must not belong to another person or group, in observance with copyright law. Patriot biographies are to be written in complete sentences, follow the established rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, be free of typographical errors, and follow a narrative format. The narrative should unfold in a logical manner (e.g. the narrative does not jump from time period to time period) or have repeated digressions, or tell the history of the patriot's line from the patriot ancestor to the author. The thinking here is that this is a patriot biography, not a lineage report or a kinship determination project or other report published in a genealogy journal. The biography should discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, where the service was rendered, whether this was a specific state or Continental service, as well as significant events (as determined by the author) of the patriot's life. This is the entire purpose of a patriot's biography.

Additional guidelines around the Biography writeup can be found here:

Send your submission1, in a Microsoft Word compatible format, to patriotbios@sar.org for inclusion in this space

1Upon submission of a patriot biography, the patriot biography becomes the property of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and may be edited to conform to the patriot biography submission standards.

Additional Information:

In 1777, he returned to Aspenvale where he served as Justice of the Peace and was made a Lt Colonel in the militia. In September 1780, he lead his regiment on a march from Southwest Virginia to Kings Mountain, North Carolina. There on October 7, 1780, Colonel Campbell lead his regiments in the Battle of Kings Mountain, defeating the British Forces lead by Major Patrick Ferguson. The victory by Colonel Campbell destroyed the left wing of Cornwallis's Army and forced the British to retreat from Charlotte into South Carolina. In March 1781 Colonel Campbell joined General Nathanael Green at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. After a term in the legislature he was made a brigadier-general in the militia, and served under Lafayette in the battle of Jamestown



© 2025 - National Society of the American Revolution (NSSAR)