John Clinkinbeard was born in Tonoloway, Fulton County, Pennsylvania, on 9 July 1755. 

Getting a restless itch and sensing times were changing, he volunteered in 1774 as “a spy and Private Soldier” with Captain Josiah Sweringen of North Carolina. He was under the direct command of Captain Robert Lucas at the Nolichucky River Station. On his first assignment, John left the station with Archie Coody to spy on the Native American town of Chikhowe. His disguise as a trader was not convincing, and he was immediately suspected of being a spy. 

A few days earlier, Natives had killed another spy. Fortunately, an older Native woman warned John that he would be killed. Being a prudent young man, John took off from the village on horseback with a group of Native American troops in pursuit. They fired on him at the New French Broad River, bringing down his horse. He managed to escape by swimming the French Broad River with his hunting shirt on his head. Leaving the river, he walked sixty miles back to the Nolichucky River Station wearing only his hunting shirt, a much older and wiser man in the ways of spying.

John Clinckenbeard would continue with the military during the Revolution. In 1775 he took twenty-eight Natives prisoners and a white man named “Forman” at Gossa River. They were exchanged for forty American prisoners.

In 1776, John served in the Regiment of Colonel Christian in a campaign against the Cherokee. In the fall of that year, he served as a Private, providing his own horse, rifle, and provisions. He was a guard at Blacks Station until his discharge. John enlisted in 1778 for a three months campaign on the Ohio River. He marched from Berkeley, Virginia, to Fort Pitt. 

John took time off in 1779 to wed Mary Lucas in Shepherdstown, Berkeley County, Virginia. Mary was born on 6 February 1763. In 1780, after his marriage, he was drafted for a term of eighteen months in the Virginia Militia in Berkeley County. 
During this tour, he fought against the Torys at the south branch of the Potomac. His second in command, Colonel Blake, and Blake’s son were killed in this battle. John was discharged later.

In 1782 John joined a detachment of volunteers with horse and rifle under Major Hugh Baird and Captain Nathaniel Evans to relieve a besieged Fort at French Lick (near present-day Nashville.) After this action, he retired to a much more sedate and blissful life with Mary.

John and Mary Lucas Clinkinbeard were married for nearly fifty years until her death in 1829; together, they had twelve children. John Clinkinbeard died in 1837 in Clark County, Kentucky.