The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
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Capt. Henry Francis was only Patriot casualty at the Battle of Shallow Ford. He was buried where he was killed and its exact location has been lost to time. The VA stone was erected before 2003.
Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:
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Photo: 2 of 2 (gps: 36.087186111111,-80.529144444444)
Author: Ann Brownlee
Henry Francis was born c 1733, according to service rolls from the French and Indian War. He enlisted on February 1st, 1756, and served for 6 ½ years, being discharged as a Sergeant. The rolls also indicated that he was 5' 7" tall, dark, well-set, and that he had black hair.
By this time, he was already married to Leah Watson, and their son Henry, Jr., had been born on April 1st, 1755. Their second son, John, was born about 1760. Henry and Leah were among the earliest settlers of the Cripple Creek area, in today’s Wythe County, Virginia. In 1770, he was appointed Constable for the Precinct of Cripple Creek. In 1773 he was given leave to build a mill on his land, close to 900 acres, on the banks of a smaller creek which still bears the name Francis Mill Creek. Henry was also active in the public affairs of the time, serving on juries and overseeing and surveying the roads which were being built as the area began to develop. The inventory of his estate indicates that he was prosperous by backcountry standards.
As the Colonists took up arms against Britain, in January 1776, Henry Francis took the oath as an Ensign of the Militia. Three months later, a company was formed of those living on Cripple Creek: Andrew Thompson was the Captain, and Henry Francis the Lieutenant. In March 1778, Henry Francis replaced Andy Thompson as Captain of the company. Most of the details of the service of the company are not recorded, but it is known that the Montgomery County Militia was kept busy locally fighting Indians who were allied with the British, fighting the local Tories, and defending Fort Chiswell and the Lead Mines, which provided lead used to forge musket balls to the Patriot armies in Virginia and North Carolina.
On or about September 29, 1780, Captain Henry Francis' company of militia, together with the companies of Captains Abraham Trigg, George Parris, and Isaac Campbell, rendezvoused at the Lead Mines under their commander, Major Joseph Cloyd. They followed militia who had marched to North Carolina earlier under Colonel William Campbell, in pursuit of the British Colonel Patrick Ferguson. In western North Carolina Major Cloyd's forces received word of Ferguson's defeat at Kings Mountain and were ordered from there to Surry County, NC, where a band of between 400 and 900 Tories threatened the Patriots.
On October 14, 1780, the four companies of Virginia Militia, together with North Carolina Militia, met and defeated the Tories at the Battle of Shallow Ford. Captain Henry Francis was shot through the head and killed (the only Whig who died in the battle). His sons John and Henry, Jr. also fought in the battle. Henry, Jr. was only a few feet from his father when he fell; John fired at the Tory who had shot their father and believed that he killed him. Captain Francis was buried at the battle site.
Author: Harold Kerr II
Henry Francis was born about 1725 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The name of his father is not known, but his mother’s name is believed to be Mary.
The first record of Henry in Virginia is in the payroll records of Colonial Soldiers of Virginia. The July 13, 1756 roll of Capt. Christopher Gist's Company showed: Henry Francis, private, enlisted on Feb. 1, 1756, age 22 years, 5' 7" tall, dark. He was from Maryland and his trade was shoemaker. He enlisted at Fredericks, Virginia.
The Oct. 4, 1757 record listed Henry in Capt. Robert Spotswood's Company as a corporal. His occupation was listed as Planter, from Prince Williams County. He was "24 years, 5" 7' tall, dark, well set and had black hair." Henry served in the Virginia Regiment for 6 1/2 years, obtaining the rank of Sgt., and was a loyal soldier before being discharged by Col. Adam Stephens.
Henry settled on a small creek in the area of the present Cripple Creek, and it is still known as "Francis Mill Creek." The exact date of Henry's settling in unknown, but he we do know that he was in Augusta County, Virginia in 1768. In 1770, Henry was appointed Constable of Cripple Creek, in Botetourt County. He was one of several men appointed to oversee the first road built along Cripple Creek. Henry was on the Tithable List of Botetourt County in 1770-1771, but in 1773 he is mentioned as being a member of the Grand Jury of Fincastle County. In 1773 he was also given leave "to build a mill on land where he now lives." The following year he recorded his stock mark, "a crop and half a crop on the right ear and single crop on the left ear." He was granted land on both sides of Cripple Creek in 1774.
In January 1776, Henry was back on active duty with the Montgomery County, Virginia Militia, being appointed Ensign on January 10. He was promoted to Lieutenant on April 4, 1776. He took the Oath of Allegiance in 1777, and was promoted to Captain of the Militia in April of 1778. He fought in several battles in Virginia and North Carolina, often being sent to protect the Lead Mines in Virginia. Revolutionary War Pension Records indicate that Capt. Henry Francis and his sons, John and Henry, Jr., were in the Battle of Kings Mountain.
While still on patrol in NC, word was received that a large patrol of Tories were in route to cross the river at Shallow Ford. The two forces met at "Battle Branch," about one mile from Shallow Ford. At this battle, on October 14, 1780, Captain Henry Francis was killed by a Tory. Henry's son, John, shot at the Tory, and it is reported that he killed him. A reminder of this battle is marked with a Tombstone bearing the inscription: "Henry Francis, Captain, Rev War VA Militia, October 14, 1780."
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