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 / Patriotic Service
Author: Robert J. Gang III
Lt. Col. Samuel Hopkins was born April 7, 1753 in Albemarle County, Virginia. At the beginning of the American Revolution, he was a member of the Mecklenburg County Committee of Safety. In early 1776, following a request for more troops for the Continental Line, he formed a company of soldiers and became captain of 4th Company of the 6th Virginia. He fought at the battles of Trenton, Second Trenton, Princeton, the Forage War, and Brandywine; was wounded while leading a Battalion of Light Infantry at Germantown in 1777, promoted to Major, served as one of Washington’s aides at Valley Forge. Fought at Monmouth Court House, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, fought at Savannah and commended the 1st Virginia at Charleston where he became a POW when the garrison was surrendered. Hopkins received 7,833 acres of land for his services in the Revolution. He was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati.
Hopkins married Elizabeth Branch Bugg of Mecklenburg County, Virginia on January 8, 1783. They established a home called “Logsdale” in Mecklenburg County until they moved to Kentucky in 1797. Six of their seven children were born in Virginia. The last was born when they resided in Danville, Kentucky.
While living in Virginia Hopkins built 3 of the early buildings on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. He was active in Virginia politics serving on the Virginia legislature, as a Justice of the Peace and on the Virginia Federal Constitution Convention of 1787 where he helped develop the Federal Bill of Rights with George Mason and Patrick Henry. He was appointed Colonel in 1785 and then Major General in 1794 of the Virginia militia commanding armies raised to put down the Whiskey Rebellion and to support General Anthony Wayne’s campaign against the Indian uprising led by Little Turtle which culminated at Fallen Timbers.
Hopkins was hired by the Transylvania (Henderson) Company to survey and lay out the plat of the village and county of Henderson at the mouth of the Green River. He was appointed resident agent for the Henderson Company and lived the rest of his life when not on campaign or serving political office at his estate Spring Garden near Henderson.
In Henderson, Hopkins was appointed Chief Justice of the first court of criminal common law and chancery jurisdiction. He was elected several times to the Kentucky General Assembly and also served in the State Senate. He served as a Major General of the Kentucky Militia and commanded an army raised to force the Spanish out of New Orleans following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Governor Charles Scott commissioned Hopkins a major general in 1812. Hopkins served as commander-in-chief of the western frontier (Illinois and Indiana territories) in the War of 1812. From 1813 to 1815 he represented Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He died at his home, Spring Garden September 16, 1819.
Hopkinsville in Christian County established in 1804 and Hopkins County established in 1806 to the north of Christian County were both named in his honor.
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.
