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: NC
Qualifying Service: Colonel / Civil Service
Author: John McDowell Heard
Col. John McDowell Sr. and his wife Jane (Jean) Parks McDowell, Revolutionary War Patriots
My great, great grandfather, historian Gen. John Hugh McDowell (CSA) recorded the lives of several McDowells in the Revolutionary war in his 1918 book “History of the McDowells, Erwins/Irvins and Connections”. He was directly descended from a signer of the 1775 Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, General Robert Irwin, on his mother’s side and Captain John McDowell Sr. on his father’s side.
Here is a brief summary of events involving John McDowell Sr. and his wife, Revolutionary heroine Jane (Jean) Parks McDowell. Born in Lancaster Co. PA in 1743, this staunch Presbyterian Elder and his wife settled in the community of Steele Creek, near Charolette, NC.
On August 16, 1780, serving under Gen Horatio Gates, he fought as private in the Battle of Camden, near Camden, SC. This battle was a victory for Lord General Cornwallis.
McDowell was twice wounded in this battle and nearly bled to death from his gun and saber wounds. Left for dead, he was stripped by the British of everything but a watch sewn into his clothing. After fording a cold river, stopping the bleeding , he began “following the army in a crippled condition until he found them and was given an old, crippled horse to ride home.” He never fully recovered from his injuries until the time of his death sixteen years later.
Jean (Jane) McDowell was a woman of great bravery. In the summer of 1780, while her husband was away at war, Cornwallis, who had captured Charlotte, sent men to Steele Creek to seize anything edible or of value. The officer in charge of the raiding party was a Captain McDowell, of Scotland. When his men were ransacking her home, she confronted him. He asked her for her name and was shocked that he was stealing from a kinswoman and quickly retreated from the McDowell home!
In October of that year, Cornwallis, having learned of the British defeat at Kings Mountain, fled Charlotte. Jean rode ten miles on horseback, infant son in her arms, to report this event to the leadership of the Continental Army.
Regarding the Battle of King’s Mountain, there were three cousins of John McDowell Sr. who served valiantly. They were General Charles McDowell, his brother Col. Joseph McDowell and another cousin, Major Joseph McDowell. To this day there is controversy as to which Joseph McDowell was the “real” hero of Kings Mountain.
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DAR NOTE: There are potential issues,REGARDING SERVICE - Jun 2019