Robert Sterling was born on 22 September 1759, near Pine Ford, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River. He was living near Augusta, Virginia when the war broke out.

Robert Sterling had three tours of service, being drafted the first two and then being selected by “balloting” the third time. In his first three months of service, he was sent in January 1776 under Lieutenant John Grantham to Wilmington and Brunswick. There, they guarded those towns against the HMS Scorpion, a British vessel, for three months before being discharged by Captain Sessions.  

He was drafted for the second service of six months and served under Captain Kennedy, Lieutenant Wilson, and Ensign Lassiter. He was marched through South Carolina to Georgia passed through Georgia and spent a few days at Augusta before being marched down the Savannah River to Brier Creek. He was there under command of General John Ashe and Captain Kennedy. After the Battle of Brier Creek, which was fought on 3 March 1779, Robert was marched to Wilmington, North Carolina, where he received a regular and Honorable discharge from Captain Kennedy after having served fully and faithfully the term of six months.

A few months after the expiration of this his second term of service he engaged again in the service of his Country by ballot and was placed at Kinston, North Carolina, under command of Captain Armstrong of the Continental Service. He marched to Louisburg, North Carolina, and then to the Dan River until he was placed under command of Captain Rhodes of the Company of the 10th Regiment in South Carolina commanded by General Nathaniel Green and Adjutant Curtis Ivey. He participated in the Battle of Eutaw Springs on 8 September 1781, where he recalled Colonel Washington of the Light Horse. Robert was dismissed at the banks of the Santee after servicing twelve months from the date of his third enlistment and honorably discharged by Captain Rhodes.  During his service in the American Revolution, he fought near Charleston, South Carolina, between British troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Stewart and American forces commanded by General Nathanael Greene.  

Robert was 72 years old when he applied for his pension on 27 August 1832 and was a resident of Johnston County, North Carolina. He was approved for a pension at the rate of $70 per annum commencing 4 March 1831, for 21 months of service as a Private in the North Carolina militia and with the Virgnia Troops. Shortly after receiving his pension, he and his wife, Margaret Gillespie Sterling, moved to Blount County, Tennessee. When he died there in 1844, he left his unnamed children $1.25 each but bequeathed the rest of the entirety of his estate to his wife. When Margaret passed in 1845 she bequeathed “all the remainder of my real and personal estate to the Synod of the Covenant Church to which I now properly belong for the education of young men for the university.”  

Even today, the Synod of the Covenant seeks to inspire, equip, and connect the Presbyterian congregations and organizations which compose it to join Christ’s mission to the world with increasing love, joy, and faithfulness. The Synod includes eleven presbyteries and nearly 700 congregations throughout Michigan and Ohio (and small slices of Indiana, Kentucky, and Wisconsin). Ministry within the Presbyterian Church (USA) is located primarily in local churches, which are supported by presbyteries (seven in Ohio and four in Michigan), which are in turn supported by Synods (sixteen across the United States).