Author: Henry B. Stobbs
Erasmus Lee Tippett was born around 1755 in St. Mary’s, St. Mary’s County, Maryland, one of four children of Philip and Jane Lee Tippett III. Descended from an old Cornish family, Erasmus’ great grandfather, Philip Tippett I, had immigrated to America around 1681. Erasmus’ siblings included Chloe (who married Solomon Asbell), Mary Lee (who married Walter Dement), and Erastus, an SAR Patriot in his own right who was permanently injured by a British saber blow in defense of the Revolution. The Tippetts moved to Halifax County, North Carolina, in 1770.

In April of 1776 Erasmus enlisted as a corporal in Captain Martin Phifer’s Second Troop of North Carolina Light Dragoons, one of three light dragoon units newly organized by the Continental Congress (a fourth would be added in 1788), at a rate of ten dollars per month. Pay records show that he held that rate through April of 1778. Shortly after organization, the Second Troop, known formally as the Independent Company of North Carolina Light Horse in Continental Service, marched to Charleston but arrived too late to participate in the late June British attack on Sullivan’s Island. A few months later the unit was transferred to the northern army and in the spring of 1788 was discharged by the War Board for lack of horses, equipment, and provisions. The NC Light Dragoons were removed from the Continental Line on January 1, 1779 and ordered to disband, but the North Carolina legislature chose to retain them. Between February and June of 1779, they were assembled into a new Regiment of State Troops under former Continental Army colonel François DeMalmedy.

In 1777 Erasmus married Miss Lucy Bierling, daughter of John and Jane Bierling of Rowan County. The Tippetts had four children: James Ailsey Tippett (1781 – 1847) would grow to be a patriot in the founding of the Republic of Texas; Benjamin Foreman Tippett (1785 – 1867) would fight as a sergeant in Captain Preston’s Company with Sam Houston at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend during the War of 1812; Ailsey Tippett (1792 – 1873) would marry Adam Gardenhire, son of Revolutionary War veteran Jacob Gardenhire, and among their children would be born The Honorable Erasmus Lee Gardenhire, Tennessee legislator, judge and member of the Congress of the Confederate States of America. Sarah Tippett (1800 – 1880) would marry Solomon Copeland whose father, Stephen Copeland, Senior, was a Colonel in the Continental Line.

Erasmus Tippett died a prosperous farmer in January of 1822 in Roane County, Tennesse. His descendants number in the thousands throughout the United States. including Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and in several other countries.