Author: Phillip Parkerson, edited with permission by John Wilson Robinson

Shortly after the American colonies rebelled against the British Crown, Private Jacob Parkerson enlisted in the 2nd Virginia Regiment of State Troops (militia) in 1777. The 16-year-old was initially assigned to Captain Harry Dudley´s Company of the 2nd Regiment. As part of Muhlenberg’s Brigade, they marched first to Virginia’s colonial capital of Williamsburg and then to Valley Forge.

Jacob's regiment marched out of Valley Forge on June 19, 1778, and fought at the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse (New Jersey) on 28 June 1778. He arranged for a transfer to the 2nd North Carolina Regiment by swapping places with John Linch of Captain John Craddock’s company, where he had a brother serving as a Sergeant.

Captain John Craddock’s company was attached to the light infantry serving under Colonel John Patton (Patten), who commanded the 2nd North Carolina Regiment and fought at Monmouth under the command of the Marquis de Lafayette.

On July 15-16, 1779,  Jacob's company, then serving with Brigadier General ”Mad” Anthony Wayne’s Light Infantry, participated in the daring midnight assault on the British fort at Stony Point, New York. He was part of a handpicked force of 1,350 men that scaled the 150-foot high cliff overhanging the river and stormed the enemy positions with fixed bayonets. Catching the enemy by surprise, Wayne´s men took the fort.

When the British targeted the southern states as their next objective, the 2nd North Carolina was ordered south in November 1779. Jacob fell ill during the march and was left behind somewhere near Dumfries and Colchester, Virginia. His regiment proceeded south, reaching Charleston on 3 March 1780. There, they helped defend the city until its surrender on 12 May after a two-month siege.

Upon recovering his health, Jacob headed south to rejoin his regiment, but learning it was surrounded at Charleston, he joined Colonel William Washington’s light horse at Georgetown, South Carolina, and “assisted in saving the public property,” as he later declared.

Afterward, Jacob served with the North Carolina militia under the command of Colonel Sowell [perhaps Colonel Benjamin Seawell or Sewell] at Cross Creek, North Carolina. He marched with them to and under the command of Brigadier-General Griffith Rutherford. Rutherford defeated a Tory militia force at the battle of Ramseur’s Mill on 20 June 1780.

Jacob’s unit, along with the bulk of the North Carolina State Troops under the command of General Richard Caswell, then joined the remaining Continental Army forces that were reforming on the Green River after being driven from South Carolina by the British under Lord Cornwallis. Jacob´s unit fought in a minor skirmish with Lord Rawdon´s troops at Little Lynches Creek on 11 August 1780.

He continued serving with the North Carolina militia under the command of Major Agrippa Nichols and Captain John Macon, and remained in service with that regiment until the end of the war