In Honor of William Blackburn on Memorial Day 2018

I have to go back several generations to find a member of the family who died in battle.  Many have served with distinction but only a very few have died during their service to the country. The first ancestor who died during battle was William Blackburn. He was born about 1748 in Middlesex County, Virginia. He was the son of Edward Blackburn who was also a Revolutionary War patriot serving as an ensign to General George Washington.

Map of the Battle of Kings Mountain. William's regiment was located where it says Campbell, VA.

During the Revolutionary War, William Blackburn served as a lieutenant in Colonel William Campbell's Virginia Regiment.  Colonel Campbell's regiments became involved in the Battle of Kings Mountain which was fought on October 7, 1780 9 miles south of present-day Kings Mountain, South Carolina which is now rural Cherokee County, South Carolina. The Patriot militia defeated the Loyalist militia who was commanded by British Commander Patrick Ferguson. The battle has been described as "the war's largest all-American fight" and was the beginning of the end of British rule. 

The battle was a pivotal moment in the Southern campaign. The surprising victory of the American patriot militia over the Loyalists militia came after a string of rebel defeats at the hands of Lord Cornwallis, and greatly raised the Patriots' morale. 

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​Unfortunately, William was killed in this battle and is buried in Kings Mountain, North Carolina.  William is listed as KIA on the Monument that was erected in Kings Mountain National Military Park in South Carolina. 

William left a wife, Elizabeth Black Blackburn, and children one of who was Sarah Blackburn who married Charles Evans. Their descendants married into the Cook family.

​William was my 5th g-grandfather. ​​

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​There are several other ancestors on both sides of my family who fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain.  Please read more about this historic battle in the following links as well as many others that can be found through Google:

King's Mountain and It's Heroes History of the Battle of King's Mountain October 7th, 1780, by Lyman C. Draper, LL.D., Cincinnati, 1881.

Sons of Liberty Chapter Sons of the American Revolution, Battle of Kings Mountain, by Mel S. Hankla; URL: http://www.revolutionarywararchives.org/kingsmtfall05.html

BritishBattles.com; Battle of King's Mountain; URL: https://www.britishbattles.com/war-of-the-revolution-1775-to-1783/battle-of-kings-mountain/

National Park Service; Kings Mountain National Military Park South Carolina
URL: ​https://www.nps.gov/kimo/index.htm

Tennesseans in the Revolutionary War. The Battle of King's Mountain 7 Oct 1780; URL:
​http://www.tngenweb.org/revwar/kingsmountain.html