Revolutionary War Veterans in Bledsoe County

Written by Miss Elizabeth Parham Robnett, County Historian and author of Bledsoe County, Tennessee: A History

By 1830, at least thirty veterans of the Revolutionary War had found their way to Sequatchie Valley. A few of them settling in the valley as early as 1805. Some taking an active part in the early government of the County. The majority of the veterans had served in the states of Virginia and North Carolina.

Probably the most popular of these old soldiers was Thomas Brannon. He was living in the county as early as 1818, at which time he applied for a pension. Legend has it that he was “one hundred and some years old.”

Others, [such] as Francis Hughes served under General John Sevier at the Battle of Kings Mountain; Charles Thurman and Chatten Pollard took part in the Battle of Yorktown and saw General Cornwallis surrender to General George Washington in 1781; Andrew Davis was born in the Waxhaw settlement of South Carolina and knew Andrew Jackson as a boy. Andrew McDonough, grandfather of Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, was living in Bledsoe County in 1816 and married for the second time, Rhoda (Sartin) Roberson, the widow of William Roberson; and John Tollett who was a member of the first court of Bledsoe County. Charles Thurman settled on Walden’s Ridge and drew a pension until his death in 1848. Greenberry Wilson, who settled at the head of Sequatchie Valley, lived there until his death in 1812.

John Narramore, who had served as justice of the peace of his county, was the last of the Revolutionary War Veterans in Bledsoe County. He died in June 1851.

George Walker and Samuel Billingsley had carried the rank of Captain in the fight for independence.

Revolutionary War Soldiers Who Lived in Bledsoe County

Compiled by Miss Elizabeth Parham Robnett