Colonel Benjamin Cleaveland, a Hero of King's Mountain

Colonel Benjamin Cleaveland lived and died in Wilkes County at a good old age. A speech impediment prevented him from entering public life, yet he is remembered at the "hero of a hundred fights with the Tories." He entered service during 1775 as an Ensign in the second regiment of troops and was conspicuously brave during the battles of Kings Mountain and Guilford courthouse. "Riddle Knob, in Watauga County, derives its name from a circumstance of the capture of Colonel Benjamin Cleaveland, during the Revolution, by a party of Tories headed by men of this name, and adds the charm of heroic association to the loveliness of it unrivaled scenery. Cleaveland had been a terror to the Tories. Two notorious characters of their band, (Jones and Coil) had been apprehended by him and hung. Cleaveland had gone alone, on some private business, to New river, and was taken prisoners by the Tories, at the 'Old Fields, on that stream. They demanded that he should furnish passes for them. "Being an indifferent penman he was some time in preparing these papers, and he was in no hurry as he believed that they would kill him when they had obtained them. While thus engaged Captain Robert Cleaveland, his brother, with a party followed him, knowing the dangerous proximity of the Tories. They came up with the Tories and fired on them. Colonel Cleaveland slid off the log to prevent being shot, while the Tories fled, and he thus escaped certain destruction. "Some time after this circumstance the same Riddle and his son, and another were taken and brought before Cleaveland, and he hung all three of them near the Mulberry meeting-house, now Wilkesboro. The depredations of the Tories were so frequent, and their conduct so savage, that summary punishment was demanded by the exigencies of the times. This Cleaveland inflicted without ceremony."

Images of Wilkes County Wills and Estates 1778 to 1799

Names of Testators:

1. Alexander, Dolley

2. Alexander, Jesse

3. Bagby, John

4. Baldwin, Elisha

5. Baldwin, John

6. Barnes, John

7. Brown, Gabriel

8. Brown, George

9. Brown, James

10. Brown, John

11. Clayton, Henry

12. Cleveland, Benjamin

13. Coffee, Joel

14. Cornelius, Mary

15. Downey, James

16. Dodson, John

17. Dyer, Elisha

18. Edmonton, James

19. Fletcher, James

20. Foster, John

21. Freeman, James

22. Garrison, Isaac

23. Green, Ann

24. Glover, Benjamin

25. Gordon, Charles

26. Gray, John

27. Green, Joshua

28. Grier, John

29. Hardgrave, Francis

30. Henderson, Joseph

31. Herndon, Benjamin

32. Hesling, Carlton

33. Isbell, Francis

34. James, Charles

35. Jennings, John

36. Johnson, Jeffrey

37. Jones, Edmund

38. King, Charles

39. Lewis, Benjamin

40. Lindsey, John

41. Malone, George

42. Martin, Benjamin

43. Mayes, James

44. McDaniels, Daniel

45. McKenzie, Kenneth

46. McNeil, George

47. Parker, John

48. Parks, John

49. Pate, Anthony

50. Redman, Benjamin

51. Rhodes, John

52. Roberts, Elizabeth

53. Robinson, Jesse

54. Rose, Emmanuel

55. Rowe, James

56. Sails, Elijah

57. Scott, Hugh

58. Shepherd, James

59. Smith, Hugh

60. Stalling, Leonard

61. Stampers, Jonathan

62. Standley, Elizabeth

63. Sutton, John

64. Teague, Magnus

65. Witherspoon, David

66. Witherspoon, John

    North Carolina Genealogy Records