Fallen Stars of East Alabama, Part 2

Revolutionary War patriots made Chambers County their home

Publisher’s Note: This article, originally published in Tap Roots by the Genealogical Society of East Alabama, is being presented as a four-part series because of its length and the number of local Revolutionary War patriots included. Part 1 will appear in both The Observer and The LaFayette Sun. Part 2 in The LaFayette Sun will focus on Chambers County while Part 2 in the Observer will focus on Lee and surrounding counties. The final installment will return to both newspapers and focus on the continuing effort to locate, preserve and properly mark the graves of East Alabama’s Revolutionary War patriots.

BY SID HARDEN

REPUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION

CHAMBERS COUNTY — Several Revolutionary War patriots spent their final years in Chambers County, leaving behind stories that connect the county directly to the nation’s fight for independence.

Some of their graves have been located and marked. Others remain unknown.

Daniel Gillespie

Daniel Gillespie was born June 16, 1763. His headstone states that he was born in Virginia, although an 1848 article in the Abbeville Banner in South Carolina stated that he was born in Ireland.

Gillespie served in the North Carolina militia and completed several short tours under regional commanders, most notably Gen. Andrew Pickens.

His service in 1780 included operations along the Congaree River. In 1781, he participated in the Siege of Ninety Six, joining Gen. Nathanael Greene’s army after the siege had begun.

Gillespie later marched through areas of South Carolina including Orangeburg, Ashepoo and Bacon’s Bridge and briefly served under Francis Marion.

After the war, Gillespie returned to civilian life in North Carolina. In 1831, he and his family moved to Troup County, Georgia, and around 1842 relocated to the New Harmony community in Chambers County.

His grave has been located at New Harmony Presbyterian Church Cemetery on Chambers County Road 22, about five miles west of Oak Bowery.

A recognition and grave-marking ceremony is being planned by the Richard Henry Lee Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Absalom Adams

Absalom Adams, born around 1737 in Virginia, died before Nov. 15, 1841, in Chambers County.

Adams did not fight during the Revolution but formally supported the Patriot cause. The Magazine of Virginia Genealogy identifies him as having rendered “patriotic service” by taking an oath of allegiance during the American Revolutionary War.

His gravesite is unknown.

Reuben Davis

Reuben Davis, born around 1762, is identified in an 1859 list of pensioners published in the Mobile Daily Register as a soldier of the American Revolutionary War.

Specific details of his service are unknown. He later lived in Chambers County, where he became part of the county’s early settler population.

His gravesite also remains unknown.

Alexander Dunn

Alexander Dunn was born Dec. 18, 1762, in North Carolina and died Dec. 22, 1846, in Chambers County.

Dunn served as a private in the North Carolina militia and completed multiple tours between 1779 and 1782. His service included duty at Charleston, frontier defense against Cherokee forces and combat at the Battle of Kings Mountain.

Following the war, Dunn lived in Georgia before moving to Chambers County.

He is buried in the LaFayette Cemetery. His headstone indicates that he was promoted to captain in the North Carolina militia, although details surrounding the promotion are unknown.

His grave has been officially marked as a patriot grave.

Joseph Griffin

Joseph Griffin was another Revolutionary-era soldier associated with Chambers County.

His listing in the 1827 Georgia Land Lottery and references in his will help document his status as a recognized patriot. He later settled in Chambers County and died sometime after Jan. 8, 1835.

His gravesite is unknown.

William Grimes

William Grimes was born Sept. 24, 1758, in North Carolina and served as a private in South Carolina State Troops during the Revolutionary War.

According to his pension, he served under Capt. Martin and Col. Polk.

Grimes later applied for his pension in Chambers County in 1854. The location of his grave is unknown.

James Langley

James Langley, born in Virginia in 1762, later lived in Orange County, North Carolina, where he served as a private in the state militia.

He may have been as young as 14 when he entered military service.

Langley completed five tours of duty, including three in which he served as a substitute for other men who had been drafted.

Among the officers under whom he served was Gen. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who became known for training and drilling troops.

Langley also participated in one of the best-known operations of the war — the crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas night in 1776.

After the war, he moved to Troup County, Georgia. During the late 1830s, Langley and his family moved to the Stroud community in Chambers County.

He is buried at Mount Pisgah Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery.

If the recorded date of his death in 1868 is correct, Langley lived to the age of 106.

His grave has been marked, and a recognition ceremony was held in 1978 by the Tohopeka Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Thomas Leverett

Thomas Leverett was born May 12, 1755, in Georgia and served as a private in the Georgia militia.

His pension records indicate that he served under Capt. Clarke and Cols. Clarke and Dunn.

Leverett died June 8, 1834, in Troup County, Georgia, and is believed to be buried at Rock Springs Baptist Church Cemetery in Chambers County, although no marker is known.

Stephen Nolen

Stephen Nolen was born in 1753 in Virginia and died Oct. 26, 1846, in Chambers County.

He served as a private in the South Carolina militia during the Revolutionary War.

Nolen is buried in the old graveyard at Sweet Home Methodist Church near LaFayette. His grave was marked by the Princess Sehoy Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Reuben Stevens

Reuben Stevens, also spelled Stephens in some records, was born Jan. 16, 1762, in North Carolina.

He served as a private in the 6th South Carolina Regiment of State Troops under Col. Lytle and also served in the North Carolina militia.

After the war, Stevens and his wife, Elizabeth, lived in Georgia before eventually settling in Chambers County.

He died in 1860 and is buried in New Hope Cemetery in the Abanda community on Chambers County Road 237.

The Richard Henry Lee Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution is planning a recognition and will hold a grave-marking ceremony for Stevens at 11 a.m. CT on Wednesday, Nov. 11 (Veterans Day), at New Hope Christian Church in Abanda.

The stories of these men show how closely Chambers County’s early history is tied to the generation that fought for American independence.

Some rest beneath marked stones.

Others may lie in forgotten family plots or cemeteries whose locations have disappeared from public memory.