NC Record 022

Date

16 April 1776

Names in record

Joseph Phillips, Mary Phillips, Bennett Phillips, Elizabeth Phillips, Major Joseph Winston, Col. Benjamin Cleveland, Colonel Joseph Phillips, Capt. Joseph Phillips, Col. Thomas Polk

Record type

Book

Text of Record

Joseph Phillips appointed captain from Surry County. (According to "The Heritage of Yadkin Co., NC", p. 539, Joseph was born in May 1738 and was a Captain during the Revolutionary War. He married a girl named Sarah on March 4, 1762 in Yadkin Co. However, according to the family bible, Joseph married a girl named Philadelphia, not Sarah, on March 4, 1762. I believe this story may have gotten Joseph Phillips, the son of Joseph and Mary Phillips born May 9, 1738 confused with Joseph Phillips, the son of Bennett and Elizabeth Phillips born June 26, 1757 or Joseph Phillips, the son of Joseph and Sarah Phillips of Edgecombe County, NC, born 31 Oct 1763. All three Joseph Phillips fought in the Revolution. I am not sure which Joseph Phillips became a Captain in 1776, but I think it is more likely the Joseph Phillips who was 38 years old rather than the Joseph Phillips who was only 19 years old or the Joseph Phillips who was only 13 years old. The average age of captains during the War of 1812 was 37. It is said that a Joseph Phillips fought in the Regulator’s Battle of Alamance in 1771, but in fact there is no existing list of participants in this battle. The only Joseph Phillips old enough to participate in this battle which was fought in Orange County, NC, was the Joseph Phillips born in 1738. A Joseph Phillips was commissioned in April of 1776 at Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina as a Captain of the Fourth Regiment of the North Carolina Militia. He served under Col. Thomas Polk. He served in the war against the Cherokee Indians in 1776. A Joseph Phillips served as Recruiting officer at the old courthouse at Richmond, Surry Co., NC, in 1777. A Colonel Joseph Phillips fought in battles at Monmouth (1778, New Jersey) and Brandywine (1777, New Jersey). A Capt. Joseph Phillips fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain expedition (1780 near the North and South Carolina border) under Major Joseph Winston, first commanded by Col. Benjamin Cleveland, thence under Col. Campbell of VA. Note that there were at least two different Joseph Phillips from NC who fought in the Revolution.)

Comments

Comments in text of record, enclosed in ( ).
Credit transcription and/or comments to: Nancy Kiser

County of record

Surry County, Yadkin County