Soon after this decisive battle, Colonel Lillington was promoted to brigadier. He served under General Gates in the Carolinas, in 1780. His son, Colonel John Lillington, also served with honor during this campaign. The silver crescents which each wore on his hat during the war are preserved by the family, and I am indebted to Miss Lillington for the opportunity of making a drawing of the one worn by the general.
These crescents hear the initials of the names of the respective owners, and each has the motto, "Liberty or Death," engraved upon it. The sketch is about half the size of the original.
General Lillington remained in service until the close of the war, when he retired to his estate at Lillinglon Hall. Near his mansion repose the remains of the general and his son. Over the grave of the former is a marble slab, hearing the following inscription: Sacred to the memory of General John Alexander Lillington, a soldier of the Revolution. He commanded the Americans in the battle of Moore's Creek, fought the twenty-seventh day of February, 1776, and by his military skill and cool courage in the field, at the head of his troops, secured a complete and decisive victory. To intellectual powers of a high order he united an incorruptible integrity, devoted and self-sacrificing patriotism. A genuine lover of liberty, he periled his all to secure the independence of his country, and died in a good old age, bequeathing to his posterity the remembrance of his virtues." Near his grave is that of his son, with a stone bearing the following inscription: "Sacred to the memory of Colonel John Lillington, son of General John Alexander Lillington; a patriot and soldier of the Revolution, he served his country faithfully during the entire war."
"General Lillington," writes Miss L., "is represented as a man of Herculean frame and strength. There are no portraits of him extant. Some few of his old slaves still remain in 1852 who were children, of course, at the time, who can remember some of the events of the Revolution. It would be interesting to one unacquainted with the patriarchal relations of master and slave, to see how their aged laces kindle with enthusiasm when they speak of the kindness of 'Old Master,' and of 'Massa Jackie comin' hum from college in Philadelphia to help his father fight the British.'" On account of his uniform kindness to all, the fine mansion of General Lillington was saved from the torch by the interposition of many ot his Tory neighbors.
* This was Mrs. Smith, the grandmother also of Governor William Pann, of Maryland, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. She lived to the remarkable age of ninety-one years.
** I am informed by Governor Swain, that this boy entered the service in less than four months afterward, and before he had attained his majority, as an ensign. He was a lieutenant in 1776, and in 1777 was promoted to eaptain, and commanded a company at the battle on the Brandywine. In 1781 he was a brigadier, his father, at the same time, being a major general, and his younger son a colonel in active service struggling to counteract the operations of Major Craig at Wilmington.