Colonel William Campbell was a native of Augusta County, Va. He was of Scottish descent (his grandfather coming from Inverary) and possessed all the fire and sagacity of his ancestors. He assisted in raising the first regular troops in Virginia in 1775, and was honored with a Captain's commission. In 1776 he was made Lieutenant Colonel of the militia of Washington County, Va., and on the resignation of Evan Shelby, the father of Governor Shelby, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel, that rank he retained until after the battles of King's Mountain and Guilford Court-House, in both of which he distinguished himself, when he was promoted by the Virginia Legislature, for gallantry and general high merit, to the rank of Brigadier General in the Continental service. La Fayette, perceiving his fine military talents, gave him the command of a brigade of riflemen and light infantry, and he was ordered to join that officer below Richmond, who was covering Washington's approach to Yorktown in September 1781, previous to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown on the 19th of October following.
Colonel Campbell, suffering from the severe wound received in the battle of Guilford, was taken ill and soon after died at La Fayette's head-quarters, about twenty-five miles above Williamsburg, in the thirty-sixth year of his age. His military career was short, but brilliant; and on all occasions, bravery, unsullied patriotism and manly rectitude of conduct marked his movements. La Fayette's general order, on the occasion of his decease is most highly complimentary to his efficient services and exalted worth. He is buried at Rocky Mills, in Hanover county, Va. About forty years afterward, his remains were removed to Washington county, to repose with those of his family.
Col. Campbell married a sister of Patrick Henry and left but one child, the mother of the late Hon. William C. Preston and Col. John S. Preston, both of Columbia, S.C. He was a man of high culture, a good classical scholar, but was chiefly given to the accurate sciences and practically to land surveying for himself and his kindred who were large land-holders in Virginia, east Tennessee and Kentucky. When under thirty years of age, he commanded a company in the Point Pleasant expedition on the Kenhawa river, in which occurred one of the most sanguinary battles in the history of Indian warfare and there acquired that early experience in arms which qualified him to perform a conspicuous part in the Revolutionary War.
When the emergency arose for expelling the boasting Ferguson from the soil of the Carolinas, Col. Sevier sought the assistance and co-operation of Col. Campbell, of Virginia, whose bravery and gallantry had become widely known. On the first application, Col. Campbell deemed it imprudent to withdraw his forces from their place of rendezvous, for fear of an attack from the neighboring Indians, but on a second urgent application, his assent yielded to the appeals of patriotism and he promptly marched with his regiment to co-operate with Colonels Sevier, Shelby and other officers to gain an undying fame, and glorious victory at King's Mountain.
The preceding statement of facts, corrects an error into which several historians have unintentionally fallen by confounding Lieut. Col. Campbell, a brave officer of a South Carolina regiment, who was mortally wounded at the battle of the Eutaw Springs, with Col. Wm. Campbell, of Virginia, one of the heroes of King's Mountain, who died a natural death in his native State a few weeks before the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. The two officers were of no close family relationship, but resembled each other in unflinching bravery and genuine exhibitions of true patriotism.
COLONEL ISAAC SHELBY.
Col. Isaac Shelby was born in Maryland, near the North mountain, a few miles from Hagerstown, on the 11th of December, 1750. He was the son of General Evan Shelby, a native of Wales, who came to America when a mere youth. General Shelby was distinguished for his indomitable courage, iron constitution, and clear intellect. He served as a Captain of Rangers under Gen. Braddock, and acted bravely in the attack under General Forbes in 1758, in which he led the advance, and took from the French Fort Du Quesne. In 1772, he removed to the west and in 1774, commanded a company under Colonel Lewis and Governor Dunmore against the Indians, on the Scioto river. He was in the sanguinary battle of Kenhawa, October 10th, 1774, when Colonels Lewis, Fleming and Field were killed and he was left the commanding officer.
In 1779, he led a strong force against the Chickamauga Indians, on the
Tennessee river; and for his services and gallantry, was appointed a
Brigadier General by the State of Virginia; the first officer ever
vested with that grade on the western waters.
Thomas Shelby, a brother of Gen. Evan Shelby, joined the great tide of southern emigration and settled on Caldwell's Creek, in the eastern part of Mecklenburg county (now Cabarrus) about 1760. He died near the beginning of the Revolutionary war, leaving four sons, William, John, Evan and Thomas. One of these sons (Thomas) served as a private in Captain Charles Polk's company in the spring of 1776, in the Wilmington campaign.
Col. Isaac Shelby, the immediate subject of this sketch was born to the use of arms, blessed with a strong constitution and capable of enduring great exposure and fatigue. His whole educational training was such as fitted him for the stirring scenes in which he was destined by Providence to become so prominent an actor.