He again served under Captain William Alexander, as one of the guard over wagons sent to Fayetteville to procure salt for the army.
In September, 1781, he was elected Captain of a cavalry company, under
Major Thomas Harris, and marched against the Tories at Raft Swamp.
Besides the tours herein specified, Captain Alexander performed other important services, of shorter duration, in scouring the surrounding country, and protecting it against the troublesome Tories.
In 1814, Captain Alexander moved to Giles, now Lincoln county, Tenn., and in 1833, to Maury county, where he died at an extreme old age.
The Alexanders, who performed a soldier's duty in the Revolutionary War, residing principally in Mecklenburg county, were very numerous, several of whom can here receive only a passing notice.
John Alexander, son of James Alexander, was in active service for upwards of five years. He was the husband of Mrs. Susanna Alexander, long known and highly esteemed in Mecklenburg county as the ministering angel, who was eminently instrumental in saving the life of Captain Joseph Graham, after he was cut down by the British cavalry, near Sugar Creek Church, and left by them, supposed to be dead. She found him by the roadside, conducted him to her house, dressed his wounds, made by ball and sabre, and tenderly cared for him during the night. On the next day, his symptoms becoming more favorable, she conveyed him to his mother's, about four miles distant, on her own pony. Her husband died in 1805. In 1846, when eighty-six years of age, and in needy circumstances, she was granted a pension by the General Government, in behalf of her husband's military services, and lived to be nearly one hundred years old, enjoying the kind regard and veneration of all who knew her.
Dan Alexander, who moved to Hardeman county, Tenn., was born in Mecklenburg county, in March, 1757.
He first entered the service in 1778, for three months, in Captain William Alexander's company, (commonly called "Black Bill Alexander,") and Colonel Irwin's regiment.
In 1780, he served under Captain Thomas Alexander to assist in guarding the public magazine in Charlotte.
In this same year he served in the expedition to Ramsour's Mill, under General Rutherford, and afterward, against Tories assembled in the forks of the Yadkin river, captured several and conveyed them to Salisbury jail. Soon afterward, he joined the command of Colonel Davie, and marched in the direction of Camden, S.C. Near the South Carolina line, they met Gates' retreating army. He represented Gates as "wearing a pale blue coat, with epaulettes, velvet breeches, and riding a bay horse."