Colonel Richard McAllister, a hero of the Revolution, died at his home in Hanover, York County, October 7, 1795.
During that great struggle for the independence of the colonies York County gave many of her loyal sons, and none rendered more signal service or has been held in fonder patriotic reverence than Colonel McAllister.
He was the son of Archibald McAllister, who came to this country from Scotland in 1732. Richard was born in Scotland in 1724.
About 1745 Richard moved from Cumberland County to the present site of Hanover, where he purchased a large tract of land, and made a settlement.
On February 23, 1748, he married Mary Dill, daughter of Colonel Matthew Dill, who commanded a regiment in the French and Indian War, and whose son, Matthew, founded Dillsburg.
In 1750 Richard McAllister was a candidate for sheriff of York County against Colonel Hance Hamilton, who resided near the present site of Gettysburg. The result of the vote was so close that the election was contested and the Provincial Assembly decided in favor of Hamilton.
In 1763 Richard McAllister founded the town of Hanover and soon became one of the leading citizens of York County.
At the outbreak of the Revolution he was elected a member of the Committee of Safety for York County, and in June of the same year, 1775, he served as a delegate in the Provincial Conference, which met in Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia. He again served as a member of the same body in January, 1776.
When the Fourth Battalion of York County militia was organized, 1775, Richard McAllister was commissioned colonel. And during the fall of the same year, he was made colonel of a battalion of Minute Men, formed out of the militia of York County.
In July, 1776, when Congress called for ten thousand troops, Colonel McAllister marched his battalion through Lancaster and Philadelphia to Perth Amboy, N. J.