William in the Revolutionary War

Similar to James Sr. it has been written and variously copied that William also served in the Revolutionary War.  It credits William with assisting in the erection of Fort Hamblin in Washington County, Virginia in 1776 and helping defend it against the Indians in 1783 as well as serving with troops from Washington County, Virginia under Col Isaac Shelby in South Carolina at the taking of Thickettey Ford and the Battle of Blackstocks and under Col. William Campbell at the Battle of King's Mountain.  The DAR recognizes William for the action of erecting Fort Hamblin, but not for any other actions.  While discussion regarding Littleberry Robertson has nothing to do with the Revolutionary War, the topic fits in with facts presented regarding William and thus best fits here as you will see.  Let's take a look first at William.

The Battle of Thickettey Ford was actually the Battle of Thicketty Fort, aka Rock Ford, aka Fort Anderson, and took place 26 July 1780 in present day Cherokee County, South Carolina.  The Patriots gathered near Cherokee Ford and began their ride at sunset on July 25th and surrounded the Loyalists at Thicketty Fort, which had been built in the 1760s during the Cherokee War.  At sunrise the next day Col. Shelby sent Capt. William Cocke to demand the fort's surrender.  Capt. Moore (of the Loyalist troops in the fort) replied that he would defend the fort to the last extremity.  Col. Shelby formed his men within view of the fort and again demanded its surrender.  Capt. Moore saw the numbers against him and did not want to repeat the defeat the Loyalists suffered recently at Ramseur's Mill, North Carolina, so he surrendered without firing a shot.

The patriot forces numbered 600 men and the participants were militia regiments from Sullivan County, North Carolina (eastern Tennessee), Rutherford County, North Carolina, Burke County, North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina.  Col. Isaac Shelby, along with Lt. Col. Charles Robertson, led the 9 companies from Sullivan County, North Carolina (which is consistent with him living in what would eventually become Eastern Tennessee).  The William Robertson involved in this engagement most likely was the son of Lt. Col. Charles Robertson, who was the brother of James (Nashville) Robertson.

See this William Robertson's Revolutionary War pension application S4790 where he testifies:
"... and marched under Genl Evan Shelby against the Cherokee indians, my father Charles Robertson was Colonel we went to an Indian town called Chickamauga the Indians fled before us we burnt their town and returned home.  Shortly after he returned home he was again drafted to march against the Tories and British under Lieutenant Christopher Cunningham.  My father & Col. John Sevier commanded the regiment, we were Patrolling the Country near Musgroves Mill when we came in contact with some of Furgasons dragoons they urged us to retreat an than joined Col McDowell and marched against Pat. Moores fort on Thickaty Creek in Spartingburgh County So Carolina.  the fort Surrendered without firing a gun their was about 90 tories in the fort, than we returned home was not home very long until McDowell sent for Col Sevier to return to fight the tories and Maj Furgason, he returned under Capt Robert Sevier and was in the battle of Kings Mountain.  Captain Robert Sevier was wounded he desired to be carried home he this off and undertook to assist in getting him home but Sevier died at Sam Brights on --?-- river before he got home..."

Of the approximately 420 patriot forces at the Battle of Blackstock's Plantation, there is no record of Col. Isaac Shelby, or troops from what was to become eastern Tennessee, ever being involved.  Nor were there any troops from Washington County, Viginia involved.  It appears we are at a dead end as it relates to William Roberson and these engagements.

According to "History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870"; Lewis Preston Summers; J. L. Hill Printing Co.; Richmond, VA; 1903, page 304, Colonel William Campbell of Washington County, VA received letters from Colonels Isaac Shelby and John Sevier requesting his assistance in a contemplated expedition against Colonel Ferguson, the British officer who was then stationed at Gilberttown, North Carolina.  Colonel Campbell joined in this expedition and marched a number of mounted militia to King's mountain, South Carolina (Summers put the number of Campbell's men at 400).  Among those listed in Campbell's militia was a William Roberson on page 863.  No further description is provided.  If the William on the King's Mountain roster is the William described below, then he is definitely not Bedford County William Roberson.  However, again there is not enough documentation to clearly identify the William in any of the battles as William, son of James and Mary, as we saw above.

While the DAR recognizes William as a result of the erection of Fort Hamblin I do not believe the facts will support this.  The attribution, and the basis of the DAR recognition, is the result of the following quote from the above Summers book, page 367:

First, William was born in Bedford County, Virginia in late 1759.  The fort was erected in Washington County, Virginia in 1776.  That would make ancestor William 16 years old when the fort was being erected.  I have my doubts that James and Mary would have let their 16 year old son go into dangerous territory without the safety of the family unit.

Secondly, and more importantly, the quoted section above references Castle's Woods.  In fact, the above book records on page 810 - "May 17, 1774 Wm. Robertson 617 acres Castle's Woods."  Not only is it unlikely the parents would have let a 16 year old son travel alone to such wild environs but it was not possible under Virginia law for a 14 year old to purchase land.  Let's move on to look into this further.  That area (Castle's Woods) was definitely in Washington County, Virginia during the time in question in the Summers' book quotations - 1774 through 1783.  In 1786 Russell County was carved from northwestern Washington County and Castle's Woods/Castlewood was officially a part of the newly created Russell County, Virginia.  The William Roberson/Robertson/Robinson/Robenson from Summers' book resided in Russell County and continued to do so until his death:

With the above supporting data, I respectfully suggest it is painfully clear that William Roberson of Bedford County, Virginia is inappropriately identified as the William Robertson who helped build Ft. Hamblin, Virginia.

At this time there is no evidence that William Roberson, or any of his family, were in Washington County, Virginia or that William was involved in any of the Revolutionary War activities attributed to him above.  It would appear that James Jr.'s Revolutionary War pension application statement stating they migrated to North Carolina territory that would become Washington County, North Carolina is our best evidence that we have at this time of location after their move from Bedford County, Virginia.

An update as of January 25, 2013, the DAR has determined the above arguments presented a very compelling case that the William Robertson who assisted in the construction of Fort Hamblin is not the same person as William Roberson of Bedford County, Virginia.  As a result they have removed this activity from his service and corrected it to be "Took the Oath of Allegiance to Make Land Entry, 1780."  This is because in their research of this matter they determined that the family moved to Washington County, North Carolina from Bedford County.  Their analysis goes as follows, "The family was well identified since Roysden, the eldest son of James, is named on one of the father's land entries.  William made a land entry that was located on the same water course as a claim of his father.  These entries were all made in late 1779 and early 1780 which is consistent with the sale of Bedford County property.  The Society recognizes as Partiotic Service the oath taken to make land entries in North Carolina between 1 January 1778 and 26 November 1783."  The land entries were found in "Tennessee Land Entries: Washington County, 1778-1796, Vol. 1-3" by Dr. A. B. Pruitt, 1997 (see more details in the "Tennessee Findings Pt. 1" section).

Before exiting this page I present information regarding Littleberry, a purported son of James and Mary Fuqua Roberson.  I have been diligently trying to locate Littleberry and I have some concerns as to the legitimacy of this relationship, although I have no data that would once and for all rule out the relationship.  This section best belongs here because it was while I was reserching William Robertson in Russell County, Virginia that my suspicions were roused.

These deeds show Littleberry along with his wife Mary.  The transactions in Russell County, Virginia Surveyors Book 2 1799-1908 at the end of William's dialog above identify Littleberry as inheriting land from William.  It would be easy to think of this Littleberry as a son of James and Mary, if one was assuming the William located in this county was also their son.  However, just as the William found in Russell County, Virginia is not William Roberson of Bedford County, the Littleberry found here is not a brother of that William Roberson.

The first record I found of Littleberry was in Russell County, Virginia Surveyors Book 1 1786-1799, page 204, 7 October 1794 Berry Robertson, assignee of Jacob Robertson, 30 acres as part of Treasury Warrant 14585 dated September 1, 1782, on the south side of Clinch River...  If Littleberry had just come of age in mid-1794 it would put his birth date circa 1773, and the approximate date of birth for Littleberry has been shown as 1770-1772 in trees I have seen.  Some of those trees also show his wife as Mary/Polly.  It seems as though they used the Littleberry of Russell County as their definition of that son for James and Mary.  Hopefully there is some evidence of the existence of a son Littleberry independent of the Russell County Littleberry.  I would appreciate any information regarding this son.  It would be nice if there were a descendent of this son Littleberry who would contribute to the Robertson DNA study.

Update on May 26, 2016:
The wish for a DNA test result has been fulfilled, along with some additional information, and the William and Littleberry question can now be laid to rest.  In May 2015 researcher David Robinson, a descendant of the above William Robertson/Robinson of Russell County, Virginia, wrote to state he had the results of his 111 marker Y-DNA test performed at FamilytreeDNA.com.  William Robinson of Russell County is in Robertson R1b Group AW.  Stephen Robertson's DNA results on the same site places him in Robertson I(eye)1 Group BF.  That clearly shows the above argument to be valid and William Robertson/Robinson is not related to Stephen Robertson and thus not related to James and Mary Fuqua Robertson.

David went ahead to give some background on the family.  William was born about 1734 in South Carolina where he married Charity Kennedy.  Probably prior to 1770 they moved to Castlewood, Fincastle County, Virginia, which eventually became Russell County.  It was there he took deed May 17, 1774 on 617 acres by the Clinch River surveyed in his name on December 16, 1770.  In the Russell County Land Tax Lists of 1793-95, Lower District (Russell County), William had 2,400 acres.  William bought land from George Brooks in Claiborne County, Tennessee, in 1799, and was living there when he died.  His will was written December 11, 1802 and was probated in the June term, 1804, in that county.

Another researcher, Justin Swanstrom, supplied me with the transcription of William's will.  It can be found here.
End May 26, 2016 Update.

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