Revolutionary War Patriot John Ingraham (about 1755-September 16, 1828) written by Ethelene Dyer Jones.
The parentage of John Ingraham of Union County, South Carolina has been lost to time. Watson B. Dyer, historian, thinks his father was Benjamin Ingraham, because the name Benjamin was passed to subsequent generations (see Dyer Family History, p. 390). However, there is some indication that his father was William Ingraham who migrated from Wales to Virginia and received a grant of 300 acres in South Carolina in 1752 in Craven County on the north side of the Wateree River. This William Ingraham had known sons named John, James and Arthur. Son James entertained George Washington at his plantation at Wateree, an event recorded in the diary of the president on May 26, 1791. Washington reciprocated the hospitality by entertaining James Ingraham at Mt. Vernon.
Wedding bells rang for Rutha White and John Ingraham in 1778. They were married at Fair Forest Baptist Church in Union County, South Carolina. Rev. James Crowder, Rutha’s pastor, performed the ceremony. Married only two years after the signing of America’s Declaration of Independence in 1776, John Ingraham was caught up, as were his neighbors, in the spirit of patriotism sweeping the colonies.
He enlisted as a private in Captain John Putnam’s Company of the South Carolina militia, in Colonel Brandon’s Regiment. His service number was R-5483.
He fought in the Charleston, SC Siege confrontation with British and Loyalist forces. This battle ended in great disappointment. Fought from March 29 through May 12, 1780, Patriot Major General Lincoln surrendered Charleston. It was subsequently occupied by British forces until the British evacuated Charleston on December 14, 1782.
John Ingraham fought at the Battle of King’s Mountain, SC on October 7, 1780. Frontier militia from South and North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia converged and surrounded Patrick Ferguson’s forces, defeating them. King’s Mountain was a turning point in the Revolution, a decisive victory for the American Patriots.
Three months later, on January 17, 1781, John Ingraham was with the militia forces under the notable Patriot Brigadier General Daniel Morgan as they attacked General Banastre Tarleton’s forces of British Regulars at the Battle of Cowpens, South Carolina. Historians have recognized that battle as one of the most important of the American Revolution.
It was customary for militia members to sign on for three month terms and fight in battles near their homes. Those frontier soldiers bravely defended America, turning the tide of war and leading to the surrender of British General Cornwallis on October 19, 1781 at Yorktown, Virginia.
After the war, John and Rutha Ingraham moved from their home at Padgett’s Creek, Union County, SC, to a land grant he received for his Revolutionary War service in what was then Franklin County, Georgia. The area where they settled became Hall County in 1819. John and Rutha lived in the vicinity of what became present day Lula, Georgia. There patriot John Ingraham died on September 16, 1828. Unfortunately, we do not know the location of his grave.
The pension bill was passed in 1832, four years after John Ingraham’s death. His widow, Rutha White Ingraham, made repeated applications for a widow’s pension, but never received one. She died at the home of their son, Tillman Ingraham, in Cherokee County, Georgia (date unknown). We do know that she lived until at least age 89 in 1847 when she was still applying for a widow’s pension.
The pension application was taken up by their son, John Little Ingraham, of Union County, Georgia, following Rutha’s death, for three of their children still living—John Little Ingraham, Tillman Ingraham, and Elizabeth Ingraham Riley, with application made on October 26, 1852. This application was also denied.
Our lineage to John Ingraham, Revolutionary Patriot, comes through his son, John Little Ingraham, the latter’s daughter, Louisa Eliza Ingraham who married James Marion Dyer, and their son, Bluford Elisha “Bud” Dyer who married Sarah Evaline Souther Dyer.
Many descendants of John Ingraham have established a direct line of ancestry to this patriot and have received admission into the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. Even though Rutha White Ingraham did not receive remuneration in the years of her widowhood, subsequent intrinsic benefits to their heirs in past, present and future generations are testimony to the significant contributions this couple made to America’s freedom.
We salute and say a heart-felt “thank you” to Private John Little Ingraham.
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Tipper
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I have two 5th Great grandfather’s who fought at King’s Mountain. William Lyon and John Sparks. Thank You Grandpa. Happy 4th.
The real heroes of the Battle of Kings Mountain if not the whole War were the Overmountain Men Ethelene mentions. Most of the battles up until then had been fought in the low country and piedmont regions of the South. The British were not interested in tackling the rugged mountains that lay to their west but there were settlements just over the mountains in Southwestern Virginia, Northeastern Tennessee and Southeastern Kentucky where they saw potential tax revenues. When plans by the British for an expeditionary force to cross the mountains and occupy the region reached these settlements these frontiersmen they didn’t formulate a plan to protect themselves. The amassed an army of their own and started a march across the mountains to confront Cornwallis before any of his planned actions could take place.
So across into North Carolina they marched gathering volunteers from among its hills and hollers along the way. Twelve days they marched and twelve camps they made. Nine of those camps were in North Carolina. One of those was at Quaker Meadows near Morganton and near where my daughter and grandboys live. The Overmountain Victory Trail where they marched also passes through Salem where my son and his new bride live.
Seven days later they reached Kings Mountain. Cornwallis’s forces had learned of their approach and had fortified themselves at the top of the mountain. The British leaders had unknowingly sealed their own fate. These overmountain men were in their element. Like they were in their own back yard. The British held the high ground but their attackers knew how to fight amongst the trees and boulders that covered the mountainsides. At first the British were able to hold these hillbillies at bay with blistering gunfire but soon they had to start to conserve their ammunition and pick their targets. Their targets though were men of clothing that matched their surroundings that darted from tree to tree and rock to rock gradually making their way up the mountain “shouting like hell and fighting like devils”.
The British Forces were accustomed to fighting down on flatter ground and against a recognisable army. They didn’t know what they were dealing with here. A mob of wild men with guns come to rip out their hearts or eat them alive perhaps. But they were trapped at the top of the mountain with sharpshooters with their long Kentucky Rifles picking them off from below. After their commander Patrick Ferguson was shot dead off by one of the Overmountain sharpshooters and over 300 men were killed or badly wounded they finally surrendered.
Some historians say that the Battle of Kings Mountain was the beginning of the end for the British and that but for the valiant efforts and sacrifices of these Overmountain Men we might this day be subjects of the Queen. Thank You, boys! You gave us our livelihoods and our way of life!!
Winnsboro, South Carolina, 19 Jan. 1781. Receiving word of Banastre “Butcher'” Tarleton’s disastrous defeat at the Battle of Cowpens, British General Charles Cornwallis storms out of Winnsboro in hot pursuit of Daniel Morgan’s victorious battalions retreating at full speed to safety in Virginia: their famous, four-week “Race to the Dan.”
A corporal’s guard clatters up to militia-man William Blake’s whitewashed cottage with Captain Kincaid’s call to arms. The veteran mill owner, 31, rises from molding bullets by the stone fireplace and reaches for his powder horn, flintlock pistol, and curved cavalry saber hanging next to a shuck of Indian corn beside the long Deckard hunting rifle on pegs over the front door. Fanny Hornsby Blake packs a ration of beef jerky and corn meal in his leather belt pouch as her husband flings on a knee-length sheepskin jacket. He straps on the sword, primes the pistol, and sticks it in his waistband. A kiss for his young wife, nursing their newborn son; a quick hug for his daughter Leah and four-year-old boy Tom; and he mounts the pony tethered by their granite stoop. Hoofbeats fade as Dad rides off to war in the cold, gray winter light.
Still on January nights, when red embers cast dying shadows, William’s many descendants picture our Patriot Forefather trotting abreast with his troop to overtake Cornwallis. Strong hands clasp sword hilts, narrowed eyes scanning ahead for sight of the British enemy. The Hornsby-Stroud Bible records the husband and father’s precise date of death on 22 January, when Larkin Owen, the friend and neighbor who fought at his side, brought the desperately wounded man home to the Wateree River. He died in the arms of his stricken family.
So, in the mind’s eye, William Blake spurs always forward, shining with his comrades in their countless thousands across America’s grim fields of honor. May our loyal patriarch, his spirit steadfast in the glare of tyranny, live in his family’s heart forever.
Tipper,
and Ethelene, I enjoyed the Dyer Family History of the Revolutionary War. You are a Great Historian and Writer.
Today on this July 4th, I went back 9 years to “Lamplighting in the Valley”. That is the very first time I met The Blind Pig Gang. I bought the CD, along with “Songs of Christmas” and everyone made me feel like Family, especially Tipper and Matt. I was glad I went to JCCFS that evening to see and hear my Favorite Bluegrass and Gospel Group. …Ken
Thank you for this great story, put’s the 4th of July in perspective
A grand 4th of July to all!
Got a whole lot of folks to Thank for this day, the history behind it all should never be forgotten, all tho there are those who are on a crusade to do so. My Wife is a descendant of a Revolutionary War Soldier they have a little road side monument in Winston County about him, here is a brief story about him, https://www.freestateofwinston.org/stephengarrison.htm