Adoniram Allen was born in 1737 in
New Hampshire.
Sometime before 1775, his family moved to
Wilmington
NC. In 1776,
Allen joined the NC militia. His first battle would be the
Battle of Moore’s
Creek
Bridge.
At
the start of the Revolution,
North Carolinians could be
divided into 3 groups. One group supported the British. They
were called Tories or Loyalists. One group supported the
patriots. They were called Whigs. The third and final group
didn’t support either group and just wanted to be left alone.
On
February 27, 1776, a group of Tories and Whigs clashed at
Moore’s creek bridge on the
Widow Moore’s farm located near
Currie
NC. The battle of
Moore’s creek bridge is often
called the
Lexington and
Concord of the
South because it was the first Revolutionary war battle in the
Southern colonies and in NC. In just 15 minutes the shortest
battle of the Revolution, the Whigs defeated the Tories
capturing 850 Tories and tons of ammunition.
The Patriot victory at
Moore’s
Creek
Bridge
ended British hopes of easily quelling the rebellion in the
Southern colonies. After the victory at
Moore’s creek bridge, the North
Carolina Provincial assembly approved the Halifax Resolve
which instructed the Representatives of NC at the Continental
Congress to vote for
Independence from
Britain.
In 1780, Allen joined the NC militia under the command of
Benjamin Cleveland. His next battle would be at
Kings
Mountain.
The battle of
Kings
Mountain
as fought on October 7, 1780. No other battle during the
Revolution was ever fought in a more picturesque setting and
at the same time witnessed more devastation than the battle of
Kings
Mountain.
Soldiers after the battle reported that the very foundation of
the mountain shook with thunder from all the gunfire of the
over Mountain Men and Tories. It was also the first battle of
the Revolutionary war that both sides would use rifles as the
primary weapon. The British used the Ferguson Rifle, the first
breech loading rifle ever created, while the Over mountain men
used
Kentucky rifles.
At the end of the battle 225 loyalists were killed, 163
wounded and 716 taken prisoner. Major Patrick Ferguson,
Commander of the loyalists at
Kings
Mountain
was killed after being shot from his horse. Over 50 patriots
claim to have fired at
Ferguson while he was being
dragged on the ground through the woods by his horse although
his jacket was shot to shreds;
Ferguson only
received 6-8 bullet wounds.
The battle of
Kings
Mountain
would become the turning point of the war in the Southern
Campaign for the patriot army. Within a year Cornwallis would
surrender at
Yorktown.
From October 8-26 1780 Allen would be in charge of
transporting the prisoners captured at
Kings
Mountain to a prison
in
Bethabara
NC. It is
estimated that over 200 of the loyalist escaped along the way
and went back to their homes in SC.
In April 1781, Allen was with Benjamin Cleveland chasing
Tories through the mountains around Watauga
county
NC.
Cleveland was
captured by the Tory leader, Captain William Riddle. Allen
participated in the rescue and in May 1780 was at Wilkesboro
to watch Riddle and two of his men hang for this act of
treachery.
From September through December 1781, Allen was with
Cleveland along the
Little Pee Dee River in SC
chasing Tories. This would be Allen’s last military service.
In 1782, Allen moved back to Wilkes
county
NC where
he met Martha Riddle. They were son married, and had 7
children from this union. In 1795, Allen would travel through
the Cumberland Gap and become the first pioneer family to move
to Clay
county
KY. Allen
would live there until he died in 1838 at the age of 101.
On Dec 30, 1862, descendents from Allen who lived at
New haven
KY joined the
Union army and attempted to keep John hunt Morgan from
destroying a railroad bridge spanning the Rolling fork River.
This was part of the famous Christmas raid that Morgan started
on Dec 25, 1862 as part of a campaign to destroy the Union
Supply line to Southern KY via the L&N railroad. In
Clay
County,
Allen descendents would destroy the Salt works to keep them
from falling in Confederate hands.
Today most of Allen descendents are scattered all over
southeast KY.