General Joseph Martin Chapter
Cumberland Gap, TN
Cumberland Gap Patriot
James Beaty
James Beaty, NC militia Revolutionary war soldier was
born on February 10, 1753 in Chester County PA. Around 1775,
Beaty moved to Rowan County NC. In December 1775, Beaty joined the NC
militia under the command of General Griffith Rutherford. his first
campaign would be the Snow campaign fought near Greenville SC.
The Snow campaign got its name due to a severe blizzard that hit Sc
in mid December 1775. Beaty and the rest of Rutherford's army was able
to defeat a small band of Tories at the battle of Cane Break near
Greenville SC. This battle would help destroy Tory control of the
region for next several years until 1780.
In September, 1776, Beaty joined Rutherford on expedition during the
Cherokee wars of 1776. The purpose of the war was to punish the Cherokee
for the raids that had occurred in Nc along the Catawba River in June
1776. The only problem was Beaty and the rest of Rutherford's
army couldn't find any Cherokee warriors to fight, so they ended up
burning over 36 Indian villages, Killing Indian women and children,
burning and stealing their crops which nearly wiped out the Cherokee
nation in NC by starving them to death. The Cherokee were forced to sign
the treaty of Long Island in 1777 which forced the cherokee to give up
most of their land.
In January 1779, Beaty was sent to Charleston SC to help Benjamin
Lincoln with the defense of Charleston. The most memorable event was
that a sergeant in Beaty's company started a mutiny due to the lack of
food. Over 36 soldiers were tried and hanged for this mutiny.
In February 1779, Beaty helped General Moultrie run the British out
of Beaufort Sc. In 1782, Beaufort SC was one of the last cities in Sc
to be burned almost to the ground before the British left Sc.
In March 1779, Beaty participated in the Briar creek campaign in
Georgia. On March 3 1779, British soldiers surprised the NC and
GA militia army killing almost 400 patriots before they could escape.
Beaty barely escaped with his life. This would be his last campaign
Beaty would participate in.
The Battle of Briar Creek is believed by some historians to be the
battle that led the British to renew their pursuit of their Southern
strategy created after their defeat at the battle of Saratoga in 1777.
The Southern Strategy was a plan to conqueror and pacify the Southern
colonies by using as minimal British troops as possible.
However The British Southern Strategy had several flaws, 1) It
overestimated loyalist support in SC. The loyalist support in Sc was
about 35 % compared to 25 % in the rest of the colonies.2) The
inability to translate the Southern Strategy into a coherent
operational and Tactical plan designed to win the support of the
people. The Southern Strategy never won the support of the people of
SC. 3) The British never develop a means to determine ifthe Southern
strategy was being effective at the time it was being implemented, 4)
Underestimated the logistic problems of transporting supplies from the
coast to the inland of Sc often times leaving the British army with
very little food and supplies to conduct their campaigns in Sc.
Beaty moved to Sullivan County TN after the war. In 1803. Beaty soon
married Mary Smith from which they had one child from this Union. In
1803, Beaty moved his family through the Cumberland Gap to Cumberland
County KY. By 1830, Beaty had moved to Rutherford County TN where he
applied for his pension in 1832. Beaty died some time in 1835 and was
buried on a family farm.
During the Civil war, one of Beaty's descendents, David Beaty kept
Confederate raiders out of Fentress County TN. During the civil war ,
the Cumberland Plateau, which Fentress County TN is a part of was a no
man land full of guerilla activity of both Confederate and Union
Sympathizers. The worst Confederate sympathizer was Champ Ferguson who
would become David Beaty's arch enemy. Ferguson was notorius for
capturing a Union Company of Soldiers in KY, beheading them, and then
ordered his men to kick the heads around like soccer balls, turning one
of the worst war atrocities into a game. Ferguson was later captured by
Beaty and hanged for his crimes in 1865.
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