Of general interest to Kentuckians because he was one of the tiny band of heroes who defended Bryan's Station, John Hammon is also of particular interest to a legion of the natives of this commonwealth since he was their common ancestor. His history epitomizes the amazing success of the sparsely settled colonies in America in a war with the then greatest power on earth. This success was based, to a large extent, upon the high percentage and high degree of personal courage to be found among the settlers.

Although of a Tidewater Virginia family, John Hammon shared for an eventful seven years the common lot of the people of the Yadkin Valley in North Carolina. The story of people like the Boones and Morgans and their compatriots, without exaggeration, makes the legendary sagas of ancient Sparta seem mild indeed. These Yadkin people fought the British on one side, a Loyalist "fifth column" on another, and the Indians on still another. Yet they had enough courage and stamina left to play a leading part in exploring, conquering, and settling Kentucky.

According to R. S. Cotterill, "the occupation of Kentucky was a task demanding men of the strongest caliber. The settlers must need be men of the most rugged mold, prompt in action and enduring in defeat. There was work to be done that no weakling could do. In the men of the Yadkin and the Shenandoah there was found a type capable of doing the work. So clearly did their fitness display itself in the history of early Kentucky that we are prone to designate them, in the phrase that Filson applied to Boone, as `instruments ordained to settle the wilderness.' Had the settlement of Kentucky depended on the achievements of Tidewater Virginians, it would be at this moment a kingdom of red Indians and a pasture for wild buffaloes.(1)

John Hammon was bred of a line that was "rugged," and by great exertions managed to suffer few defeats. Even in ancient Sparta the name Hammon was not unknown since it is one of the most ancient surnames in written history. First mentioned in the Old Testiment,(2) it persisted for thousands of years, and in Roman times Decimus Junius Juvenalis spells it Hammon in his Sixth Satire. In 1066 William the Conqueror, at the battle
of Hastings, relied heavily upon Robert Fitz Hamon (Robertus filius Hamot) whom he later appointed Prince of Wales. From this Robert Fitz Hamon all Englishmen and Americans of this cognomen have descended. The writer has visited descendants of the original family who remained in Normandie in 1066 and they also have the name as Hamon.

In England the name did not change. Mabel Fitz-Hamon married Robert, Earl of Glocester, in 1104.(3) When Robert Washington, ancestor of General George Washington, sold Sulgrave in 1610, his son moved into "Wyke Hamon." The surname of the American immigrant Ambrose was Hamon, but within two generations of his arrival in Virginia the family returned to the original spelling of the name, Hammon, and have maintained its use since that time.

About the 15th or 16th century, possibly due to faulty information in books on English surnames, the public seemed to decide to spell the name with a final "d"; and it is only with the greatest difficulty that this is prevented even today. Most of, the branches of the family, other than that of John
Haxnmon, gave up long ago and let the name be changed. In this account the name will be given as it was found in the records, but in every case where it was spelled Hamond, Hammond, Hamonds, Hammonds, Hamons, Hammons, and even Haimon by public officials, it was found to be written Hammon where a signature was added.

On the peaceful James River in Virginia, scene of the earliest English colonizing attempt in this country, a boy was born as the French and Indian War neared its close. Francis Fauquier was Governor; and young George Washington was, in his attempts to help the British Army, revealing those talents which he was to use against them so devastatingly later on. The Ohio Company had been formed and Dr. Thomas Walker had begun the real
history of Kentucky just a few years before. Of these things, James Hammon was keenly aware when his wife Mary gave birth to a son whom they named John, after his paternal great-grandfather.

Men of every sort in Virginia at that time were alert to the happenings in the west. Indeed, "looking well to the west" had been a habit for long generations. The east was a known quantity; it held little adventure and less hope. For centuries the eyes of this people had been turned ever westward. It might have been said of this Hammon family as was said of their contemporaries the Boones, "They were an adventurous breed ... they were always to be pulling up stakes and moving westward. Once, centuries earlier, they had been Bohuns, Normans. Even then they had been fighters and adventurers, who had moved westward into the newly conquered England. Even then they went to acquire land. With their adventurous nature went a singular caution. Any Boone would run any risk; but first, if he could, he must look over the ground, consider, ponder, reconnoiter."(4)

Personal tragedies failed to stop this westward movement. The loss of husband or wife was made up by another marriage, the survivor went on alone. Children advanced when the parents became too old. The push never stopped. The small unit the Hammon family with which we are concerned paused on the shores of the James River only for several years. Even at this early date the new child John was the fourth generation his name to be born in this country. This was not too unusual an occurance, for as early as 1611, nine years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, a plantation had been established only a few miles downstream from John's birthplace. His' immigrant ancestor was Ambrose Hamori, who arrived in old Rappahannock County, Virginia, from England in 1666.(5) From Ambrose descended John, William, James, and John, our subject.

For two generations the family seemed to pause and gather strength. That part of old Rappahannock County in which Ambrose settled was formed into Essex County in 1692, and this in turn was included in the new Caroline County in 1727. From there, about the year 1750, the grandsons and great-grandsons of Ambrose began to move southwestwardly to a crescent shaped area just west of the present city of Richmond, made up of
Goochland, Cumberland, and Amelia counties.

The reasons for this move were partly to provide suitable farmlands for the younger sons of the family and partly because the old lands could no longer produce as much of the cash crop, tobacco, as was desired. "During a normal year, about 1750, the total tobacco shipped from Virginia was approximately 50,000 hogsheads.... About 40 per cent of this was from the rapidly developing `upper District of James River!"(6)

John Hammon, in pension proceedings held October 6, 1835, before the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County, Ohio, declared he "was born on James River, ten miles below Carter's Ferry, in Goochland County, Jan'y 29th, 1760."' He also said in his deposition that he had no record of his birth. But by a singular piece of good luck a record was kept. The Douglass Register, edited by W. Mac. Jones, is famous among genealogists because at a time when almost no vital statistics were being kept, the Reverend William Douglasss took it upon himself to keep a record of the marriages, births, and deaths in his parish. He went to- St. James Parish in Goochland County (Dover Church) on the 12th of Oct. 1750 and had charge of it for 27 years. On page 59 of the original register he recorded: "James Hammond & Mary Hargiss a son named John born Jan: 29, 1760. Baptized 1760 Jun: 8."(8)

There is no record of the other children of this couple, but there is every reason, from later associations, to believe that John had a brother named James and possibly two more named Edmund and Martin, all older than he and for that reason not listed in the register. That the elder James, the father, came from Caroline County, Virginia, is indicated by a land purchase, recorded in Goochland County in 1747 by his brother "Ambrose Hammon of St. Margaret's Parish, Caroline County."(9)

John's mother was left a widow about 1763, as John in his deposition said his father died when he was "about three years of age as he has been told by his mother."(10) It is evident that Mary Hargis-Hammon, left alone with a family, soon married John Holbrook. Her new husband was the son of Randolph Holbrook who probably lived in the neghborhood as we find several mentions of the elder Holbrook in the records, including Reverend Douglass' attendance at his funeral in 1778.(11) More children were born to Mary Hargis in this second marriage, among whom were Hargis, Randolph, Colby, Robert, and Larkin Holbrook(l2) The infant John Hammon was reared in the Goochland home of his step-father among his
half-brothers and sisters and with, probably, several full brothers and sisters.

In 1774, a year before the Battle of Bunker Hill, the old restlessness again made itself manifest in the Hammon family. This time to the old urge. of adventure and desire for new, lands was added the sting of religious persecution. This particular branch of the family had long been of the Church of England, but now they embraced the new Baptist faith and suffered with others of this belief the various measures taken against them in Virginia(
In this year of 1774 William Hammon, grandfather of John, now a Baptist minister, left his Caroline County home to journey to Fauquier County where in company with John Wright, Jr.., cousin of George Washington, and others, he petitioned as follows: "To the Worshipful Court of Fauqr County". The Petition of us the Subscribers Sheweth, that we Being Desenters bearing the Denomination of Baptists &c. Desirieing to Worship God. According to the Best light we have in Holy Scriptures, and the Dictates of our Own Consciences, Humbly Prayeth that your Worships would be Pleased to grant us the liberty To meet together for the worship of God in our way ..."(13)The court took an entire year to give them an answer and in the meantime many of the petitioners tired of waiting and moved to North Carolina where freedom was to be had.

William Hammon, however, returned to his Tidewater home, where matters were even worse. In the clerk's office of Caroline County may be seen records of the imprisonment of several Baptist ministers, one of which reads: "Bartholomew Chewing, James Goodrich and Edward Herndon being brought before the court for teaching and preaching the Gospel, without having Episcopal ordination; or a license from the general court: Ordered, that they be remanded back to gaol of this county and there remain till they give security, each in the sum of twenty pounds and two securities each in the sum of two pounds, for their good behavior twelve months and a daye."(14) On. one occasion, Patrick Henry came to Caroline County to defend the liberties of these ministers. In despair, William Hammon aroused his sons and their friends the Holbrooks and they all moved to what was then Surry County, North Carolina.

With William Hammon were -sons Ambrose and Benjamin and probably John (uncle of our subject), Thomas, and Martin.  In the party was John Holbrook and probably his brothers. Young John Hammon, our subject, grandson of William, traveled with his mother and step-father, John Holbrook. A manuscript record in the office of Secretary of State of North Carolina reads: "The Publick of North Carolina to John Nuckols Dr. for going against the Cherokee Indians in Obedience to an express from the Commanding officer of Tryon County. Feby 9th 1771. -John Nuckols Capt, 6 days at 7s. 6d.---diet 4s. - - - - £2.19s ....Martin Hammons, 6 days at 2s.-do [diet] 4s.  16s. ..."(15) From this we know that with the usual "singular caution" they had sent ahead to reconnoiter. The location that the William Hammoni party chose for settling was on the Roaring River, a tributary of the Yadkin in Mulberry Fields, now Wilkesboro, and in the now Wilkes County, North Carolina.

Here, at the same time, also settled Benjamin Morgan and wife Phebe Settle of Fauquier County, Virginia, whose son Charles later became young John Hammon's father-in-law. In the same county on the upper reaches of the Hunting and Panther creeks was the six hundred acre farm of Daniel Boonie.(16) This section was sparsely settled at the time. So much so that in 1777 when Wilkes County was formed from Surry, the Hammon, Holbrook, and Morgan families were the first to enter land. Christopher Gist, Jr., had 5,000 acres at Mulberry Fields in 1749, (17) but the frontiersmen were slow in following him. Bishop Spangenberg, in seeking a tract of land suitable for a Moravian settlement in 1752, wrote concerning this location: "These are old Indian fields-where the Cherokees probably lived once. They have a pleasant situation and remarkably fertile soil. Morgan Bryant had taken them up but they are uninhabited."(18) The Hammon and Holbrook land was situated to the north in the foot hills of the Blue Ridge, on a branch of Roaring River still called Hammon's Creek, and extending uphill to include the present site of the resort hotel at Roaring Gap.

John, in his deposition, verified the location of his home: "He was living in Wilkes County, North Carolina, on Roaring River, at the foot of the Blue Ridge when called into service."(19) His step-father, John Holbrook, entered "175 acres south of mountain near camp branch. Including plantation ... 18 June 1778,"(20) and another 220 acres in 1779.21 John Holbrook must have been away from home most of the time during this period, as the records show he gave 84 months of service in the Revolutionary War.(22) The only glimpse that we get into the family life of the
household in which young John Hammon was raised is provided when the church reprimanded `Brother John Holbrook for suffering dancing in his house."23

Clergymen were rare in North Carolina at this time. As long as fifteen years later there were only seventy-seven who were ordained in the Baptist Church?(24) William Hammon became the first pastor of the South Fork of Roaring River Baptist Church the minutes of which, like the church itself, are still in existence. The church was a member of the Yadkin Association. In Benedict's "History of the Baptist Denomination in America", it is said that the Yadkin Association "Bears date from 1790, and is the oldest institution of the kind in this part of North Carolina...." As I was on the ground in 1810, and collected my information from some of its originators, who were then alive, the presumption is, that it is essentially correct.... In the year 1786, eleven churches, which had been previously gathered about the head of the Yadkin and its waters, began to hold yearly Conferences, as a branch of the Strawberry Association in Virginia.... But in 1790, the churches, composing this Conference, were, upon their request, dismissed, and formed a distinct Association... The ministers belonging to this body at its commencement, were George M'Neal, John Cleveland, William Petty, William Hammond, Cleveland Coffee, Andrew Baker, and John Stone. ..."(25)

While these people were busy settling, clearing land, building houses, and forming churches, they were caught up in the Revolutionary War. As we have seen, John Holbrook served the equivalent of seven years. Another John Hammon, cousin of our subject and son of his uncle Ambrose, enlisted in May 1776 in the North Carolina Line and served at Valley Forge and at White Plains where Major Andre was caught with the plans of Benedict Arnold. In this same company were William Boone, William Bryan, and Richard Morgan,(26) all of the Upper Yadkin. Except to send men off to the Continental Armies the full effect of the war did not reach this frontier until the signing of the Declaration of Independence almost a year after the Battle of Bunker Hill.

In the summer of 1776 the Indian war cry was heard in the Upper Yadkin Valley. Late in 1775 the British government had formulated a concerted attack upon North Carolina by its Naval Force, an uprising of Tories, and an Indian attack from the west. The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge dispersed the Royalist sympathizers and the British fleet retired. The Indians attacked on the false information that Charleston had been taken and the settlers, knowing that they had gained only a short respite by upsetting the enemy's timing, went at once against the Indians in force so as to eliminate one-third of their opponents before the others closed in again. Six thousand militia in two expeditions, including a good representation of Yadkin men, defeated the Indians in every engagement. Late in the year "unable to offer further resistance, the Cherokees fled to the fastness of the Great Smoky Mountains leaving their. crops and towns at the mercy of the enemy. All told, Rutherford destroyed thirty-six towns and laid waste a vast stretch of the surrounding Country "(27)

Five months after this campaign and sometime between the 1st and 29th of January 1777, John Hammon, our subject, marched out to defend his country. We have his own statement given under oath,(28) "he entered the service of the United States, as a militia man, in the year 1777 at the age of sixteen years, under the command of Captain Benjamin Cleveland in Wilkes County, on Roaring River in North Carolina, from thence he marched to Watauga, at the mouth of the Doe river, where he was stationed for the span of three months, under the same commander, with a guard of about thirty men, to protect the inhabitants against the Tories and Indians: From this place, after the three months had expired, the deponent returned to his mother's residence, with his commander. On the return of said Cleveland, he was promoted to a Colonel's commission, and his brother Larkin Cleveland took his place as Captain. Shortly after that time, deponent marched out under the command of the said Colonel Cleveland, who then had the charge of three or four hundred men, to the Catawba River, on a scouting party, in which more than a month was spent, during this time, in a skirmish with the Tories, the said Captain Cleveland had his thigh broken by a ball, and being unable to perform his duty, Martin Gambrel was chosen Captain in his stead."

Between battles with the Indians, Tories, and British, the Hammon men ranged through Kentucky as did others of the Yadkin. Martin Hammon seems to have been the first into the western territory as he had been first in North Carolina. How early he went and when John first began to accompany him is not known. It is known that Martin was in Kentucky in 1777 as he signed a petition to the General Assembly of Virginia on the 25th of November, in regard to trouble they were having at the time about salt.(29)

Hammond's Creek was named as a boundary of Jefferson County when Kentucky was made a District of Virginia in 1780, and divided into three counties: Fayette, Lincoln, and Jefferson.(30) That this creek was named for Martin Mammon or one of his kinsmen may be deduced from the fact that Martin made two entries of land totaling 1400 acres in its vicinity during this same year.(31) Another entry is described as "Lying on Hammonds' Creek a South Branch of Kentucky running in below Harrod's landing."(32)

A pertinent entry is found in the first Jefferson County, Kentucky, Entry Book: "Thomas Withers withdraws his entry of 804 acres on the waters of the Kentucky River joining Hammon's settlement and preemption."(33) This is proof that there was a Hammon settlement in early Kentucky. A settlement would indicate more than one of the family. What seemed to be occurring was that they were trying to settle in the west but were forced back into North Carolina several times before they could get a permanent hold. It is believed that John was Martin's companion long before their proven association at Bryan's Station, since John stated in his deposition that "he came to the west, a young man, an adventurer."(34) To penetrate so far into the wilderness- at such a tender age was not unheard of, as even George Washington, then unused to outdoor life, went as far as Wills Creek in 1748 when he was but sixteen years of age.

It was well that the men of the south destroyed the power of the Cherokees in 1776, for after that things went from bad to worse for several years throughout the struggling young nation. Even the unconquerable Washington said, "I have almost ceased to hope."(35) Following the disastrous defeat of the Americans under Gates at Camden, South Carolina, in August 1780, the Patriot cause experienced its darkest hours. The encouraged Tories became very bold and the frontiersmen were hard put to defend their homes. It is little wonder that boys of sixteen years were called upon to fight with the rest.

Only five days after the execution of Major Andre in the north, an event occurred in the "southern department" that turned the tide, and the tide became a flood that ended in victory at Yorktown. In September 1780, Lord Cornwallis advanced into North Carolina, boasting that he would conquer all the states south of the Susquehanna River. His line of march lay far inland and on his left, still farther inland, one of his best partisan commanders, Colonel Ferguson, penetrated too far into the mountains. Ferguson also boasted, saying that every mountain man that did not come down and swear allegiance to the king would be hanged to his own door post.

Aroused by this threat, bands of militia began to form in the counties of Surry, Wilkes, Burke, Washington, and Sullivan of North Carolina, and Washington County of Virginia.86 Ferguson, being daily informed of the movements of these troops, began to retreat toward the camp of Cornwallis before the rising bands of Americans could unite. J. G. Hollingsworth, in his History of Surry County (North Carolina), says: "The American commander, realizing that foot soldiers would not be able to overtake the retreating Tories, ordered all who possessed horses to press forward while the infantry was to follow as speedily as possible."(37)

John Hammon, then twenty years old, was a member of the advanced mounted infantry party under Colonel Cleveland. The pursuit and ensuing battle is described in Wheeler's History of North Carolina, as follows:

"The advance party mounted infantry ... In the evening arrived at a place called Cowpens, in South Carolina, where two beeves were killed and order. was given for the men to cook and eat as quickly as possible; but marching orders were given before those who were indolent had prepared anything to eat, and they marched all night (being dark and rainy) and crossed Broad river the next morning where an attack was expected. But not finding the enemy the detachment, almost exhausted by fatigue, hunger, cold, and wet, and for want of sleep, pursued their march a few miles when they met two men from Colonel Ferguson's camp who gave some account of his situation. Then, being revived by hopes of gaining the desired object, the officers held a short consultation (sitting on their horses) in which it was concluded that said detachments should be formed into four columns; two of the columns should govern their march by the view of the other. Colonel Winston was placed at the head of the right column; Colonel Cleveland at the head of the left, and Colonel Shelby and Sevier at the heads of the two middle columns; and as Colonel Campbell had to come the greatest distance from the State of Virginia, he was complimented with the command of the entire detachment. [After the consultation they) rode like fox hunters as fast as their horses could run thru rough woods, crossing branches and ridges without any person that had any knowledge of the woods to direct or guide them. They happened to fall in upon the left of the enemy (being the place of their intended destination). At this very moment the firing began on the other parts of the line, when all dismounted under fire of the enemy, and the right and left columns surrounded them as quickly as possible. In the meantime, the enemy charged with bayonets on the two middle columns, who being armed with rifles and not a single bayonet amongst them, were twice obliged to retreat a small distance, but they wheeled again with increased vigor and fought bravely. The enemy being surrounded, their left wing began to retreat by drawing up closer toward their right. At length they hoisted a flag and surrendered themselves prisoners of war. Not a single man of them escaped that was in the camp at the commencement of the battle."(38)

Some statistics of this engagement are given by J. G. Hollingsworth, in his History of Surry County (North Carolina) "Out of the Patriot force of 700 there were 32 killed on the field and about 40 died afterward of their wounds. The Tory loss in killed were 250 and 987 prisoners."(39)

In Revolutionary Incidents, by Caruthers, it is said: "after firing a few rounds the smoke obscured the British troops, and the Americans unable to see, faltered. At that critical moment Jesse Franklin rode up in advance of the line and perceiving the situation of the foe, confused by smoke and shooting above the heads of their assailants, he encouraged the troops to make another effort, assuring them the victory would be theirs if they advanced within good range of the enemy and then fired. In that moment Colonel Ferguson fell and confusion ensued. Captain Ryarson, being the next highest officer, assumed the command but all his efforts to restore order were unavailing. Surrounded and exposed to a fire they could not return, they soon surrendered. Captain Ryarson delivered up his sword to Jesse Frankin saying to him, `you deserve it, sir!'"(40)

Forty-one years later, John Hammon named his youngest son after Jesse Franklin, the hero of this engagement.

Temple Bodley, in his History of Kentucky, says of this battle,(41) In two, if not all, of the three most decisive battles of the Revolution east of the Alleghenies-Saratoga, King's Mountain, and Cowpens--our victories were really won in the forest and, both in preliminary movements and in the crisis of fight, were chiefly due to these riflemen from the frontiers." Military tactics aside, contemplate the audacity of these 700 men "surrounding" 1237 of the better armed enemy. Incidentally, the breach loading rifle was first introduced by the British in this battle.

John Hammon's account of this battle is preserved in his deposition. He says: "the deponent, under the orders of the same Colonel Cleveland, and Captain Gambril, marched to King's Mountain, in which battle the deponent fought, Colonel Campbell, being the eldest officer on the ground, then took command. After being three times driven down the side of the mountain, the British and Tories were finally defeated, and their army taken prisoner; after the battle deponent returned home with his officers, and during his absence, had served more than a month."(42)

John goes on as follows: "Shortly after the deponents return, Col. Cleveland, and said Captain Gambril, raised another party of men, among whom was deponent and marched then to New River, where they remained hunting the tories, fifteen or sixteen days. While the party was out, three tories were captured, one of whom by the name of Ingraham, having used some severe language to the said Captain Gambril, was killed with the breach of said Garnbril's gun; in consequence of which said Col. Cleveland, immediately suspended said Gambril from his command and John Morgan was appointed in his stead. Under said Morgan, deponent marched to the New River the second time, where he spent, under arms, about one fortnight. These were a part of the more remarkable incidents in which deponent was engaged. He also marched with Col. Lemon, to join General Greene, but the troops were ordered back, before they met the army. . . ." "He [John] was several times a volunteer, was once drafted, and never served as a substitute."

Mary, John's mother, must have died late in 1780 after the battle of King's Mountain, for in his deposition he says: "His mother died a short time before deponent emigrated to Kentucky.... At the time of her death, his mother, who had married a second time, resided in Wilkes County, North Carolina." Her death seemed to sever the last tie holding John to Wilkes county for he left, never to return.

John's grandfather, Rev. William Hammon, stayed on in North Carolina until he died in 1793 leaving a will in Wilkes County naming wife Sarah, sons Ambrose and Benjamin, and daughters Sarah and Drusella." His other sons were either dead or, like Martin, had disappeared into the west. John's uncle Ambrose died in 1794 leaving a will giving his estate and nine negroes to his wife Ann, sons John and Robert, and daughters Elizabeth Amburga and Mary Johnson."(44) Both Ambrose and his father participated in the Revolution.(45) John's brother or brothers, Holbrook half-brothers and sisters, and future in-laws, the Morgans, were to follow him in groups at intervals for the next 25 years.

When John Hammon left North Carolina, he did not go directly to Kentucky. He was now of legal age and wanted to dispose of a farm which evidently had been held in trust for him in Virginia since the death of his father. He took a year to attend to this and other matters and on the 13th of June 1782, we find "John Hammon of the County of Wilkes in North Carolina" selling 319 acres of land in Albermarle County, Virginia, to Thomas Johnson.(46) The purchaser lived at the time in Wilkes County and was a member of William Hammon's church. He probably was the husband of John's cousin, Mary Hammon Johnson, named in the will above. He was also, in all probability, the Thomas Johnson who "much pleased" Daniel Boone by appearing at Long Island on the Holston in 1775 to help cut the first path to Kentucky."'

During this interval of a year after the surrender of Cornwallis in the east and before the last battles of the Revolution in the west, John, with the money from his farm in his pockets, must have courted and married his first wife Mary Clements in Virginia. There is no record of his marriage in North Carolina, not even of a family of that name being in Wilkes County, but by August of 1782 he had a wife of that name when he "settled" at Bryan's Station.

"Seventeen Hundred and Eighty-two has been called Kentucky's `year of blood.' One blow after another fell, now here, now there, until the more timid settlers again packed up for departure and Daniel Boone himself was on the verge of despair [after Estill's defeat in March].... The British and Indians had been making vigorous preparations at Detroit all winter.... In August the British commander at Detroit sent in an intelligence report: `Mr. McKee informs me that the people of Kentuck are night and day employed in moving their Families and Effects to a large Settlement called Bryant's Station, where they hope to remain in security."(48)

A month earlier a force of 500 men from Pennsylvania and Virginia was defeated by the Indians on the Sandusky River and their commander, Colonel William Crawford, burned at the stake. He was two hours in the fire, dying only after he had been scalped alive and live coals placed on his raw head.

Amidst all this danger, John Hammon and his bride were making their way along the Wilderness Road. On the 13th of June, he was in Charlottesville, Virginia, and by the 16th of August had settled at Bryan's Station. As his arrival in North Carolina six years before had signalled the start of the Revolutionary War, his arrival on the new frontier in Kentucky seemed to touch off the last fierce battles that ended forever the ravages of the savages. The story, often told, bears repeating briefly.

At the time John rode into the stockade that his Yadkin neighbors, the Bryans, had started in 1779, a war party of 30 British Rangers and some 270 Indians under Captain Caldwell left Old Chillicothe, bound for the same place. Under Caldwell was the "White Indian," Simon Girty, as interpreter and quasi-commander of the Wyandots, and Moluntha leading the Shawnees. This force came down the Little Miami, crossed the Ohio without being seen by the armed galley upon which General Clark had spent so much time, and then were allowed to traverse nearly the whole width of Fayette County without being discovered.

A diversionary raid had just been made at Hoy's Station and the pursuing pioneers had been ambushed at the Upper Blue Licks. Daniel Boone and all the other settlers were deceived, as the Indians had intended, and preparations were made at all the stations to send men to punish the raiders.

"At Bryan's Station no one bad the least suspicion that an attack impended. The men were already assembled and engaged in last minute preparations before marching to the relief of Hoy's.... While this was going on, Bryan's Station kept its gates barred. They were never opened. Suddenly the settlers became aware that the Indians were all around them. How they found out is a mystery. Not an Indian showed himself. And yet Bryan's Station knew its danger."(49)

The stockade was of sharp pointed logs twelve feet high forming a parallelogram 600 .feet long by 150 wide, with block houses at the corners. Forty cabins placed at intervals formed part of the walls between the two gates. The fort stood on a little cleared hill overlooking a creek. A hundred acres of full grown corn, several abandoned cabins, and most of the cattle were just beyond the clearing. The frontiersmen were prepared except for one thing the last drop of water had been used during the night in preparing four days supply of food for the men to take with them. "But as yet the sun had not risen and the Indian Chiefs were not quite certain what lay before them. If the relief from Bryan's Station had already started for. Hoy's, the silent stockade must be nearly empty and perhaps it could be rushed. If the men were inside, the invaders still outnumbered them six or ten to one ... but there was little to be gained by trying to rush a twelve-foot log wall with forty-four of the finest marksmen in the world shooting from cover while their women reloaded spare rifles behind them."(50)

Just before daylight one Indian was shot but Girty, still hoping that he would be taken for part of a small raiding party, kept his companions quiet. Two men desperately rode out of the fort to bring aid, but the war party was still unwilling to betray its presence. It was then decided to take advantage of this reluctance on the part of the Indians by having the women go as usual for the water outside the fort and thus, carrying on the pretense that the settlers had discovered nothing amiss, prepare for a long siege.

There was a natural fear when this idea was first advanced, but it was finally decided that all the women should go so that none be favored. The_ entire group knelt for prayer and then kicking off their moccasins, the better to run, and picking up their buckets they walked through the gate and were soon beyond the range of the protecting rifles of their men. The most gallant bluff of all history! Sarah Clement Hammon, wife of John Hammon, was in the group(51)

Probably the most galling part of the experience was that at the spring, where the shallow depth of the water made it necessary to dip up the water by the gourdful, the women could see a foot or a hand of the savages here and there in the bushes. Whether in amazement, admiration of the daring of the women, or in belief that their plan had succeeded, the Indians made no move.

Slowed by the burden of the water the women came back up the hill with here and there a little girl trying to shield her mother from the Indians. As they neared the gate the ordeal told and several, then all, ran as best they could the remaining distance. Any Kentuckian would give much to see the scene that must have transpired inside the quickly closed gate.

The Indians waited in vain. The morning wore on and nothing stirred within the fort. The savages grew restless and the leaders finally came to realize that "they'd been had," so they tried the old trick of having a small party show themselves on the far side of the stockade. With a wisdom that was unusual in early Kentucky the besieged at Bryan's seemed to do everything properly. Thirteen men were sent out to shoot at the decoys and make as much noise as possible and then run back into the fort quickly to help meet the expected main attack from the side of the spring.

With a chilling war cry the attack came with Girty in the lead, followed by his red and black painted warriors. For a few minutes there was chaos outside the walls with the Indians firing as they ran, some kneeling to shoot, others with torches making straight for the walls. The pioneers, deadly cool and firing one after the other the rifles leaning against the logs beside them, hesitated only long enough to help when the women could not keep up with the loading. Only a few attackers reached the walls but these managed to fire several cabins. The Indian never was good at facing a hot frontal fire and the charge melted away, leaving only the dead and wounded scattered on the hill.

The fires, started by the torches, were extinguished and the rest of the day was spent in desultory shooting by the invaders varied with an occasional flaming arrow which was extinguished by the small boys stationed on the inwardly sloping roofs. Only two of the defenders were killed.

The two messengers sent for aid rode through Lexington, where they found the men gone, and on to Boone's Station where they found Boone, Todd, and Ellis with their men. 30 footmen and 16 or 17 mounted men started at once for Bryan's and reached it at two in the afternoon. Expecting the ambush which was waiting for them, they decided that the horsemen should charge directly through the Indians, while the footmen flanked around the cornfield. With a wild rush the mounted riflemen charged into the Indians and on to the stockade, without man or horse suffering so much as a scratch although hundreds were shooting at them.

The footmen were doing fine until the noise caused them to believe that their mounted companions were in trouble and they turned back to help, only to confront the whole band of the enraged enemy. Luckily, their rifles were unfired while those of the Indians were empty. There was a quick retreat into the tall corn and a confused thrashing and shooting as they returned to Lexington, having lost two of their number.

Girty's last attempt to talk the defenders into surrendering was laughed to scorn by one Aaron Reynolds within the fort. It was said that Girty "took great offense at the levity and want of politeness of his adversary."

Through the long night the men stayed at the portholes. Now and then a few bullets would thud against the logs. Just after dawn, the first of the relief galloped up through the clearing yelling, "The varmints are gone!"

John Hammon devoted but four sentences to his account of the battle of King's Mountain, where an entire army was captured to the last man. Of this fight in Kentucky he says only "before the close of the war, moved to Kentucky and settled at Bryant's Station." Reuben T. Durret, in writing of Bryant's Station, lists John Hammond and his wife Sarah Clement Hammond, along with Martin Hammond, as having been among those in the fort on the 15th of August 1782. His authority was a letter he received from William D. Hixon.(52) No clue is left us whether John was among those who left the station to pursue the Indians, and suffered the defeat of the Lower Blue Licks.

Because no more mention is made of the brave Sarah it is possible that she was killed two months later. In Colonel William Whitley's Narrative it is said: "Baughman's Defeat was in October, 1782 on the Wilderness [Road] & head of Dick's River, Jacob Baughman and his mother killed, Mrs. Hammons came into the Crab Orchard in her Linnen Wooley wounded in the head with an Arrow."(53) It may be that it was her death that caused John to march off to Ohio with Clark in November.

To revenge the defeat at the Lower Blue Licks, it was decided to invade Indian Territory. "The militia was to gather at Bryant's Station under Logan and at Louisville under Floyd. The two divisions were to meet at the mouth of the Licking, and under the command of Clarke proceed against the Indian towns on the Great Miami."(54) John Hammon stated that he "in the year 1782, joined Col Benjamin Logan, at Clear Creek, and, having crossed the Ohio, marched against the Shawnee Towns, which were burned, and thirty or more prisoners taken, which were taken to Danville in Kentucky."(55)

After this march John, now 22 and a veteran of five years of war, settled down just west of Stamping Ground, Scott County, Kentucky, and began to raise a family. He stayed in this location 12 or 15 years; and if Sarah Clement had survived the Indian arrow she now died during this period, for by the time John moved again, about the turn of the 19th century, his wife was Mildred Ann Morgan.

From the year 1782 to 1817 there is a gap in the written record applying to this family caused by the destruction of the records of Scott County, Kentucky. The only exception came in 1788 when John and (his probable full brother) James Hammon signed a petition asking the General Assembly of Virginia to permit Kentucky to separate from the mother state.(56)

In 1939 the writer visited Owenton, Kentucky, and talked with a grandson of John Hammon. This fine old man, the late John Holbrook, had been born in 1847 and was 21 years old when his maternal grandfather had died at the home of his parents. The information above about the residence in Scott County and the marriage to Mildred Ann Morgan was furnished by him.

Mildred Ann was the daughter of Charles Morgan and this marriage accounts for John Hammon's next move. Charles Morgan was prominent in Wilkes County, North Carolina, and in the Revolutionary War. He had been given the almost hopeless task of recruiting and training the Moravians of North Carolina for military service. There is a long list of his attempts to bring the members of. this religious sect out for drill. A typical example reads:

Notice is hereby given to all them Moravians living in Salem, Bethabara and Huysertown to meet at John Shopes the 14th of July next insuing with guns and accoutrements there to be trained according to law all from 16 to 50 bears arms. Only ministers of the Gospel, public millers & ferry keepers (excluded). Set up by me. Charles Morgan the 12th June, 1777.(57)
 

There were three Charles Morgans in early Kentucky. They were cousins and all originally from Fauquier County, Virginia. Mildred's father moved with his family to Wilkes County, North Carolina, before the war in the exodus of Baptists from Virginia. One of the Fauquier County Charles Morgans served with George Rogers Clark and took up lands more to the west in Kentucky. Many of his descendants now live in and around Bowling Green. The Wilkes County Charles Morgan can be distinguished by the fact that he took up lands in a circle about Bryan's Station.(58) Charles was also one of the magistrates acting in Fayette County in 1792.(59) Earlier he had "prepared the tax book for the District of Fayette County bounded by Bryan's Station and the Leestown Road."(60)

John Hammon moved to his father-in-law's 60,000 acres at Cobb's Station on Eagle Creek, but the loss of the Scott County records makes it impossible to ascertain the date of the sale of his own holdings near Stamping Ground. When Owen County was formed in 1819, the Eagle Creek section was taken into the new county.

On the 11th of October 1817, the Mussel Shoals Baptist Church was formed on Eagle Creek near what is now Lusby's Mill.(61) John, being a staunch member of the church, is the seventh listed among the men while "Milly Hammon" is seventh among the women. There are thirteen of the Hammon family, including a John Jr., among the 100 charter members.

John had 22 children of whom 12 can be identified as, Elizabeth, Lewis, Colby, John Jr., Robert and Ambrose (who were twins), James, Asa, Hiram, Thomas, Elijah, and Jesse Franklin Hammon. Jesse was the last born in 1821, when his father was 61.

In 1825 the booming steamboat business began luring men from the farms to the rivers. John followed the old Warrior's Trail to Cincinnati and engaged in contracting for the construction of the wooden superstructure of the river craft. At least four of his sons followed and became proficient in the different trades necessary to his business. The Cincinnati directories show three of these were John Jr., William, and Elijah.

John stated in 1835 that he had resided in Cincinnati for ten years.(62) The directory of 1839 (63) lists "John Hammond of Kentucky" with residence near the Methodist Church in the adjoining town of Fulton; Elijah and William were living with him. Fulton extended along the Ohio from the present Kemper Lane up river to Torrence Road and was annexed to Cincinnati in 1854. It was at that time the seat of the most extensive shipbuilding industry on the Ohio River, turning out such ships as the Natchez.(64)

Of this period of Jesse Franklin Hammon's life, the CourierJournal later stated: "While a boy he lived on a farm with his twenty-two brothers and sisters, of whom he was the youngest. At the age of eighteen he left the farm and went with his father to Cincinnati where they engaged in business."(66) His father had been engaged in that business for 14 years when Jesse became 18. What was meant was that Jesse went along when his father returned to Cincinnati, for John never moved his family from the farm in Owen County but instead commuted back and forth at intervals. John is mentioned in the church minutes in Owen County in 1828, 1839, and 1840, and then again in the Cincinnati directory in 1843. By this time he was 83 years old.

In 1841, while young Jesse Was working for his father, he met and fell in love with a beautiful girl who had been sent from her home in Louisville to a school in Cincinnati. She was Martha Ann Paget, granddaughter of John Wright who removed from Fauquier County, Virginia, to Jefferson County, Kentucky, in 1792 and who was the great-great-grandson of Major Francis Wright and Ann Washington. Martha's parents refused their permission for a marriage because of her youth. The young couple promptly eloped. They returned to Louisville where Jesse at first continued to 'build steamboats; later he became Captain of the Thruston Guards during the Civil War; next studied law and opened his office on Center Street (now Armory Place) ; and after some years became judge. Jesse and Martha have scores of descendants in Jefferson County today.

Old John Hammon spent his declining years on Hammon's Creek, a branch of Eagle Creek in Owen County, and died there at the home of a daughter in 1888 when 108 years of age. He was buried in the Mussel Shoals Baptist Church yard. Later a newspaper, speaking of Jesse, stated "the entire family was noted for the remarkable old age to which the members lived. His father died a few years ago, at the age of 108; one of his sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Morgan, was 103 when she passed away; his eldest brother recently died at the age of 90, and nearly all the others were past the age alloted to man when they died."(66)

Thus ended a life whose span reached from the time of the French and Indian War past that of the Civil War. His first fifteen years were spent in Virginia as a subject of the King of England, yet he outlived President Lincoln. He was born in the colonies which were struggling for existence and when he died they, partly through his efforts, had become a great nation.

    *Stratton Owen Hammon is a descendant of John Hammon. He is apast chairman of the Genealogical Committee of The Filson Club,
      past president of the Kentucky Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and a Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor.
(1) History of Pioneer Kentucky, by R. S. Cotterill (1917), p. 25.
(2) Joshua, 19th chapter, 28th verse.
(3) Genealogical History of the Kings of England and Monarchs of Great Britain, &c., by Francis Sandford Esq. Printed by Tho. Newcomb
      (1677), p-45.
(4) Daniel Boone, John Bakeless (1939), p. 3.
(5) Cavaliers and Pioneers, edited by Nell Marion Nugent (1934), Vol. 1, p. 548 (587).
(6) George Washington, Douglass S. Freeman, Vol. 1, p. 142.
(7) Records of the Veterans' Administration, Revolutionary War pension file of John Hammon. The National Archives, Washington, D. C.
      (hereafter cited as VA File S 9-559).
(8) The Douglass Register, ed. by W. Mac. Jones, p. 206.
(9) Information furnished by Margaret K. Miller, Clerk Circuit Court, Goochland County, Va.
(10) VA File S 9-559.
(11) The Douglass Register, p. 338.
(12) Wilkes County, North Carolina, Will Book, 26 March 1805, 26 January 1805.
(13) The Washington Ancestry, by Charles A. Hoppin, Vol. 1, p. 436.
(14) History of Caroline County, Virginia, WingfIeld, p. 316.
(15) The Colonial Records of North Carolina, edited by William L. Saunders, Vol. 8,p 517.
(16) History of Surry County (North Carolina), by J. G. Hollingsworth, p.56.
(17) Map of Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson, 1749.
(18) History of Wachovia in North Carolina, Clewell, p. 6. 'OVA File S 9-559.
(20) Wilkes County, North Carolina, Land Entry Book, Entry No. 202.
(21) Ibid. Entry No. 801.
(22) Roster of Soldiers From North Carolina in the American Revolution, p. 271.
(23) Minutes of the South Fork of Roaring River Baptist Church, Wilkes County, North Carolina, 1785. These minutes are unpublished
        but a typewritten and indexed copy is in the possession of The Filson Club.
(24) The Colonial Records of North Carolina, Saunders, Vol. 5, p. 1183.
(25) Ibid. Vol. 5, pp. 1187, 1188; History of the Baptist Denomination in America, Benedict, p. 681, section III.
(26) The State Records of North Carolina, Clark, Vol. 13, p. 506.
(27) Report of Bureau of Ethnology 1898, Mooney, p. 49.
(28) OVA File S 9-559.
(29) Petitions of the Early Inhabitants of Kentucky, by James Rood Robert son, Filson Club Publications No. 27, Petition No. 6
       (See p3, 43, 44, 189, 205).
(30) History of Kentucky, by Temple Bodley, Vol. 1, p. 7, note 23.
(31) Jefferson County Entry Book A, p. 14; Old Kentucky Entries and Deeds, compiled by W. R. Jillson, Filson Club Publications
       No. 34, p. 214.
(32) Jefferson County Entry Book A, p. 22; Old Kentucky Entries and Deeds, Filson Club Publications No. 34, p. 214.
(33) Jefferson County Entry Book A, p. 193 (1780).
(34) VA File S 9-559.
(35) The War of Independence, John Fiske, p. 170.
(36) The State Records of North Carolina, Clark, Vol. 14, p. 863.
(37) History of Surry County (North Carolina), by J. G. Hollingsworth, p.91.
(38) History of North Carolina, Wheeler, Vol. 2, p. 106; History of Surry County Hollingsworth, pp. 92.
(39) History of Surry County, Hollingsworth, p. 92.
(40) Revolutionary Incidents, Caruthers, Vol. 2, pp. 203, 204.
(41) History o Kentucky, Temple Bodley, Vol. 1, p. 25.
(42) VA File of 9-559.
(43) Wilkes County, North Carolina, Wills 1779-1852, Vol. 1, p. 65.
(44) Ibid. Vol. 1, p. 66.
(45) Revolutionary Accounts, Book A, p. 195, account 6030, January 1783; Book 1-32-2, September 1782; Book 30, 56; Book 30,79;
        Book 30, 4,1783.
(46) Albermarle County, Virginia, Deed Book 8,p 9.
(47) The Wilderness Road, Robert L. Kincaid, p.100.
(48) Daniel Boone, Bakeless, p. 263.
(49) Ibid. p. 274.
(50) Ibid p. 276.
(51) Bryant's Station, Reuben T. Durrett, Filson Club Publications No. 12, p. 51.
(52) Ibid. pp. 47-51.
(53) Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 36, p. 197; History of Kentucky, Collins (1877 edition), p. 692.
(54) History of Pioneer Kentucky, Cotter" p. 197.
(55) VA File S 9-559.
(56) Petitions of the Early Inhabitants o Kentucky, James R. Robertson, Filson Club Publications No. 27, petition o. 58, pp. 121, 122, 205.
(57) Records of the Moravians in North Carolina, Fries, Vol. 3, Bethabara Diary 1777, p.1364.
(58) Old Kentucky Entries and Deeds, Jillson, Filson Club Publications No. 34, p. 131.
(59) History of Pioneer Lexington (Kentucky), Charles R. Staples, p. 78.
(60) Ibid. p. 77.
(61) Minutes of the Mussel Shoals Baptist Church, Microfilm in possession of The Filson Club and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
(62) VA File S 9-559.
(63) Shaffer's Cincinnati Directory, 1839-40, p. 423.
(64) Cincinnati Guide 1943, p. 242.
(65) The Times, Louisville, Kentucky, 22 December 1893, p. 1; CourierJournal, Vol. XXCI, New Series No. 9124, p. 4, col. 1 and 2,
        23 December 1893.
(66) Ibid.