Benjamin Herndon


Benjamin Herndon was a colonel in the Wilkes County Regiment, a Patriot unit of the North Carolina militia in the American Revolution. After the war, he was elected to represent Wilkes County, North Carolina in the state legislature--twice as a senator and twice as a member of the house. After 1790, he moved with his family to Newberry County, South Carolina where he built a plantation called "Mollihon".

Biography

He was born in Drysdale Parish, Caroline County, Colony of Virginia on December 10, 1749. His parents were Joseph Herndon and Mary Boswell Herndon. He was one of six children. His father died in 1757 and Charles Gordon became the guardian of the children when he was eight years old. Benjamin married Sarah Pines on February 23, 1769. They lived in Culpeper County, Virginia in the first few years of their marriage. Benjamin sold his land in Virginia and moved to Wilkes County, North Carolina in about 1775 where they resided for the next 15 years on their plantation near what would become Ronda, North Carolina.

Military service

In 1775, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Surry County Regiment of the North Carolina militia and fought at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge on February 27, 1776 in North Carolina. In 1778, he was promoted to captain and served in the Wilkes County Regiment of the North Carolina militia. He was in the Battle of Colson's Mill on July 21, 1780 under Colonel William Lee Davidson of the Mecklenburg County Regiment. In the Spring of 1781, he was assigned to the North Carolina Light Dragoons Regiment. Later in 1781, he was commissioned as a major in the Wilkes County Regiment of the North Carolina militia. He was also promoted to full colonel in the Wilkes County Regiment in 1781, taking the place of Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, who vacated his command after being elected an official in the North Carolina General Assembly.

After the war

After the war, he represented Wilkes County in the North Carolina General Assembly's House of Commons ; and twice as a senator Lewis, Francis McKie, Elizabeth Farrow, Sally Rice, Barbara Asbury Johnson, Nancy Coke Rice, Rebecca Ellis Reid, Patsy M. Harriet Herndon, and Lucy Boswell Herndon.