William Washington

A second cousin to George Washington, William Washington was a distinguished field officer of the Continental Army during the War for American Independence.  He led one of the two infantry vanguards into the Hessian outpost during the Battle of Trenton and later achieved laurels for his intrepidity as commander of a regiment of light dragoons during the southern campaigns of 1781 under Major General Nathanael Greene. After surrendering at Yorktown, Brigadier General Lord Charles Cornwallis would publicly remark that “there could be no more formidable antagonist in a charge, at the head of his cavalry, than Colonel William Washington.”¹

Early Life in Virginia and Service in the American Revolution

William Washington was born on February 28, 1752, to Bailey and Catherine Storke Washington in Overwharton Parish, Stafford County, Virginia.² He spent his formative years on his father’s tobacco plantation and was said to be studying for a life in the clergy.  With the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he was appointed as a captain of the Stafford County Minutemen on September 12, 1775, which was integrated into the Third Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line in the early months of 1776.³  After guarding the Virginia side of the Tidal Potomac Region, the 3rd Virginia Regiment was ordered to join the main Continental Army in New York in mid-August 1776 and reinforced Washington’s army after the Battle of Long Island.⁴  Captain William Washington was selected to lead one of the vanguards of the surprise attack on the Hessian outpost at Trenton, New Jersey on December 26, 1776.⁵  Wounded in this action, he was rewarded with a promotion to the rank of major and assigned to the newly created Fourth Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons upon recovery.⁶

By the end of 1779, William Washington had advanced to Lieutenant Colonel, commanding the Third Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons. In response to British mobilization in the south, he was sent to lead a unit of patriot forces in Charleston, South Carolina.⁷  His unit, which lacked man power, was assigned to a detachment of light troops outside of the city to reconnoiter and screen against the advancing enemy.  This detachment was surprised by the British Legion at Monck's Corner on April 14. Colonel Washington’s advocated for strategies to prevent another surprise.⁸ However, British forces surprised them again at Lenud’s Ferry on May 5.⁹ After a series of American defeats, the British captured Charleston later that May. 

After refitting in North Carolina, he had successes with the capture of Rugeley’s Fort near British-occupied Camden, South Carolina in December of 1780.¹⁰ Later that month, he also defeated of a marauding band of Tories at Hammond's Old Store in the South Carolina backcountry.¹¹ However, it would be on January 17, 1781, that Washington shone brightest at the Battle of Cowpens by countering and routing the charge of the enemy cavalry.¹²  For his part in this engagement, Congress awarded him a silver medal, one of only eleven to be awarded during the conflict.¹³ He also led his regiment at the Battles of Guilford Courthouse in March and Hobkirk Hill in April of 1781.  At the Battle of Eutaw Springs,on September 8, 1781 Colonel Washington was severely wounded while leading a charge and was subsequently captured, which ended his service in the war.¹⁴ 

Post-War Life in South Carolina

As a prisoner of war, William Washington spent the remaining war years in British-occupied Charleston, South Carolina.  There he met and married Jane Reily Elliott. Together, they had two children. They divided their time between the city and Sandy Hill, a rice plantation originally owned by Elliott’s family, southwest of Charleston. ¹⁵ He had a cordial relationship with George Washington, sending seeds of local plants to Mount Vernon and later hosting the President’s donkey, Royal Gift, in his pastures.¹⁶  William also accommodated President Washington during his southern tour in May of 1791 at his plantation home.¹⁷  Colonel Washington’s neighbors elected him as a representative of St. Paul’s Parish from 1787 to 1791 and then as a senator from 1792 to 1804 in the state assembly.¹⁸  In 1794, he was appointed to the command of a brigade of the state militia.¹⁹  During anticipated hostilities with France in 1798, he was appointed a Brigadier General in the Provisional Army of the United States.²⁰ After a lingering illness, William Washington passed away on March 16, 1810.²¹

Samuel K. Fore Harlan Crow Library

Notes

1. From “a communication made by William Jackson to Major Alexander Garden at Philadelphia in September 1822 or 1823,” Williams-Chesnut-Manning Families Papers, South Caroliniana Library.

2. King, George H. S. The Register of Saint Paul’s Parish, 1715-1798, Stafford County, Virginia…  (Fredericksburg, Va.: Privately published, 1960), p. 123.

3. Scribner, Robert L., ed.  Revolutionary Virginia: Vol. IV; The Committee of Safety and the Balance of Forces, 1775.  (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1978) pp. 99-100; & Sanchez-Saavedra, E. M., comp.  A Guide to Virginia Military Organizations in the American Revolution, 1774-1787. (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1978). Though the compiler incorrectly indicates that Washington’s company was raised in Westmoreland County, see Robert L. Scribner, ed. Revolutionary Virginia: Vol. VI; The Time for Decision, 1776.  (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1981), pp. 339-40.

4. “George Mason to George Washington, 2 April 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives.

5. “General Orders, 25 December 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives.

6. “George Washington to Brigadier General George Weedon, 27 March 1777,” Founders Online, National Archives.

7. “George Washington to Lieutenant Colonel William Washington, 19 November 1779,” Founders Online, National Archives.

8. Revolutionary War Pension Application of Lawrence Everheart, (S. 25,068). National Archives & Records Administration.

9. Borick, Carl P. A Gallant Defense: The Siege of Charleston, 1780. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2003), pp. 148-50 & 193-94.

10. William Smallwood to Nathanael Greene, Dec. 6, 1780.  Dennis M. Conrad, ed.  The Papers of General Nathanael Greene: Vol. VI.  (Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press, 1991.), pp. 538-41.

11. Daniel Morgan to Nathanael Greene, Dec. 31, 1780. Dennis M. Conrad, ed.  The Papers of General Nathanael Greene: Vol. VII.  (Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press, 1994.), pp. 30-33.

12. Babits, Lawrence E.  Devil of a Whipping: The Battle of Cowpens. (Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press, 1998.), pp. 124-36.

13. Ford, Worthington Chauncey, ed. Journals of Continental Congress: Vol. 19.  (Washington, U.S.G.P.O., 1912), p. 247.

14. See appropriate chapters in Lumpkin, Henry. From Savannah to Yorktown: The American Revolution in the South.  (Columbia: University of South Carolina, 1981).

15. William Washington to Nathanael Greene, September 8, 1781, in Conrad, Dennis M., et. al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene: Vol. IX, 11 July-2 December 1781. (Chapel Hill & London: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), p. 306.

16. “William Washington to George Washington, 18 December 1785,” Founders Online, National Archives.

17. “George Washington Diary, May [1791],” Founders Online, National Archives.   

18. Bailey, N. Louise.  Biographical Directory of the South Carolina House of Representatives: Vol. III, 1775-1790.  (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1981), pp. 749-752.

19. Flynn, Jean Martin.  “South Carolina’s Compliance with the Militia Act of 1792.”  South Carolina Historical Magazine 69, no. 1 (Jan. 1968), p. 43.

20. “George Washington to James McHenry, 16 December 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives.

21. Charleston City Gazette & Daly Advertiser, Tuesday, March 27, 1810; Charleston Courier, Wednesday Morning, March 28, 1810; and Webber, Mabel L. “Records from the Elliott-Rowand Bible” South Carolina Historical Magazine 11, no. 1 (Jan. 1910): p. 66.

Bibliography

Lipscomb, Terry W.  South Carolina in 1791: George Washington’s Southern Tour. ColumbiaColumbia: South Carolina Department of Archives & History, 1993.

Lumpkin, Henry.  From Savannah to Yorktown: The American Revolution in the South.  Columbia: University of South CarolinaUniversity of South Carolina Press, 1981.

Murphy, Daniel.  William Washington, American Light Dragoon: A Continental Cavalry Leader in the War of Independence. Yardley, Pa.: Westholme, 2014.

Warley, Felix B.  An Oration, Delivered in Saint Michael’s Church, in the City of Charleston, South Carolina, on Tuesday, the 19th June, 1810, on the Death of the Late Gen. William Washington. CharlestonCharleston: W. P. Young, 1810.