The Story of Reuben Coffey, an American Revolutionary War Soldier

In Augusta Phillips Johnson's book, "A Century of Wayne County Kentucky 1800-1900," originally published in 1939, she used War Department pension records to compile a list of 40 names of Revolutionary War soldiers who later emigrated to Wayne County. One of those soldiers was my 4th great-grandfather Reuben Coffey. He joined the Wilkes County Regiment of the North Carolina Militia on June 17, 1780 for, in his words, "as long a period as our country needed my services."

On October 7th that year, he was at King's Mountain, where the "Overmountain Men," so named because the militia soldiers all hailed from settlements inTennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky that were located "over" the mountain barrier, fought and defeated the British Loyalists, who suffered roughly 1,018 casualties and captures, while the Patriots lost only about 90 men. The victory was a massive turning point in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War.

In his pension papers filed in Wayne County, Kentucky court in 1832, a 72-year-old Reuben Coffey wrote, “We overtook the British and Tories at King's Mountain in South Carolina and defeated them on Saturday, the seven day of October 1780. We remained on the battle ground until Sunday, the next day, and then we marched with the prisoners up to Col. Walker's in Rutherford, North Carolina. We then marched about three miles to a widow Bickerstaff's (actually Biggerstaff), where a court marshall was held and they condemned and hung nine of the Tories." Today, the tree is gone but a Biggerstaff Hanging historical marker marks the spot.

Reuben moved to Wayne County around 1819 and became a respected citizen and successful farmer. He and his wife, Mildred "Millie" Morris Coffey, raised seven children. Their daughter, Sarah "Sally" Coffey Owens, was the mother of my great, great-grandmother, Almyra Owens Frost. Reuben died on June 9, 1942. He and Millie are buried at Elk Springs Valley Cemetery in Wayne County.

Kings Mountain National Military Park, located near Blacksburg, South Carolina, commemorates the Battle of Kings Mountain. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. Thomas Jefferson considered the battle "The turn of the tide of success."