Harris Revis fought Lord Cornwallis

Harris Revis fought Lord Cornwallis at the Yadkin River ford, near Salisbury, NC on February 3, 1781.

There is a monument commemorating General Nathanael Greene's ‘Providential’ crossing of the Yadkin River just ahead of Lord Cornwallis' pursuing British army, February 2 – 4, 1781. Beginning at the close of the Battle of Cowpens, January 17, 1781, the British pursued the American army in ‘cat and mouse’ fashion over 200 miles of the heart of North Carolina to the Dan River in Virginia, before finally meeting at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in March. (Fighting for NC at the courthouse battle was another ancestor, Major John Carruth. I will tell the tale of John Carruth in a later post.)

At the Yadkin River, Generals Greene and Daniel Morgan spent the better part of two days ferrying boats back and forth across the river, moving their army of 1800, the Salisbury Military District stores, fleeing civilians who crowded the roads, and the Cowpens prisoners across the river.

By the end of the day, all of Nathaniel Greene’s troops were across except for a small party of Virginia and North Carolina militia (Harris was in that group of North Carolina militia). At dusk according to one account, midnight in another, the vanguard of the British army were silhouetted against the sky as they rode over the crest of a hill near a small branch of the river. The militia engaged them, exchanging several rounds before slipping away under cover of dark and crossing to the north side of the river two miles farther down.

More about that skirmish:

trading-ford.org/memorial.html

https://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/957/

A list of Harris Revis’ Revolutionary War service:

1775 Surrey County, North Carolina

Served 3 months as a Private in Captain Free’s company, Colonel Joseph William’s regiment.

1776 North Carolina

Volunteered and served 25 days as a Private in Captain George Dickey’s company in pursuit of Tories.

1780 North Carolina

Volunteered and served 12 months in Captain Langham’s company. He assisted in erecting the “Laboratory” magazine in Salisbury. In Harris’ pension application, he also mentions Captain Delaney.

1781 North Carolina

Yadkin River Ford skirmish against Cornwallis.

Harris married Mary Elizabeth Davis after the war and moved from Surrey County NC to Kentucky for 10 years, then moved again to Hurricane Township in Montgomery County, IL. He must have moved one more time because in 1838 he died and was buried near Vandalia in Fayette County, IL.

Harris Revis’ Ancestor Number with the Daughters of the American Revolution #A095551

Pension Papers from the War Department:

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