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Submitted: 7/31/14 • Approved: 9/29/14 • Last Updated: 3/24/18 • R14607-G0-S3
ENSIGN
Soldier of the American Revolution
January 2,1761-1856
GPS Coordinates 33deg 02min 50.58sec N, 96deg 25min 33.04sec W
Erected by Richard Royal Chapter
Daughters of the American Revolution
John Abston was born January 2, 1761 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. He was the son of Captain Joshua Abston and his wife, Rachel Clement. He served as an Ensign in the Pittsylvania County Militia 1770-1775. When the colonies severed relations with England early in 1775, the Committee of Safety met in Richmond, Virginia on September 27, 1775, to organize for their defense. John Abston’s father, Joshua, was appointed as a Captain in the Colony of Virginia Militia and held the position until 1781.
The Battle of King's Mountain
In 1779, at the age of eighteen, John Abston volunteered for service in the Revolutionary Army and served for two years under Captain John Ellis. In the eighteenth report of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, published in 1914, there is the following story about John Abston:
Abston, John. Born Jan. 2, 1761; died 1856. Son of Joshua Abston, Captain of Virginia Militia served two years in war of the American Revolution. Enlisted from Pittsylvania County, Virginia; was in Capt. John Ellis’ Company under Col. Washington. The evening before the Battle of King’s Mountain, Col. Washington, who was in command of the starving Americans at this point, sent soldiers out to forage for food. At a late hour a steer was driven into camp, killed, and made into a stew. The almost famished soldiers ate the stew without bread and slept the sleep of the just. The next morning they made the gallant charge that won the Battle of King’s Mountain, one of the decisive battles of the American Revolution. After the battle Col. Washington went to the place where the steer had been slain, and finding one of the horns, gave it to John Abston, a personal friend, saying “This is the horn of the steer that won the Battle of King’s Mountain.” Abston took the horn and carried it as a powder horn until the war was over. In later years it was used to call slaves from their work in the fields. The horn is now as hard as flint, the color of gold and has a polish equal to gold. A grandson owns the rifle and horn and treasures them highly.
Reference: www.lakeview-lavon.com/history.html
Contributed on 7/31/14 by gasirek
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Record #: 14607