The following is excerpted from First Families of Aiken / Augusta
http://www.researchonline.net/aiken

Remembering Uncle Sammy!

On this last Independence Day of the millennium, I want to take the 
opportunity to remember my Uncle Sam - one of the almost forgotten 
heroes of the Revolutionary War.

Born 
  Samuel HAMMOND
            21 SEP 1757 Farnham Parish, 
Richmond, Virginia

Died 
Col. Samuel Hammond
            11 SEP 1842 Edgefield County, South 
Carolina

In an article written in the late 1800's, South 
Carolina Historian, John A. Chapman states:

"There is not a name in Edgefield, nor in the state, that deserves to be 
remembered with more admiration and love for his heroic devotion to the 
cause of Independence than that of Samuel Hammond. "

And yet, when I visited his grave early this Independence Day morning, 
there were no fresh flowers, no flag, - only a barely discernable 
gravestone which some years past had been broken by vandals - and at 
some later time pieced back together by some kind soul.

In another account penned in the mid 1800's...

"Col. Samuel Hammond... was one of the bravest, 
and, despite his young manhood, one of the 
ablest of the partiotic officers.  His military 
services, during the Revolution, covered 
important operations in the North and South."

We all learned of Gen. Washington and his part 
in the Revolutionary war, but I daresay none of 
us learned of the exploits and heroic acts of 
Col. Hammond.  His bravery and strength of 
character played a key part in saving the 
southern states from British rule.

While at school in Prince William County 
Virginia (near Dumfries), he joined a volunteer 
company of infantry under the command of a Mr. 
Grayson and marched against Governor Dunsmore.  
After this, he returned to Richmond County, 
Virginia, where his father lived and in June 
1775 (at age 18) was elected lieutenant of 
Captain George Sisson's company of minutemen and 
was in a skirmish with Dunmore's troops.  From 
December 1775 to December 1778, he served as 
captain of independent volunteer companies of 
Virginia troops.  He moved to Edgefield District 
(South Carolina) and joined the army during 
January 1779 (now 22).  In March 1779, he was 
commissioned captain. He was also a major, 
lieutenant-colonel, and colonel in the state 
troops.  He was engaged in the battles at Spirit 
Creek, Ogeechee, Stono Ferry, Savannah (where 
his older brother Charles, a captain under Col. 
LeRoy Hammond, was wounded), Green Springs, 
Hanging Rock, Musgrove's Mill, Charlotte, King's 
Mountain, Blackstock's Plantation, Cowpens, 
Guilford Courthouse, Augusta, Eutaw Springs, and 
Dorchester.

We often think of the year 1776 as the year we 
won our independence, but in fact, the struggle 
with Great Britain lasted for many years 
thereafter, and it wasn't until the War of 1812 
that Britain finally released her claim on the 
colonies.

In May of 1780, most of South Carolina and 
Georgia had fallen into British hands and Leroy 
and Charles Hammond, Samuel's uncles had both 
been imprisoned in Charleston.  The British were 
offering amnesty, and Generals Pickens and 
Lincoln were of a mind to accept it.

General Williamson read the capitulation of Charlestown; made some 
comments; advised keeping together and retreating; but said that he 
would be governed by the determination a majority of the council should 
adopt.  Samuel Hammond says that he was struck dumb on finding that 
not more than one officer of the staff, one field officer, and four or five 
captains were opposed to an immediate acceptance of the terms 
stipulated for the militia of the State by the Convention at Charlestown.  
It was now proposed and carried, to send a flag at once to Colonel Parris 
to notify him of their conclusion, and to settle the time, place, and 
manner of surrender.  He concluded by putting the question to vote, and 
said:  'My fellow citizens, all of you who are for going with me on a 
retreat with arms in our hands, will hold up your hands; and all who are 
for staying and accepting the terms made for you by General Lincoln will 
stand as you are.  Two officers, Captain McCall and Captain McLidle, 
and three or four privates, held up their hands; all others stood as they 
were.  He then put the question again with the same result.  

As the surrender of the troops was arranged, Samuel lept to his horse 
and called out "Follow Me! Friends of America!"  Some 30 men followed 
and made good their escape.   Samuel Hammond and Bennett Crofton 
then raised a company of seventy-six men, determined to seek 
assistance, or to die fighting as they were.  Over half these men withdrew 
From Hammond in a short time and hid out; but they were afterwards 
captured by the British and sent to prison where many of them died.  
Hammond and thirty-two escaped to North Carolina.  Concealing 
themselves all day and traveling all night, they passed Saluda and Bush 
River, and were kindly supplied by T. Harvey and Charles Moore, but 
still they could hear of no party of Whigs whom they could join.  Near 
the foot of the mountains they came to the home of Calvin Jones, a good 
Whig.  He was absent and Mrs. Jones was in great trouble, as she had 
been ill-treated that day and her house plundered by a party of Tories 
who were on their way to the British army.  They had taken the clothing 
of her children, her side-saddle, and wantonly destroyed what they could 
not carry away.  Mrs. Jones told Hammond that they were seventy or 
eighty in number.  Hammond's little band, thirty-five in all, determined to 
follow and chastise them.  Mrs. Jones sent her little boy, a lad twelve or 
fourteen years of age, to guide and aid them in the pursuit.  He very 
gladly joined them.  They followed the Tory trail and overtook them next 
morning when they were at breakfast.  Hammond and his men 
immediately charged, and they were in the midst of the Tory camp before 
they were aware of their approach.  All the enemies' arms were taken, - 
four were killed and eleven made prisoners - these were released on 
parole.  Mrs. Jones' valuables were all restored to her and she gladly 
supplied the Whigs with all refreshments in her power.  They went on 
their way rejoicing, with a number of captured horses and a fine supply 
of ammunition and provisions.
	A day or two after this, while broiling their bacon and eating parched 
corn for bread, they heard the sound of horses' feet in a brisk march 
coming towards them.  They had come within reach of the guns before 
they were discovered.  On being hailed they answered, "Friends of 
America."  "So are we, but let us know you.  Men, stand to your arms."  
So they stood, both parties with their guns pointed at each other.  
Captain Edward Hampton, from the other party, advanced with a flag.  He 
was well known and received a cordial welcome from all of Hammond's 
men.  Both parties, actuated by the same motives, and moving in the 
same direction, were now happily united.  Moving on together they soon 
came upon the trail of a party as numerous as their own, whom they 
supposed to be enemies.  They determined to attack them.  Hastening on 
they soon discovered a horse standing in the trail, a man lying on the 
ground fast asleep, but holding to the bridle.  They surrounded him and 
hailed him, when he sprang up and boldly replied, "Friend of America, if I 
die for it!"  His name was Harris, and he said he belonged to Colonel G. 
Clarke's command, which was not far ahead.  He said he was obliged to 
sleep, but was going on as soon as he took a nap.  They joined Clarke 
the same evening and they now numbered over two hundred men.  They 
moved on into North Carolina.  Then they learned of other parties, who 
had left South Carolina moved by the same impulse as themselves:  
Sumter's, Williams' and Brandon's.  They sent expresses to all these to let 
them know of their arrival and intentions.  They were here joined by 
Captains McCall and Liddle of Colonel Pickens' Regiment with a small 
detachment.  Pickens, himself, had laid down his arms, but he soon 
afterwards resumed them, when called upon by the British to bear arms 
against his countrymen.

	Samuel Hammond was in active service from the beginning of the 
trouble until the evacuation of Charleston in December, 1782.  He was in 
the battle of Musgrove's Mills, from which place, having heard of the 
defeat of both Generals Gates and Sumter, he moved rapidly to Charlotte, 
N. C.  At Charlotte the prisoners taken from the British were delivered to 
him and conducted to Hillsboro.  At Hillsboro he collected all the 
stragglers and refugees from Le Roy Hammond's Regiment, and others 
who might come into service.  At Salisbury he formed a company and 
advertised for recruits; and collected a number, who formed part of 
Williams' command at King's Mountain, in which battle some were killed 
and some severely wounded.  After the battle of King's Mountain he was 
joined by some from Ninety-Six, and with all the men under his command 
he marched into North Carolina, where he acted a short while under 
Colonel Davis.  He was at the battle of Blackstocks with Sumter - he had 
a fight at Long Cane, near Ninety-Six.  In the battle of Cowpens, on the 
17th of June, 1781, he commanded, as Major, the left of the front line.  

During the later period of the war he was one of 
General Greene's most trusted subordinates.  He 
was with him at Eutaw Springs, and soon 
afterward elected to the state Legislature and 
appointed surveyor-general, and engaged in 
extensve mercantile transactions which brought 
him into touch with South American trade and 
gained him a knowledge of both French and 
Spanish.  In 1802 (age 45) he was elected to 
Congress, where he renewed his acquaintance with 
president Jefferson.  In 1804 he was appointed 
military and civil commander of the District of 
St. Louis, one of the civil subdivisions of the 
new Territory of Louisiana, recently acquired 
From France, and in the spring of that year he 
set out for that little French village on the 
western fontier, accompanied by his wife and 200 
family slaves.  For years Governor Hammond's 
mansion was headquarters for army officers and 
their families and the social center for the 
Territory of Missouri, created in 1812.  Colonel 
Hammond was president of the First Territorial 
Council, or civil governor.  In 1816 he 
organized the first bank in St. Louis, of which 
he was president.  Although caught in the 
failure of several local banks, he sacrificed 
most of his personal property to pay his debts 
and in 1824 returned to the South, locating in 
South Carolina.  That state also honored him by 
appointment to the surveyor-generalship and 
election to the Legislature and to the office of 
secretary of state.  

 In 1835, being then old and infirm, he retired to his Varello farm, near 
Hamburg, S. C., at which place he continued to reside until his death.  He 
died on Sunday, the 11th of September, 1842, in the 87th year of his age.  

On Monday, the 12th, the military of Hamburg were joined by those of 
Augusta, comprising the Clinch Riflemen and the Augusta Artillery 
Guard, all under the command of Samuel C. Wilson; together with the 
Masonic Lodges of Hamburg and Augusta, and the citizens of both 
places, formed a procession at the corner of Covington and Market 
streets, Joseph E. Gladding acting as marshal.  Minute guns were fired 
From the site of his old fort on Shultz's Hill by the artillery, while the 
procession followed the body of the deceased Veteran, with the solumn 
sounds of the muffled drums.  When they arrived at the family burial 
ground, above Campbellton, the remains were lowered into the vault with 
Masonic honors, and a volley fired over it by the escorting infantry.

	"It is remarkable," says his biographer, "that although so much of 
his early life was familiarized with battles and blood-shed, he preserved 
his natural gentleness and suavity of manner to the last - enlivening 
every circle where he went with his cheerful sallies of good humor."

And so, Uncle Sammy, I salute you.  Were it not for your sacrifices and 
strength of character, I might not have the freedoms I enjoy today.

John Rigdon
4
th
 Generation Descendant of Leroy Hammond, uncle of Col. Samuel Hammond.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Audited Accounts in the South Carolina Archives 3280; M2; T365.

Edgefield County, SC Records: Revill, Jane, 1984. Southern Historical Press, 
Easley, SC. p. 127.

EMAIL Tom Williams - [email protected]

Georgia and Georgians, VOL. 6 pg. 3180.

Moss, Bobby, Gilmer. Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American 
Revolution. 1985. Genealogical Publishing Company.

Rigdon, John C. The Hammond Family Notes. 1998 Eastern Digital 
Resources, PO Box 1451, Clearwater, SC 29822-1451.


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