COL. FREDERICK HAMBRIGHT

Col. Frederick Hambright Biography

German records show that Frederick Hambright was born May 17, 1727 and Christened Friderich Christoph Hambrecht, the son of Johann Conrad Hambrecht and Maria Sophia Seybold of Huffenhardt, Mosbach, Baden, Germany.

                 In the year 1738, at age eleven, Frederick and members of the Hambrecht family embarked from Rotterdam, Holland for America on the English ship St. Andrew, Captain John Stedman master. The St. Andrew docked in Philadelphia harbor October 27, 1738. Frederick spent his youth in the state of Pennsylvania. When Frederick was in his early twenties, he joined the Wagon Road south through Virginia settling in what was then Anson County, North Carolina. While traveling through southwestern Virginia he met Sarah Hardin (born 1733, died prior to Oct. 1780) daughter of Sarah Elizabeth and Benjamin Hardin, II.  By 1752/53 Frederick and Sarah Hardin were married and on August 30, 1753 had received a grant of 300 acres on the South Fork of the Catawba River. Upon arrival these pioneers erected log cabins and joined with neighbors in building a Fort for protection against the Catawba Indians. Additional land purchases were made in ensuing years, and in May 1769 he purchased land in the fork of Long Creek and Still House Branch, near present Dallas, North Carolina. This is where Sarah died and is buried and where Frederick lived until 1781.

                 Frederick and Sarah had twelve children. Six of their children died in infancy. The surviving children were: Elizabeth, m Joseph Jenkins; John Hardin, m Nancy Black; Frederick, Jr, m Mary Eaker; Sarah, m Peter Eaker; Benjamin, m Unknown, one daughter and son, John W.; and James, m Rachel Wells.

                 An early advocate of American independence, there are numerous references to Colonel Frederick Hambright’s civil and patriotic services on the pages of county and North Carolina State histories, and in official records. In 1756, although Frederick saw no action, he was prompt in registering in Captain Samuel Corbin’s local militia to assist in the defense of Virginia’s frontier against the Indians. A signer of the Tryon Resolves  in 1775, he was appointed as one of the representatives for Tryon County at the Third Provincial Congress  held at Hillsboro, August 1775. He served as a captain in the 1776 campaign against the Cherokee Indians and was made Lt. Colonel in 1779. He entered the Revolutionary War in 1777 serving in several campaigns prior to distinguishing himself on October 7, 1780, as Commander of the Lincoln County Militia at the Battle of Kings Mountain. Near the close of the battle, the 53 years old Hambright had already received three bullets through his hat, and was shot through his thigh, cutting some arteries. While his boot filled with blood, he was urged to quit the fight, but preferring to remain in his saddle, he magnanimously encouraged his men to continue the fight, calling out in his German accent, “Huzza, my prave poys, fight on a few minutes more, and the battle will be over!” It is said that Major Patrick Ferguson, the British Commander, was so near that he responded with, “Huzza, brave boys, the day is our own.” These were to be among Ferguson’s last words before being shot to death.

                 After the battle was won, Frederick was taken to his previously built log cabin nearby. As he recuperated from his severe battle wound, he was nursed by a young neighbor, Mary Dover. The following year, Frederick and Mary Dover (b Jan. 9, 1762 – d May 5, 1836) daughter of John Dover, were married July 17, 1781 in York County, South Carolina at the home of his neighbor and friend, Arthur Patterson, Sr. Later he built a two-story weather boarded log house near the site of his log cabin and the historic battleground. This is where he lived until his death March 9, 1817 at age 90. Frederick and Mary are buried at the nearby Shiloh Presbyterian Church Cemetery, where Frederick had been an Elder. The cemetery is located in Cleveland County, one mile east of Grover, NC. The couple parented ten children, eight living to maturity: Henry m widow Anna Stewart; Mary “Polly,” m Reese Price; Sophia, m William Quinn; David, m Sarah Jane Graham; Josiah, m Elizabeth Moss; Charlotte “Lotsie,” m Alex Norton; Susannah m William Dickson; and Abner, single.

                 In February 1781, the North Carolina General Assembly resolved, “. . .  that an elegant, mounted sword . . .” be presented to each of the senior officers who had been at Kings Mountain. By inadvertence, Hambright did not receive his sword. The instrument which is displayed at the Kings Mountain National Park Museum is Colonel Hambright’s personal sword that he used throughout his military career. In more recent years, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to present a replica of an Overmountain Men pistol to the descendants of Colonel Frederick Hambright. The presentation was made at the Battleground on October 7, 1980, the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Kings Mountain, and has been donated to the Cleveland County Museum in Shelby, North Carolina.

Sources: German Birth Records; The Col. Frederick Hambright Family, by Bonnie Mauney Summers; Kings Mountain and Its Heroes, by Lyman Draper; Colonial & State Records of North Carolina, by Saunders and Clark.