DAVID PORTERFIELD, SR.,
PIONEER! ...and PATRIOT?

Some Georgia Porterfield researchers also searched for 40-plus years without discovering any records that would indicate whether or not David Porterfield, Sr., served in the military during the Revolutionary War, or provided supplies or services to the troops, or just tended to the business of supporting himself and his family during those years.

To understand how numerous descendants researching the Porterfield family for so many years could have failed to find any pertinent records, one must recognize the difficulty of finding military service records unless one had family documents or legends or some other indication that a particular ancestor did serve in the military, and whether that service was with federal troops, state line troops, a state militia unit, in some administrative capacity, or sold supplies to the patriots. The records for those different types of service were kept in different places by different levels of officials, so one had to know where to look in order to have a chance of finding any records.

One must also realize that some men served in the Revolutionary War, even participated in actual battles, but their service was never listed anywhere. Years later the only way a man whose service was never officially recorded could prove his service when applying for a pension was to submit affidavits signed by two or three other men who served with the applicant. Sometimes submitting such affidavits was impossible because the pension applicant had outlived all of his friends who could have testified to the applicant's service.

Daunting as all that might seem, Porterfield descendants spring from hardy pioneer stock, resulting in dedicated and persistent family historians and researchers. One of those doggedly determined researchers, a 5^th great grandson*, recently discovered proof that David Porterfield, Sr., was indeed a Patriot soldier in the Revolutionary War!

Quoted from the National Park Service's Web site for Moore's Creek National Battlefield:

"King George and Broadswords!" shouted loyalists as they charged across partially dismantled Moores Creek bridge on February 27, 1776. Just beyond the bridge nearly a thousand North Carolina patriots waited quietly with cannons and muskets poised to fire.

The loyalists, mostly Scottish Highlanders wielding broadswords, expected to find only a small patriot force. As the loyalists advanced across the bridge, patriot shots rang out and dozens of loyalists fell, including their commanders.

Stunned, outgunned and leaderless, the loyalists surrendered, retreating in confusion. Wagons, weapons and British sterling worth more than $1 million by today's value were seized by the patriots in the days following the battle.

These were the circumstances in which David Porterfield, Sr., an American-born descendant of a Scotch-Irish immigrant, served as a private in Captain Thomas Flack's Company of the Guilford County, North Carolina Militia, which was commanded by Colonel James Martin. David participated in the Cross Creek expedition, which resulted in the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge on 27 February 1776, and he was paid £2.4 for 22 days' service.

David Porterfield, Sr.'s militia service was recorded on page 269, Revolutionary Army Accounts, Vol: 1-6, North Carolina Treasurers and Comptrollers Papers, microfilm Reel #48, North Carolina State Archives.

The Guilford County Militia was formed in 1774 and was mustered into action many times during the war. It was commanded by Colonel James Martin and engaged in The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, the Cherokee Campaign of 1776, and the Battle at the Guilford County Courthouse. The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge was fought 27 Feb 1776, and while is was a relatively minor engagement compared to later Revolutionary War battles, it was the first battle fought in North Carolina and was a resounding victory for the Patriots over the Loyalists in a particularly bloody battle. According to Capps and Davis [see next paragraph], the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge "...influenced the course of the American Revolution in significant ways. The Patriot victories at Moores [sic] Creek Bridge and Sullivan's Island ended British hopes of easily quelling the rebellion in the southern colonies. In North Carolina, the battle strengthened the Patriot position by reducing organized Loyalist opposition...."

Today the site of the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge is a National Battlefield and is part of the US National Park Service. The book, Moores Creek National Battlefield: An Administrative History, by Michael A. Capps and Steven A. Davis, published June 1999 by the National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, is now Online on the National Park Service Web site. "Chapter 1: The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge," gives the history and details of the battle in which David Porterfield, Sr., participated. Read the full story...

Interested descendants of David Porterfield, Sr., would be eligible to apply for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) or Sons of the American Revolution (SAR).

We move on now to examine the evidence regarding the children of David Porterfield, Sr., and Sarah (Nunn) Porterfield. Recently reviewed and verified evidence brought to light a surprising misconception by earlier researchers. Read on...

* Acknowledgment: This writer sincerely thanks Mr. Donald Boney of Georgia for his relentless pursuit of documented information about our mutual ancestor, as well as his generous sharing with me of his Porterfield family photos, data and records for inclusion in our family research group's central database and our Web site.

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