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Local figure

Joseph Graham (1759-1836)

Joseph Graham, a Patriot militia officer, led about forty-five dragoons and mounted riflemen in a dawn attack on February 18, 1781, on the British detachment grinding corn for Cornwallis's army at Thomas Hart's mill on the Eno near Hillsborough. His men killed nine and captured nineteen, then fell back to Andrew Pickens's camp with British cavalry in pursuit.

Source: NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Hart's Mill (G-122)

4 works about Joseph Graham (1759-1836) are indexed here.

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 5 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Lee's Legion joins Pickens's militia camp after the Hart's Mill raid Later the same day as the Hart's Mill raid, Henry Lee's Legion, returning from beyond the Dan River with Greene's army, reached General Andrew Pickens's militia at a farm up Stony Creek, where the camp at first took the horsemen for Tarleton's cavalry. The combined force then went after Tarleton west of the Haw, the movement that led to Pyle's defeat. People: Andrew Pickens, Joseph Graham (1759-1836) Place: Stony Creek, Orange County · Also named: Henry Lee III · Also mentions: Hart's MillSouthern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements: Pension application of Joseph Graham S6937
  2. Patriots and Loyalists clash at Hart’s Mill At daybreak about 45 North Carolina cavalry under Captain Joseph Graham and mounted riflemen under Captain Richard Simmons, sent out by General Andrew Pickens, surprised the British guard of about 26 regulars and two Loyalists that was keeping Thomas Hart's mill on the Eno grinding for Cornwallis's army. Graham's accounts report the whole guard killed, wounded or captured with no Patriot dead, and the party reached Pickens's camp with its prisoners ahead of pursuing British cavalry. People: Andrew Pickens, Joseph Graham (1759-1836) Place: Eno River · Also named: Richard Simmons, Thomas HartSouthern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements: Pension application of Joseph Graham S6937
  3. Greene sends Pickens's militia to shadow the British army at Hillsborough Nathanael Greene ordered Brigadier General Andrew Pickens to pass around the British force at Hillsborough, fall in its rear and report its movements. Pickens's men struck at British parties when they could, and he sent Captain Joseph Graham to scout the ground around the town. People: Andrew Pickens, Nathanael Greene, Joseph Graham (1759-1836) Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Carolana: The American Revolution in North Carolina, Hart's Mill
  4. Pickens's cavalry fights Tarleton's horse at Clapp's Mill An American force ambushed Banastre Tarleton's cavalry at Clapp's Mill on Alamance Creek, in the part of Orange County that became Alamance County in 1849. Forty of Pickens's cavalry under Captains Joseph Graham and Richard Simmons took part. The American second line broke and the British lost about twenty-one men. People: Andrew Pickens, Joseph Graham (1759-1836) Place: Clapp's Mill, Alamance Creek · Also named: Richard Simmons, Banastre TarletonSearch the index · MyRevolutionaryWar: The Battle of Clapp's Mills
  5. William A. Graham enters Hillsborough Academy to prepare for the university Joseph Graham of Lincoln County sent his youngest son, William A. Graham, then nearly fifteen, to Hillsborough Academy in 1819 as his last step before the university. The academy was under the Rev. John Witherspoon, assisted by John Rodgers, and Graham studied there about eighteen months. People: William A. Graham, Joseph Graham (1759-1836), John Knox Witherspoon Place: Hillsborough Academy, Hillsborough · Also named: John Witherspoon, John RodgersInternet Archive: Max R. Williams, "The Education of William A. Graham", North Carolina Historical Review 40 (1963), p. 5

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Joseph Graham (1759-1836), those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Indexed works

Works about or by Joseph Graham (1759-1836). Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Archibald Debow Murphey (1777-1832) Papers

Murphey, Archibald D. (Archibald De Bow), 1777-1832 · 1797

Papers of Archibald D. Murphey, the Orange County lawyer, state senator, superior court judge and historian, 1797 to 1852. Many of the letters are ones William Henry Hoyt gathered for his two-volume edition of Murphey's papers, published in Raleigh in 1914. Topics include court cases, internal improvements, the western lands, the university trustees, and friends in Louisiana and the Mississippi Territory in 1811 and 1812. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.12.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

David L. Swain (1801-1868) Papers

Swain, David L. (David Lowry), 1801-1868 · 1763

Papers of David L. Swain, 1763 to 1895. A Buncombe County lawyer and legislator, Swain was governor from 1832 to 1835, president of the university at Chapel Hill from 1835 to 1867 and a founder of the North Carolina Historical Society. Letters come from business partners D. L. Barringer and Nicholas W. Woodfin and from relatives in Georgia, Texas and the navy. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.84.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

GRAHAM. Joseph Graham Family Bible Records

North Carolina. Division of Archives and History · 1759

The Joseph Graham family Bible record runs from 1759 to 1922 and sits in the State Archives of North Carolina's Bible Records collection. Subjects include Joseph Graham, William Alexander Graham and Augustus Washington Graham, with Isabella Davidson, Lucy Anne Horner, Susan S. Washington and the Shirley family. The counties given are Orange, Mecklenburg, Lincoln and Lenoir.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

Joseph Graham Family Bible Records

1759

Family register kept in a Joseph Graham family Bible, an 1861 American Tract Society edition, with entries from 1759 to 1922, in seven images. Places include Hillsborough and Orange, Lincoln, Durham and Person counties, and state legislators are among the family members recorded.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

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Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

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