Jessamine County KyArchives Biographies.....Crockett, Joseph 1742 - 1829 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com August 4, 2007, 10:21 pm Author: Bennett H. Young Joseph Crockett. Among the large train of Revolutionary soldiers who followed the track of empire westwardly, was Col. Joseph Crockett, of Albemarle county. Virginia. He was born in Albemarle county in 1742, He received fairly good educational advantages for that period. His father, John Crockett, came to Virginia in the first half of the century. He followed teaching as his profession and taught a high school near Charlottesville. Joseph Crockett was his oldest son. In 1774 Joseph Crockett went as a private soldier with Gen. Andrew Lewis and was engaged in the battle of Point Pleasant. This-was one of the most important of all the battles in the West. It was there that General Lewis met the Indians under the celebrated chief Cornstalk, and after a fight of nearly a whole day the Indians were put to flight. In 1775 the county authorities of Albemarle directed that two companies be raised for the defense of the western section of the state. One company was to be stationed at Point Pleasant, where the Kanawha and Ohio rivers unite. Gen. William Russell was appointed captain of one of these companies and Joseph Crockett lieutenant. In the winter of '75 they were discharged and they were ordered to raise two new companies for the Continental army. Joseph Crockett was appointed captain, of one of these companies and on the 5th of May, 1776, served in Virginia. In 1776 the regiment was marched to Philadelphia. That year he was appointed major and raised two companies for Gen. Daniel Morgan's rifle regiment. He took part in the battle of Monmouth, fought June 20, 1778, and after this battle was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and so remained until October, 1780, when, by resolution of congress the army was reorganized and Colonel Crockett was reduced to the rank of captain. He was with Gates at the surrender of Burgoyne in '77. He was engaged in the battles of Brandywine, Princeton and Trenton, and was with Washington at Valley Forge, where there sprung up between Colonel Crockett and General Washington a warm friendship, which lasted until the end of their lives. He was wounded in the arm at the siege of Yorktown in 1782. In 1779 Colonel Crockett was directed by the state of Virginia to raise a regiment, of which he became lieutenant-colonel, to proceed down the Ohio river to Kentucky and Illinois to assist George Rogers Clark. He raised the regiment, which was known as the Illinois or Crockett Regiment, and served for eighteen months with General Clark. He was in many of the battles with the Northwestern Indians on the Miami river, and helped to destroy Chillicothe and other towns in the northwestern territory on the Wabash. In one of the battles in which he fought he had two horses shot under him by the sharpshooters, and it was admitted that he had been in as many fights and skirmishes as any officer in the Revolutionary army. In 1784 he moved to Kentucky and settled first between Cumberland Gap and Crab Orchard. He remained there only a short time, and moved to Jessamine county and settled on lands near the Union Mills. His son, Robert Crockett, built the Union Mills and Col. Joseph Crockett built the old stone house on the banks of Hickman creek, which is now standing and was lately occupied by Dr. Jasper, a descendant of Sergeant Jasper, who was put to death at Savannah by the British. Colonel Crockett was appointed by Mr. Jefferson as United States Marshal for the district of Kentucky. He held this office for two terms. When the applications were read to Mr. Jefferson for this office, his eye dropped upon that of Joseph Crockett. He said, "Joseph Crockett; honest Joseph Crockett; you need go no further, he shall have the appointment." Immediately after his removal to Kentucky he at once assumed a prominent place in the development and in the government of the new state. In 1786-1790 he represented Fayette in the Virginia Legislature. He was also appointed magistrate of Fayette county in 1792, along with Percival Butler. He was a member of the first legislature from Fayette county, in 1792, '93, '94, and '95. Under the Constitution of 1792 he was elected one of the senators. These senators were chosen by electors elected for that purpose. In 1792 a project was organized for the clearing and improvement of the Wilderness Road, under Col. John Logan and James Knox. The subscriptions for that purpose at that time would probably be the highest evidence of public spirit. Among them are the names of Isaac Shelby, for 3 pounds; Robert Breckinridge, 2 pounds 8 shillings; George Nicholas, 2 pounds 8 shillings: John Brown, 2 pounds 8 shillings; Joseph Crockett, 1 pound 18 shillings; Robert Patterson, 1 pound 10 shillings; G. M. Bedinger, 18 shillings; Samuel McDowell, 1 pounds shillings, and a large number of other prominent names. He represented Fayette county in the convention called in 1788 at Danville, to consider separation from Virginia. Although at first opposed to separation. Colonel Crockett was convinced by the arguments of John Marshall of the propriety of this separation. The question in this convention was, whether there should be a violent separation from Virginia, or whether the separation should be legal and on constitutional grounds. It was in this convention that Colonel Crockett became alarmed at the speeches of John. Brown and General Wilkinson. He left his seat in the convention, hurried to Lexington and on Saturday, Sunday and Monday secured the signatures of several hundred citizens of Fayette county remonstrating against separation from Virginia without her consent, when he returned and presented this petition to the convention. After it was read General Wilkinson saw that he was in opposition to the wishes of the people and yielded to what was the inevitable. Colonel Crockett, being then United States Marshal, arrested Aaron Burr in 1806, under proceedings by Joseph Hamilton Daveiss against Aaron Burr. Colonel Crockett's commission bore the signature of General Washington and was handed to him by La Fayette, and when La Fayette visited Kentucky in 3825 he threw his arms around Colonel Crockett at Frankfort and they wept with each other like children. Col. Joseph Crockett, Col. Anthony Crockett and Gen. Peter Dudley rode in a carriage with La Fayette from Frankfort to Lexington. Colonel Crockett introduced a large number of old Revolutionary soldiers to General La Fayette at the reception given him by Mr. Wickliffe. As General La Fayette passed by a hotel in the parade, Maria Henderson, a little girl twelve years of age, a granddaughter of Colonel Crockett, and from Jessamine county, from the window of the hotel sang, "Hail to the Chief Who in Triumph Advances." The fresh, young voice of the little girl had a wonderful attraction for General La Fayette. He requested that the carriage should be stopped and as he listened to the song from the lips of the child, tears streamed down his cheeks. He said that it was the sweetest act of homage ever paid him. Colonel Crockett was pensioned by the United States Government. In company with other soldiers in the Revolutionary war, he received several thousand acres of land from the government and shortly before his death his pension was increased to $600 a year. He enjoyed it only for twelve months. When visiting his daughter, Mrs. Augustine Bower, at Georgetown, he was seized with a fatal illness and died there. The following letter written by a Revolutionary soldier to Maj. Daniel B. Price, will be interesting as it refers to many characters prominent in Jessamine county at that time. Near Georgetown, Scott county, Ky., Nov. 20, 1829. Dear Friend: I was pained that I had not the pleasure of seeing you at the burial of Col. Joseph Crockett, six weeks ago in Jessamine county. I have learned from your letter that you were very sick at the time of his burial and unable to get out of bed. He died at the home of Dr. Bower, his son-in-law. For three weeks, or more, previous to his death, he repeatedly informed his friends that he viewed himself as a dying man; that he was not afraid to meet death at any moment. A few days after he was taken with his last illness, and while he was able to walk about the room, his eye sight failed him. He took the Rev. Isaac Reed to be you and ordered him to bring your son, Joseph, to see him, as he had not seen him for some months. On my telling him that you were detained in Jessamine, but would probably be up Friday, he quietly fell into a sleep. He slept about an hour, and waked and had a severe coughing spell. It was at this time that he drew his breath with great difficulty, and the agony he was in was so great that in two hours after he had awakened from sleep he died, Capt. William Christy, Maj. John T. Pratt, Maj. William Johnson, Capt. William Smith, of Bourbon, and the Rev. John Hudson and Mr. Reed, were present in the room when he died. When he was dying I noticed him put his head a little back, closed his eyes as if going to sleep and expired, at the ripe age of 83. His remains were taken to his home in Jessamine and buried with the honor suitable to the memory of a brave and patriotic man, who served his country bravely in the Revolutionary war. The order of procession to the grave was as follows: The hearse with the military escort, attended by music, on each flank. The relatives, the ladies, the citizens, the fine volunteer company from Georgetown, commanded by Maj. William Johnson, with Capt. Thomas Cogar's company from Nicholas-ville, the whole conducted by Col. John T. Pratt, marshal of the day. At the grave the usual ceremonies took place by the firing of thirteen rounds by Captains Graves and Leslie Combs, of Lexington, who, at the head of the gun squad, fired at intervals during the services at the grave. There were present more than a thousand persons with carriages and horses. Such was the good order and decorum preserved that not the slightest accident occurred. At the close of the ceremonies the Rev. John Hudson delivered a brief address touching the high character of Col. Crockett as a citizen, neighbor and friend—a model of virtue and morality, cherished in the affections of all who knew him. Though his manly form lies low in death, his many virtues, his patriotic example, shall continue to abide in the memory of the living. Such, my dear friend, is a brief account of the burial of your father-in-law, Col. Joseph Crockett. Very truly your friend, B. S. CHAMBERS. Daniel B. Price, Nicholasville, Ky. Colonel Crockett was a man of splendid physique, six feet three inches in height, spare but muscular, dark hair, sallow complexion, with keen, piercing, black eyes; roman nose and thin, expressive lips. The many offices to which he was elected in Fayette and Jessamine counties evince in what high esteem he was held by those who knew him. He always wore a long, blue cut-a-way coat with brass buttons, with knee breeches and black silk stockings and heavy silver shoe buckles. As was the custom among the gentlemen at that early period, he wore a cue falling down his back between his shoulders, tied with a blue ribbon. Colonel Crockett was buried on his old home place, where had preceded him to the tomb his wife and children. The brick house which he built; in the early part of the century still stands near the grave-yard and is the property of Mr. John Baker, formerly owned by Otho Roberts. A few years since, his grandson, Col. Bennett H. Young, had erected around it an iron fence. The following letter, written by Maj. Benjamin Netherland, who was then a resident of Nicholasville, will be both amusing and interesting: Nicholasville, Ky., October 7, 1826. My Dear Friend: I was very much pained on hearing that your cut on the leg has not improved since I was to see you in April last. I was sorry that your wounded leg prevented you from being in Lexington last year, when the Marquis de la Fayette was given one of the greatest and grandest receptions I ever witnessed. More than ten thousand people marched in line to receive on the big road leading from Frankfort to Lexington. He rode in a fine four-horse carriage accompanied by Governor Desha, Col. Anthony Crockett, Col. Joseph Crockett, Genl. Peter Dudley, and many other gentlemen who rode on horseback and acted as a guard of honor in the rear of the carriage. More than forty-six years ago I was in Charleston when he landed there in 1777, a young man from France on his way to offer his services to General Washington to fight for the liberties of the people of our country. In Charleston he was received with becoming respect and honor, the people everywhere were loud in their praise of the young French soldier—but his reception was nothing in comparison to the reception given him by the patriotic people of Lexington last May. When General La Fayette got into Lexington the rush of many of the old soldiers was truly exciting. Everywhere his carriage was stopped by the surviving veterans who had served with him and Washington at Monmouth, Trenton, Brandywine and Little York. Everyone was anxious to see La Fayette. It just seemed that there was no other actor in the great revolutionary drama who had been so near to the heart of Washington as General La Fayette. When the great dinner given to the general in the city limits was over, I went to Mr. Wickliff's house with Cols. Joseph and Anthony Crockett to pay my respects to the young man, forty-seven years ago. I introduced to Col. William Moultry who was putting Charleston in fighting trim to resist the British fleet which I learned while in Cuba was to sail from Jamaca under Admiral Parker and bombard Charleston. I brought this intelligence which I hastened to give Colonel Moultrie, who immediately commenced putting the town in a proper state for defending every place along the harbor. On arriving at Mr. Wickliff's house Joe Crockett first introduced me to George Washington La Fayette, the son of the general. His son looked like a man who had seen much mental trouble; he seemed to be pleased at the reception given to his father, but was not a man to talk, was stiff and I thought not an intelligent man whatever, but a proud, weak man. When Colonel Crockett brought me into the parlor of Mr. Wickliff's house, General La Fayette, he introduced me as the young man "Netherland" who forty-seven years before had made him known to Colonel Moultry who in 1776 and 1777 had command at Charleston. He remembered me introducing him to Moultry and my going as far as Charlotte with him, as he went through Richmond to Philadelphia, he received me very warmly, shedding tears as he did when meeting with Anthony and Joe Crockett. He asked my age. I told him I was just in my seventieth year; he then informed me he was 69 years of age and felt that his health had greatly improved since he had revisited America. When I bid him farewell I, in company with the two Crocketts and Robert B. McAfee, lieutenant-governor, all went and bid the general a long farewell. The general shed tears and in fact every one who was present cried. Dosia, my wife, kissed the general and we separated, never to see General La Fayette again on earth. Hundreds of the people of Lexington in talking of La Fayette cried out aloud. The ladies especially shed tears when taking leave of the great friend of Washington. Very truly your friend, B. NETHERLAND. Capt. Thomas W. Ashford, Versailles, Ky. Additional Comments: Extracted from: A HISTORY OF JESSAMINE COUNTY, KENTUCKY, FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO 1898. By BENNETT H. YOUNG, PRESIDENT POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY; MEMBER FILSON CLUB; MEMBER CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1890; AUTHOR HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF KENTUCKY, OF "BATTLE OF BLUE LICKS, ETC, ETC. S. M. DUNCAN, ASSOCIATE AUTHOR. Every brave and good life out of the past is a treasure which cannot be measured in money, and should be preserved with faithfullest care. LOUISVILLE, KY.: COURIER-JOURNAL JOB PRINTING CO., 1898. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/jessamine/bios/crockett379gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/