Amelia County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Archer, William 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Alice Warner http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003503 April 10, 2008, 8:09 am

Author: Henry Howe

William Archer, Col.-commandant of the county, made himself so conspicuous by
his zeal in the revolutionary cause, that he was made prisoner by Tarleton, on
his return from his excursion to New London. He was conveyed to one of the
prison-ships at Norfolk, so well known for the sufferings of which they were the
scenes. There he was retained until he became a victim of the smallpox. He was
finally permitted to land but in so advanced a stage of the disease that he died
in a few days, without restoration to his famil. One of his sons, Lieut. Joseph
Archer, was killed at the battle of Brandywine. Another of his sons, Major John
Archer -- the father of the present member of the U.S. Senat, the Hon. Wm. S.
Archer-- was an aid to one of the American generals. He was sent to remove
public stores, when a detachment from the army of Lord Cornwallis made the
celebrated dash on Charlottesville. Delaying too long in the discharge of his
duty, he was overtaken in the rapid advance of the enemy. The English officer to
whom he surrendered his sword, received and passed it entirely through his body.
The speedy retreat of the enemy permitting immediate assistance, he had the good
fortune to recover, and lived many years.

Additional Comments:
From Henry Howe's 1845 Historical Collections of Virginia, the Amelia County
section, p. 173-175.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/amelia/bios/archer103gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/vafiles/

File size: 1.9 Kb