| Notes |
Military: Peter fought for the British in Revolutionary War and was killed in the Battle of Ramsour's Mill, NC.
The Battle of Ramsour's Mill took place on June 20, 1780 near present-day Lincolnton, North Carolina, during the British campaign to gain control of the southern colonies in the American Revolutionary War. About 400 American militia defeated 1,300 Loyalist militiamen. The battle did not involve any regular army forces from either side, and was literally fought between neighbors. Despite being outnumbered, the Patriot militia defeated the Loyalists.
The battle was significant in that it lowered the morale of Loyalists in the south, weakening their support of the British.
Note: land was taken and (the Costner) family was left in great hardship
Book: OK LMH pg. 232 - 233 children 235 - 238
Peter Costner died in the Battle of Ramsour's Mill:
Sources: "The Battle of Ramsours Mill" Peter Zimmerman was able to read and write German. his signature, printed on the first page of this sketch, was located on the marriage bond of his son Samuel Carpenter. Peter was a skilled craftsman, a blacksmith, whose trade was necessary on the frontier. He valued education highly, and all his sons whose signatures I located signed their names legibly in English or German. He acquired property and status in the community. His friends and neighbors thought highly enough of him to elect him Captain of his militia company. As the threat of conflict in the American Revolution appeared greater, his judgment and influence was more valuable.
Records reveal a most interesting mixture concerning the allegiance of Peter Zimmerman to the Revolutionary cause. When studying the American Revolution, too many researchers assume that an individual was either loyal to Great Britain, a Tory, or was a Patriot, also called a Whig. Peter Zimmerman exemplifies a very large number of persons in frontier NC. He was both Tory and Whig, and he also assumed the status of a Neutral. The important point to remember is that Peter, as did others, reacted to circumstances as they arose. He was most interested in preserving his home, his family, and his way of life in NC. His choice of allegiance usually centered around which side was winning at the time and where the greatest threat to his home and family centered.
During the summer of 1776 the Cherokee Indians raided western settlements and disrupted frontier NC. In order to put down the Indian threat, Brigadier General Griffith Rutherford organized a 2000 man army made up of militia from western NC. In the Military Papers - Treasurers & Comptrollers Papers located at the State Archives was the claim of Capt. Peter Carpenter for his part in the Cherokee Expedition: The expedition was successful in that the Cherokees never again threatened the Tryon (Lincoln) Co. area. Because historians interpret Rutherfords Expedition as Patriot (Whig) planned and executed, many descendants have entered the DAR on Peters service in the expedition. It is doubtful that Tory vs. Whig Politics played any part in Peters decision to fight. For him he was defending his home from the Indians.
From 1776-1779 there was little military activity in frontier NC. But by 1780 the British had captured Georgia and South Carolina, and they planned to invade NC. Whig prospects appeared very bleak. On June 7, 1780, Lieutenant-Colonel John Moore the son of Peter's Indian Creek neighbor Moses Moore, returned to Lincoln Co. and called out the loyalist militia. By June 13 he had assembled 200 Tories at Ramsours Mill, near present Lincolnton High School, where he ordered the local Tories to gather, to grind grain, and to prepare to join Lord Cornwallis in SC.
By June 20 Moores Tory army numbered between 1300-1500 militiamen, many of whom were ill equipped. Col. Francis Locke headed a 350-400 man Whig militia force which marched from Rowan Co. to attack the Tory force. Shortly after sunrise on June 20, 1780, the Whig army surprised Moores army. A fierce fight ensued for about half an hour. Neither side wore uniforms with the Whigs wearing white paper or cloth in their hats while Tories pinned a green twig to theirs.
Many of Peters German friends fought with him: the Warlick's the Hoyle's the Costner's, the Baker's, the Huffstetler's, and the Mauney's. But their battle failed. The Whigs forced the Tory army toward the mill pond. They panicked with some falling in the mill pond and Clarks Creek. Moore requested a parley which he hoped would buy time for his army. Instead, his Tory friends slipped away to their homes. It had been a bloody confrontation with 57 Tories killed, 55 Whigs killed, and over 100 wounded. One of the wounded was Capt. Peter Carpenter.
Family tradition, which was also printed in CK, tells us that Peter was shot through the side. He left the battlefield and swam the South Fork River. Upon reaching the bank on the other side he collapsed where his family found him and took him to his home. The wound was cleaned by pulling a cloth entirely through his body. He recovered from his wound, but his loyal support for the British government had been effectively cooled. For the remainder of the war he could best he described as Neutral. He even sold supplies to the Patriots.
Another story has been passed down in the in the family concerning his next encounter with the British. In Jan. 1781 while Cornwallis pursued General Nathaniel Greene, the British army encamped on a portion of Peters land. While there the soldiers burned a portion of Peters rail fencing. Possessing a fiery temper Peter pledged to construct. a fence the British could not burn. He then built the stone wall which is located to the north of Everette Carpenters present home. All that is left of the stone wall is a row of stones lying on the ground.
The Patriot government of NC had feared an active Tory population. They had passed Tory Confiscation Laws in 1777 and 1779 which gave county officials the authority to seize land and other property of Tories or Tory sympathizers. Lincoln Co. had Commissioners of confiscated property whose job it was to seize the property and to keep accounts on it. On Sept. 19, 1782, Petter Carpenter headed a list of 34 names of those that are supposed to come under the Confiscation Act.
In Oct. Sessions 1785 the commissioners reported that 520 pounds of beef had been confiscated from Peter Carpenter worth $28 3/4 or Special 11 and 10 shillings. He had neighbors who also lost property: Jacob Mauney Jr., John Alexander of Indian Creek, Moses Moore, and the estate of dec. Peter Costner who was killed at Ramsours Mill.
These records are located at the State Archives filed under Confiscation Papers and in the County Court Minutes. How much influence Peter Zimmerman may have lost during the Revolutionary period is not known. Before the Revolution his name appeared frequently as a juror in the Court Minutes .
(Carpenters A Plenty by Robert Carpenter pages 497-498. Gateway Press, Inc. Baltimore 1993 (CK may be Carpenters Kin)
The Tryon Resolves:
In Tryon County there were many loyal subjects of the king, and there was likewise a gallant band of patriots who as early as August, 1775, adopted and signed the following bold declaration:
" The unprecedented, barbarous and bloody actions committed by British troops on our American brethren near Boston, on 19th April and 20th of May last, together with the hostile operations and treacherous designs now carrying on, by the tools of ministerial vengeance, for the subjugation of all British America, suggest to us the painful necessity of having recourse to arms in defense of our National freedom and constitutional rights, against all invasions; and at the same time do solemnly engage to take up arms and risk our lives and our fortunes in maintaining the freedom of our country whenever the wisdom and counsel of the Continental Congress or our Provincial Convention shall declare it necessary; and this engagement we will continue in for the preservation of those rights and liberties which the principals of our Constitution and the laws of God, nature and nations have made it our duty to defend. We therefore, the subscribers, freeholders and inhabitants of Tryon County, do hereby faithfully unite ourselves under the most solemn ties of religion, honor and love to our county, firmly to resist force by force, and hold sacred till a reconciliation shall take place between Great Britain and America on Constitutional principals, which we most ardently desire, and do firmly agree to hold all such persons as inimical to the liberties of America who shall refuse to sign this association.
" (Signed) John Walker, Charles McLean, Andrew Neel, Thomas Beatty, James Coburn, Frederick Hambright, Andrew Hampton, Benjamin Hardin, George Paris, William Graham, Robt. Alexander, David Jenkins, Thomas Espey, Perrygreen Mackness, James McAfee, William Thompson, Jacob Forney, Davis Whiteside, John Beeman, John Morris, Joseph Harden, John Robison, James McIntyre, Valentine Mauney, George Black, Jas. Logan, Jas. Baird, Christian Carpenter, Abel Beatty, Joab Turner, Jonathan Price, Jas. Miller, John Dellinger, Peter Sides, William Whiteside, Geo. Dellinger, Samuel Carpenter, Jacob Mauney, Jun., John Wells, Jacob Costner, Robert Hulclip, James Buchanan, Moses Moore, Joseph Kuykendall, Adam Simms, Richard Waffer, Samuel Smith, Joseph Neel, Samuel Loftin."
(Source: Nixon's History of Lincoln County: The Revolutionary War Period )
The Mecklenburg Resolves were signed by:
1. Abraham Alexander
2. Adam Alexander
3. Charles Alexander
4. Ezra Alexander
5. Hezekiah Alexander
6. John McKnitt Alexander
7. Waightstill Avery
8. Rev. Hezekiah J. Balch
9. Richard Barry
10. Dr. Ephraim Brevard
11. Maj. John Davidson
12. Henry Downs
13. John Flenneken
14. John Foard
15. William Graham
16. James Harris
17. Richard (or Robert) Harris
18. Robert Irwin
19. William Kennon
20. Matthew McClure
21. Neil Morrison
22. Duncan Ochiltree
23. Benjamin Patton
24. John Phifer
25. Col. Thomas Polk
26. John Queary
27. David Reese
28. Zacheus Wilson, Sr.
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1737 - 1780 (43 years)