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Scott County’s third forgotten Revolutionary War soldier was Abel Peak
Over the past couple of weeks, we have profiled two of the Revolutionary War veterans who moved to present-day Scott County after the war ended: Abraham Goad and Randolph Lawson, who were neighbors on New River (Goad lived on what would later be named the Vanderpool Farm, and Lawson lived nearby at the mouth of Paint Rock Creek). These two men were not among the 12 whose names appear on a plaque that was placed outside the Scott County Courthouse in Huntsville in 1976.
This week’s Echoes in Time newsletter will feature the third — and, as far as we know, the last — man who fought in the Revolutionary War but was left off the plaque: Abel Peak.
As we’ve pointed out the past two weeks, these men did not live in Scott County before the war; the first permanent settlers didn’t arrive in Scott County until sometime around 1800, several years after the war ended. In the most technical sense, most of these Revolutionary War veterans didn’t live in Scott County at all; it wasn’t until 1849 that Scott County was formed from parts of Campbell, Anderson, Morgan and Fentress counties. Of the 15 known Revolutionary War veterans who settled in this area, only two survived to see that happen. Abel Peak was one of those (David Lawson, a brother to Randolph Lawson, was the other).
For quite some time, the Independent Herald was aware of Scott County’s 13th and 14th Revolutionary War veterans, Abraham Goad and Randolph Lawson — who lived near each other on New River — but not the 15th Revolutionary War veteran, Abel Peak. And unlike Goad and Lawson, who quite a lot is known about, a lot of mystery and speculation surrounds Abel Peak.
The story of Abel Peak
Like most of the other Revolutionary War veterans who eventually moved to present-day Scott County, Peak hailed from Virginia. He was born in 1757 in Buckingham County in the central part of the state. Unfortunately, it is not known who his parents were. However, it is speculated that his father was a man named John Peak and his mother was Patsy Hamby, and that both moved to Tennessee after the war.
There may have been as many as eight children in the Peak family. One of Abel’s brothers was Jacob Peak, who is believed to have made the move to present-day Scott County with him. The two men married sisters: Abel married Lydia Jones and Jacob married Mary Jones, the daughters of Thomas Jones Jr. and Polly Burnett — who also made the move to Tennessee.
Lydia Jones was born Jan. 30, 1776 in Pittsylvania County, Va. She and Abel were married in 1794.
War service
Peak enlisted in the Virginia militia about August 1780, enrolling in Henry County, Va. He was present at the Battle of Kings Mountain, when Patriots from East Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina — known as the “Overmountain Men” and led by Col. John Sevier, who was a nephew to Abraham Goad, scored a decisive victory over the Tories under British Maj. Patrick Ferguson as they attempted to retreat to the protection of Lord Charles Cornwallis’s main army.
The battle was considered a turning point in the war, as the British had written off the northern colonies and were focusing their efforts on the South, and appeared to be on the verge of winning the war there. It was rumored that a deal was in the works that would see the southern colonies ceded to the British and the war ended.
Ferguson had written to the Overmountain Men who lived west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, telling them that if they did not “desist from their opposition to the British army, and take protection under his standard, he would march his army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay their country (to) waste with fire and sword.”
That threat inspired Sevier and Col. Isaac Shelby to raise their militias and attack Ferguson’s army, which consisted mostly of American colonists who remained loyal to the crown. The Patriots — including Peak — marched all night to reach Kings Mountain, taking Ferguson and his troops completely by surprise. What resulted was the largest American-on-American fight of the war. In less than one hour, Ferguson had been killed and every single one of his men either killed or taken captive. Thomas Jefferson called it the turning point of the war.
Twelve months later, Peak was at Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered, effectively ending the war. Though there’s no evidence that the two men knew one another, Pvt. Joseph Griffith was also at Yorktown as one of Gen. George Washington’s personal bodyguards. After the war, both men moved their families to what would become Scott County, and Peak’s son married Griffith’s granddaughter.
In his application for a war pension that was filed in 1832, Peak recollected that he had been honorably discharged after serving his tour, and that he volunteered to serve in place of his brother, Jonathan Peak, after Jonathan was drafted to serve but was in poor health.
The move to Tennessee
It isn’t clear exactly when the Peak family moved to Tennessee and settled in the Coal Hill area east of Glenmary. However, the move likely occurred before the War of 1812.
Peak last appears on a tax list in Virginia in 1795, which would imply that the move could have occurred as early as 1795 or 1796, shortly after his marriage to Lydia. In his war pension application filed in 1832, however, he says that he moved to Anderson County and was there for about six years before it was “cut off” into Morgan County. It was in 1817 that Morgan County was created and the Glenmary area was moved from Anderson County to Morgan County. This would imply that the Peaks moved somewhere around 1810 or 1811.
Further, Lydia stated in her 1853 pension application that she and Abel had eight children when they moved from Virginia to Tennessee. This would certainly mean that the move came sometime after 1803 or thereabouts.
Abel Peak settled in the Coal Hill area of Glenmary, which was known as Campground at the time. His brother, Jacob, settled in the Oak Ridge area, as did Abel’s and Jacob’s in-laws, Thomas and Mary Jones. Thomas and Mary, along with Jacob and his wife, Mary, are all buried at the Peak Cemetery in western Oak Ridge, in an area known as Gamble Valley. While Abel says in his 1832 war pension application that he lived in Anderson County for six years before it was “cut off” into Morgan County, Lydia says in her 1853 application for a widow’s pension that she lived in Anderson County for six years “then moved to the place where she now lives and lived ever since.” Based on her parents and Abel’s brother Jacob settling in Oak Ridge, it makes sense that Abel and Lydia first settled in Oak Ridge before moving to Glenmary, but that’s merely speculation.
Several unknowns
Some genealogists believe that Abel was married to a woman named Millie before his marriage to Lydia. That would make sense, since he would have been about 37 years old by the time he married Lydia in 1794. He may have fathered at least two children before he married Lydia.
It is also speculated by some family genealogists that Abel and Jacob lived side-by-side in the Gamble Valley area of Oak Ridge and are both buried there — which would mean Abel and his family never lived in Scott County. This is extremely unlikely, given various records — including the war pension applications of both Abel and Lydia, and census records — that place them in Morgan County. While Abel appears in the 1830 and 1840 censuses in Morgan County, he unfortunately does not appear in the 1850 census, which would have provided concrete evidence of his residence in Scott County.
David Burns, a genealogist who has done substantial research into the life of Abel Peak, believes that Abel and Jacob lived close together at Glenmary, and that Jacob is buried there along with Abel.
The Peak Cemetery
The Peak Cemetery is a small family cemetery located off Coal Hill Road. According to the historian Robert Bailey, in his 1994 Cemeteries of Scott County, Tennessee, there are about 26 graves at the cemetery that are marked only by field stones. Bailey identified only Luke Peak, his wife Matilda Griffith, and a Young woman as being buried there. He notes that their graves are unmarked, and were identified by Imogene Nagy.
Without an identifiable headstone, the only thing linking Abel Peak to a Scott County residency is the supposition that he’s buried in the family cemetery at Campground. However, as mentioned earlier, there are some genealogists who believe he’s buried at the Peak Cemetery in Oak Ridge. But he doesn’t have an identifiable headstone there, either. (Nor does Jacob Peak, although Snyder Roberts wrote in his book, Stories of Oliver Springs, Vol. IV, that Jacob and his wife, Mary, were buried in the cemetery at Oak Ridge. That cemetery is sometimes called the Jacob Peak Cemetery, and it seems unlikely that Jacob ever lived in Scott County or was buried in Scott County.
Final notes
So what evidence is there that Abel Peak actually lived in Scott County? Sadly, nothing that is concrete. However, it is clear that he lived in Morgan County — meaning that while he may have first settled in the Oak Ridge area with his brother and his wife’s family, he moved to Morgan County at some point and spent the rest of his life there.
A few things we do know:
Abel Peak appears in Morgan County records as early as the 1810s, and was living in Morgan County when the 1830 and 1840 censuses was taken. His war pension application was filed in Morgan County in 1832, and in it he says that he lived in Anderson County for about six years before being “cut off” into Morgan County.
Lydia Jones Peak says in her 1853 application for a widow’s pension that her husband died Feb. 4, 1852 in Morgan County. Her application was filed in Scott County, and in it she says “that she and her husband had eight children when they moved to Anderson County Tennessee and lived there six years, then moved to the place where she now lives and has lived ever since.” This indicates she was living in Scott County in 1853 and had lived there for a number of years, and is the most concrete piece of evidence linking the Peak family to their supposed home in the Glenmary area.
The Peaks’ son, Lewis, married Joseph Griffith’s granddaughter, Matilda Eliza Griffith. They’re both believed to be buried at the cemetery near Coal Hill. (In his 1994 book, Bailey identified Matilda’s husband as Luke — but Luke was the child of Lewis and Eliza.) Lewis and Eliza were living in Scott County when the 1860 census was taken. Like the rest of the Peak family, Lewis and Eliza are not found anywhere in the 1850 census.
In her 1853 application for a widow’s pension, Lydia Jones Peak stated that she had 17 children. Unfortunately, many of their names are unknown or unverifiable.
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◼️ Monday morning: The Daybreaker (news & the week ahead)
◼️ Tuesday: Echoes in Time (stories of our history)
◼️ Wednesday: Threads of Life (obituaries)
◼️ Thursday evening: The Weekender (news & the weekend)
◼️ Friday: Friday Features (beyond the news)
◼️ Sunday: Varsity (a weekly sports recap)