Civic and Military Leader
In 1775, Campbell was one of the thirteen signers of the Fincastle Resolutions,the earliest statement of armed resistance to the British Crown in the American Colonies. Campbell represented Hanover County, Virginia in the Virginia House of Delegates twice: in 1780, and again in 1781 (the year that he died).
He was a militia leader of the American Revolutionary War, known as the "bloody tyrant of Washington County" for his harsh treatment of Loyalists. He became a colonel in 1780, and was noted for leading his militia to victory at the Battle of Kings Mountain, where he charged the enemy while telling his men to "shout like hell and fight like devils!" Afterward, he worked in conjunction with Continental Army troops to oppose the British invasion of Virginia, providing support at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. The Virginia Assembly commissioned him a brigadier general in 1781, however, he died soon after.
Read more about this topic: William Campbell (general)
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