Warren County Biographies

A series of biographies of various Warren County citizens from "The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans", published 1904, and supplemented with additional updated information.

*Note below: Some of the dates incorrectly refer to Counties prior to their formation. As a quick reference, Warren was formed in 1779 from Bute; Bute was formed 1764 from Granville, and was abolished in 1779 when both Warren & Franklin were formed from it; Granville was formed in 1746 from Edgecombe; Edgecombe was formed in 1741 from Bertie; Bertie was formed in 1722 from Chowan; Chowan was formed in 1670 from old Albemarle, the original NC county which was discontinued in 1689.

BRAGG, Braxton, soldier, was born in Warrenton, Warren County, N. C., March 22, 1817; brother of Thomas Bragg, statesman. He was graduated at West Point in 1837 and took a conspicuous part in both the Seminole and Mexican wars as Lieutenant of artillery. His gallantry and bravery won him steady promotion. He attained the rank of captain by brevet for the defense of Fort Brown, that of major of artillery for bravery at Monterey, and in 1847 that of Lieutenant-colone1 for gallantry at the battle of Buena Vista. In January, 1856, he resigned his commission and retired to his plantation in Louisiana. Upon the breaking out of the civil war he reported for service in the Confederate army; was appointed brigadier-general and placed in command of the forces at Pensacola, Fla. In return for brilliant services in the Pensacola campaign he was raised in February, 1862, to the rank of major-general, was engaged in the battle of Shiloh, and, on the death of Gen. Albert Sydney Johnston, he was promoted general, and succeeded General Beauregard as commander of the department of the Mississippi. In August, 1862, he left Chattanooga, passed through east Tennessee and entered Kentucky at the head of forty-five thousand men, expecting to capture Louisville. General Buell reached Louisville in advance, and compelled him to retire after having fought the battle of Perryville. This was the beginning of a series of reverses that befell his command. He was placed under arrest for a short time, but was restored and given command of the army, opposing General Rosecrans. He was defeated at Murfreesboro, Jan. 2, 1863, losing nine thousand men killed and wounded. On Sept. 19-20, 1863, he again encountered Rosecrans at Chickamauga, and, though he won the victory, he lost fifteen thousand men in the two days of the battle. In November of the same year he met with disastrous defeat in the battle of Chattanooga, [p.387] and was deprived of his command for the loss of Mission Ridge. At the invitation of President Davis he then repaired to Richmond, to act as military adviser to the president. In 1864 he led a small force from North Carolina to Georgia, in an unsuccessful attempt to intercept General Sherman. After peace had been established, he accepted the position of chief engineer for the state of Alabama, and had entire charge of the improvements in Mobile harbor. He died in Galveston, Texas, Sept. 27, 1876.
 

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BRAGG, Thomas, senator, was born in Warrenton, N.C., Nov. 9, 1810; son of Thomas and Margaret (Crossland) Bragg and brother of Braxton Bragg. After a classical course he took a course at the military academy at Middletown, Conn. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1831, and, settling in Jackson, N.C., began practice. He served for one term in the popular branch of the state legislature in 1842-'43, was elected governor of the state in 1854 and re-elected upon the expiration of his term. In 1859 he was elected as U.S. senator from North Carolina, and in July, 1861, he was expelled from the senate, having meanwhile accepted the position of attorney-general in the cabinet of Jefferson Davis. In 1863 he resigned from the cabinet and returned to his home and the practice of his profession. He took some interest in local politics after the establishment of peace, and in 1870 took an active part in the impeachment of Governor Holden. He died at Raleigh, N. C., Jan. 21, 1872.

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GREEN, Thomas Jefferson, soldier, was born in Warren County, N.C., Feb. 14, 1802; son of Solomon and Fanny (Hawkins) Green. He attended Chapel Hill college and the U.S. military Academy. In 1822 he was elected to the general assembly of North Carolina and shortly after was married to Sarah A., daughter of the Hon. Jesse Wharton of Nashville, Tenn. He then removed to a plantation in Florida, where he remained till the death of his wife in 1832, having in the meantime represented his county in the Florida legislature. In 1836 he went to Texas, where he was commissioned brigadier-general and sent back to the United States to raise a brigade, which he did at the expense of his entire fortune. Returning with his brigade, he arrived at Velasco after the battle of San Jacinto and on the day that Santa Anna was released and placed on a war vessel to be carried to Vera Cruz, General Green, believing the release of Santa Anna to be a mistake, protested, and trader the authority of President Burnet, reimpressioned the Mexican. This action was sustained by the government and Santa Anna was consigned to the care of General Green, who treated him as a guest. Subsequently when their positions were reversed General Green was heavily ironed and ordered to work on the roads, which last he refused to do though threatened with death. Santa Anna, after his release, again began his incursions of Texas, and in 1843 General Sommerville, with a command of about seven hundred Texans, crossed into Mexico; then under implied executive authority, started homeward before striking a blow. General Green and others refused to return, recrossed the Rio Grande and attacked the town of Mier. After a nineteen hours' fight in which the enemy lost twice the entire force of their assailants, the battle went against the Texans and 261 men and officers were captured and imprisoned in the dungeons of Perote near the city of Mexico. After six months' labor in digging through an eight-foot wall of volcanic rock, General Green with fifteen others escaped on July 2, 1843, and he with seven others returned to Texas. Subsequently he was a representative in the Texas congress, where he used every effort to secure the release of the men whom he had left in the Mexican dungeons. He also introduced the bill which made the Rio Grande the boundary line between Texas and Mexico, the Nueces having been previously recognized as the line. President Polk based his claims and right to send troops to the mouth of the river in dispute upon this bill, and the Mexican war and the acquisition of Texas, New Mexico and California was the consequence. General Green also demonstrated the feasibility and absolute necessity of a railroad across this territory to the Pacific as a war measure in a memorial to Congress in 1850, and he afterward took an original part in the projection and building of the Southern Pacific railroad. During the pending of negotiations for the annexation of Texas to the United States he was tendered by President Polk the post of confidential agent of the United States, but declined on the ground that he was then a citizen of the other contracting power, In 1845 he returned to the United [p.396] States and was married to the widow of John S. Ellery of Boston, Mass. Later he went to Texas and in 1849 journeyed through Mexico to California. After working there in the mines he was elected a member of the first state senate, served one term, and was a candidate for the U.S. senate the ensuing year. As major-general of the California militia he subdued and effected a treaty with hostile Indian tribes. During his citizenship in Texas he assisted in purchasing the land and laying out the town of Velasco. While in California he projected and laid out the towns of Ore and Vallejo and introduced into the legislature the bill for the establishment of the state university. In his declining years he returned to Warren county N.C., and settled on "Esmeralda" plantation on Shocco Creek, cultivating corn and tobacco. He is the author of The Texan Expedition Against Mier (1845). He died at "Esmeralda" plantation, Warren county, N.C., Dec. 12, 1863.
 

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GREEN, Wharton Jackson, representative, was born in St. Mark's, Fla., Feb. 28, 1831; son of Gen. Thomas Jefferson and Sarah A. (Wharton) Green; grandson of Solomon and Fanny (Hawkins) Green, and of Jesse Wharton, and a descendant of William Green, of Philemon Hawkins, who settled in *Bute County, N.C., in 1717, and of Abigail Sugan, better known as "Grandmother Cook." Wharton attended Georgetown college, D.C.; the U.S. military academy; the University of Virginia, and Cumberland university, Tenn. He read law in the last two institutions and was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the United States, being associated with the law firm of Robert J. Walker and Louis Janin. Failing health for the time necessitated the giving up of that profession for one requiring more active out-door exercise. In 1858 he was married to Esther Sargent, only child of John S. Ellery of Boston, Mass., by whom there were four children [p.397] born, namely: Sarah Wharton, wife of Pembroke Jones of New York; John Ellery; Adeline C., and Mabel Ellery, wife of George B. Elliott of Richmond, Va. After the decease of his first wife, Mr. Green was married to Adeline Burr, widow of Judge David Davis of Illinois (1815-1886). He spent the year 1858 in Europe, and in 1859 became a planter in Warren county, N.C. In 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate service and was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, commanding shortly after. He was wounded at Washington, N.C., in 1862; was taken prisoner at Roanoke Island, Feb. 8, 1862; was again wounded at Gettysburg and taken prisoner on the train carrying wounded soldiers from the field of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, and was confined on Johnson's Island, Lake Erie. After the close of hostilities he settled in Fayetteville, N.C., and interested himself in viticulture. He was a delegate to the Democratic national conventions of 1868, 1872, 1876 and 1888, and was a representative from North Carolina in the 48th and 49th congresses, 1883-87. He introduced the first resolution to prevent food adulteration and supported the resolution as submitted by the select committee on the public health in an able speech delivered in the house of representatives, April 21, 1884. He was also active in framing and supporting the anti-oleomargarine bill and supporting the bill providing for the national library building At the close of his second term in congress he retired from public life and devoted himself to the cultivation of his extensive vineyards and to literary pursuits.

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HAWKINS, Benjamin, senator, was born in *Bute (Warren) County, N.C., Aug. 15, 1754; son of Col. Philemon and Delia Hawkins. His father was a Revolutionary soldier, a signer of the state constitution, and a member of the convention that ratified the Federal constitution. Benjamin was educated at the College of New Jersey, where he had obtained a thorough knowledge of the French language, When the college doors closed he was in his senior year and was invited by General Washington to join his staff where he served as interpreter between the American and French general officers. He took an active part in all the battles in which Washington commanded, including the battle of Monmouth (1779), and at the close of the war was one of the founders of the Society of the Cincinnati in 1783. He represented his district in the North Carolina legislature for several terms; was commercial agent for his state, 1780; a delegate to the Continental congress, 1781-84 and 1786-87; a U.S. senator in the 1st, 2d and 3d congresses, 1789-95; and was appointed by President Washington agent of the three great Indian tribes and other Indians south of the Ohio river. He established his headquarters at Fort Hawkins, Creek Nation (afterward Hawkinsville, Ga.), December, 1796, and held the office under the successive administrations, to each of which he tendered his resignation, which was not accepted. He kept the Indians at peace up to the time of his death. He was married to Lavina Downs of Georgia, and left a property valued at $160,000. He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, 1789-98. He died at Fort Hawkins, Ga., June 6, 1816.

Read "Letters of Benjamin Hawkins"

See also: Philemon Hawkins Family Bible for additional family details

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HAWKINS, Micajah Thomas, representative, was born in Warren County, N.C., in 1790; son of Col. John Hawkins; grandson of Col. Philemon and Delia Hawkins, and a descendant of the Hawkins family who emigrated from England, settled in Gloucester county, Va., and removed to *Bute (Warren) County, N.C., in 1737. His grandfather was chief aide to Governor Tryon in the battle of Alamance and fought against the Regulators the same year. Micajah was a student at the University of North Carolina, matriculating in 1803; was admitted to the bar in 1811; a member of the state house of commons, 1819-23, and of the upper house, 1823-28. He represented his district in the 22d-26th congresses, 1831-41; and was again a state representative in 1846. He was a major-general of the state militia. He died in Warrenton, N.C., Dec. 22, 1858 and is buried in the family burying ground near there.

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HAWKINS, William, governor of North Carolina, was born in *Warren County, N.C., in 1770; son of Col. John Hawkins; and grandson of Col. Philemon Hawkins, who was born in Gloucester county, Va., Sept. 28, 1717, settled in *Bute (afterward Warren) county, N.C., was an aide to General Tryon in the battle of Alamance, and with 1000 men vanquished 2000 "Regulators," and the same year served as colonel in the American army in the Revolutionary war and was a member of the convention that ratified the Federal constitution and of the convention that framed a state constitution. William was educated in the log schoolhouse of the time. He was elected a member of the house of commons of the state in 1804, was speaker, 1805, governor of the state, 1811-14, and an active supporter of the war of 1812, himself taking the field in the defense of Beaufort and Newbern. He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, 1803-19. He died at Sparta, GA., May 17, 1819, where he is also buried.

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MACON, Nathaniel, statesman, was born in *Warren County, N.C., Dec. 17, 1757. He matriculated at the College of New Jersey but in 1777 when the doors of that institution closed he volunteered as a private in the Continental army. He was assigned to the company commanded by his brother John Mason and took part in the actions resulting in the surrender of Fort Moultrie, the rout at Camden, the surrender of Charleston, May 12, 1780, and in the retreat of Generals Morgan and Greene through North Carolina to Virginia in February, 1781. He was elected to the North Carolina senate in 1781 and although he had first declined to leave the army he was prevailed upon by General Greene to accept civil office. During his term as state senator, which expired in 1785, he removed to a plantation on the Roanoke river. He opposed the adoption of the Federal constitution as conferring too much power on the new government. He was a representative in the 2d-13th congresses, 1791-1815, serving as speaker of the house in the 7th, 8th and 9th congresses, 1801-07. He was elected U.S. senator in place of David Stone, resigned, 1814, and of Francis Locke who did not take his seat, 1815, and served by re-election 1815-28, resigning in 1828 when he was succeeded by James Iredell. He twice declined the position of postmaster-general from President Jefferson; was president pro tempore of the senate in the 19th and 20th congresses, 1825-28; and received 24 electoral votes for Vice-President in 1825. He was a member and president of the constitutional convention of North Carolina in 1835 and presidential elector on the Van Buren and Johnson ticket in 1837. He was opposed to all schemes of internal improvement; opposed a grant of land to Count De Grasse and to General Lafayette; and to a ballot being given to free negroes. He died in Warren county, N.C., June 29, 1837 at "Buck Spring" near Macon, where he is also buried.

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RANSOM, Matt Whitaker, senator, was born in Warren County, N.C., Oct. 8, 1826; son of Robert and Priscilla (Whitaker) Ransom; grandson of Seymour and Birchett (Green) Ransom, and of Matthew Carey and Betsy Anne (Coffield) Whitaker, and a grand-nephew of Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina. He was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1847, studied law and was admitted to the bar. He settled in practice in Warrenton, N.C.; was a Whig presidential elector in 1852, and attorney-general of North Carolina, 1852-55. He was married, Jan. 19, 1853, to Pattie, daughter of Joseph and Lavinia (Roberts) Exum of Northampton county, N.C. He was a Democratic member of the general assembly of the state, 1858-60, and a peace commissioner from North Carolina to the Provisional Congress of the Southern States at Montgomery, Ala., in 1861. He opposed the war, but supported the withdrawal of his state, and entered the Confederate service as a private, rising to the rank of major-general at Richmond in 1865. He commanded the 35th N.C. regiment in Ransom's brigade, Holmes's division in Magruder's command in the seven days' battles before Richmond, being wounded at Malvern Hill, and Lieutenant-Colonel Petway, who succeeded to the command of the regiment, being killed. He commanded a brigade made up of the 24th, 25th, 35th and 49th regiments and Capt. James R. Branch's Virginia battery in Walker's division of Longstreet's corps, in the Maryland campaign, serving under Jackson at Harper's Ferry and under Longstreet at Antietam. He was transferred with his brigade to North Carolina, where he commanded the assaulting column that captured Plymouth, April 20, 1864, and was hurried to the defense of Petersburg, reaching there just in time to assist in the defense of the city, and being desperately wounded at Drewry's Bluff, May 14, 1864. In the Appomattox campaign he commanded a brigade made up of the 24th, 25th, 35th, 49th and 56th North Carolina regiments in Bushrod R. Johnson's division, R. H. Anderson's corps, and in the final assault on Battery IX between Fort Stedman and Fort McGilvery in Gordan's attack at Fort Stedman, March 25, 1865, he commanded a division composed of his own and Wallace's South Carolina brigade, also commanding the same division at Five Forks, April 1, 1865. After the surrender, he took up his profession in Weldon in 1866. He was a Democratic U.S. senator from North Carolina, 1871-95; being chairman of the select committee on the river front of Washington, in the 47th and 48th congresses; of the committee on private land claims in the 49th, 50th, 51st and 52d congresses, and of the committee on commerce in the 53d congress. He was U.S. minister to Mexico, 1895-97, and in 1895 retired to private life. He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, 1858-65, and received the degree LL.D. from there in 1881. He died near Garysburg, Northampton County, N.C., on October 8, 1904; and was interred in the private burying ground on his estate, “Verona,” near Weldon, Northampton County, N.C.

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RANSOM, Robert, soldier, was born in Warren County, N.C., Feb. 12, 1828; son of Robert and Priscilla (Whitaker) Ransom, and brother of Matt W. Ransom (q.v.). He was graduated at the U.S. Military academy, and assigned to the 1st dragoons, July 1, 1850; was at the cavalry school, Carlisle, Pa., 1850-51, and was promoted 2d lieutenant, Oct. 9, 1851, while on frontier service in New Mexico, 1851-54. He was married in 1854 to Minnie Huntt of Washington, D.C., adopted daughter of General Gibson, of the regular army. He was assistant instructor of cavalry tactics at West Point, 1854-55; was promoted 1st lieutenant and transferred to the 1st U.S. cavalry, March 3, 1855, and served as adjutant of the regiment at Leavenworth, Kan., 1855-57, being engaged in the Sioux expedition and in quelling the Kansas disturbances. He was on recruiting service, 1857-58; on frontier duty in Arkansas, Kansas and Colorado, 1859-61; was promoted captain, Jan. 31, 1861, and resigned [p.30] May 24, 1861, to join the Confederate States army as captain of cavalry. He was promoted colonel of the 1st North Carolina cavalry (9th N.C. troops) the same year; brigadier-general, March 6, 1862, and major-general, May 26, 1863. He defended his native state against the Federal army under Burnside early in 1862; was transferred to the defense of Richmond, and in the seven days' battles ending July 1, 1862, commanded a brigade in Holmes's division, Magruder's command. When Lee's army made the first movement into Maryland, his brigade in the division of Gen. John G. Walker was ordered to co-operate with Gen. T. J. Jackson in the capture of Harper's Ferry. He commanded a division in Longstreet's corps at Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13, 1862, and held the line on Marye's Heights and the rock wall below it, his division being actively engaged in the defense throughout the entire battle. He commanded the troops with Gen. D. H. Hill, left to defend Richmond during Lee's Pennsylvania campaign in 1863; commanded the department of Southwest Virginia in November, 1863; took part in the defense of Drewry's Bluff, May 16, 1864,where his infantry, cavalry and artillery made the successful assault on Butler's right, on the 16th, President Davis, in his "Rise and Fall of the Confederacy," crediting him with having saved Petersburg and Richmond. The war department then ordered his division to the defense of Richmond on May 17, and in June, 1864, in the command of the cavalry he was with Early and Breckinridge in the expedition to capture Washington, D.C. He was subsequently given command of the department including South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. He was express agent and city marshal of Wilmington, N.C., 1866-67; a salesman of railroad supplies through the southern states, 1868-74; a farmer in Virginia, 1874-78, and a civil engineer employed by the U.S. government in various river and harbor improvements in North and South Carolina, 1878-92. He is the author of: Ransom's Division at Fredericksburg, in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War" (Vol. III.). He died in Newberne, N.C., Jan. 14, 1892.

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SUMNER, Jethro, soldier, was born in Virginia in 1733; son of Jethro and grandson of William Sumner, who emigrated from England about 1675 and settled in Suffolk, Va. Jethro Sumner became a lieutenant in Col. William Byrd's Virginia regiment in 1758; was with Washington at Braddock's defeat, and later at the capture of Fort Duquesne; was promoted captain, and in 1761 mustered out and presented with 2000 acres of land in recognition of his services. He removed to Bute County, N.C., sometime prior to 1769, and was made sheriff in 1772. In 1775 he was commissioned major of the minute-men, and in April, 1776, was made colonel of the 3d North Carolina regiment. He fought at the defense of Charleston in July, 1776, moved north to join Washington, and fought at Germantown, Oct. 4, 1777. He wintered at Valley Forge, and in the spring joined the southern army; was promoted brigadier-general, Jan. 9, 1779, and commanded the North Carolina brigade under General Lincoln at the battle of Stone Ferry, June 20, 1779. He was taken ill at this time, and went to North Carolina, where he succeeded in recruiting new troops. He fought at Camden in 1780; at Eutaw Springs in 1781, and with General Davidson conducted the retreat across the Yadkin river and suppressed the raids of the Tories in North Carolina. He was the first president of the North Carolina division, Society of the Cincinnati. His wife, Mary Hurst, was related to several prominent families in North Carolina and Virginia and they used her considerably wealth to establish themselves in Bute County where they bought and ran a substantial farm and a tavern. Sumner died at his manor house in Warren County, N.C., March 17, 1785. He was originally buried in Warren County, but his remains were removed in 1891 to the Guilford Courthouse where a monument was built over his resting place and it became a part of the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro. In March 2012, the monument was accidentally destroyed when a driver crashed into it while trying to avoid hitting a deer. The Park Service is trying to determine whether to restore or replace the monument.

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TURNER, James, senator, was born in Southampton County, Va., Dec. 20, 1766. He removed with his family to northern North Carolina in 1770; joined the Patriot army in 1775, and served throughout the Revolutionary war in a company of North Carolina volunteers under Col. John Macon. He was a representative from Warren County in the state legislature, 1797-1800; state senator, 1801-02; governor of North Carolina, 1802-05, and was elected to the U.S. senate as a Democrat in 1805 and 1811, serving Dec. 16, 1816, when he resigned on account of failing health and was succeeded by Montfort Stokes. He was married 3 times: 1st to Marian Anderson, in 1793; 2nd to Ann Cochran, in 1802; and 3rd to Elizabeth Johnston, in 1810. His daughter married George E. Badger (q.v.). Senator Turner died on his plantation "Bloomsbury" near Warrenton, N.C., Jan. 15, 1824. He is buried at the Bloomsbury Cemetery in Warrenton, Warren County, N.C.

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