Memoirs of Major Joseph McJunkin

Table of Contents

Memoirs of Major Joseph McJunkin - Revolutionary Patriot

By Reverend James Hodge Saye

Major Joseph McJunkin (1755-1846) was one of the better known South Carolina Backcountry Whig heroes of the Revolutionary War. However, the so-called Memoirs of Major Joseph McJunkin were actually prepared by the Reverend James Hodge Saye (1808-1892), a Presbyterian minister and amateur historian. Reverend Saye used, as his major source of information, a hand-written manuscript that Major McJunkin had prepared in about the year 1837. Saye also used many other sources, including magazine articles, interviews with other Revolutionary War veterans, letters, etc. Reverend Saye's compilation was first published as a series of articles in a Presbyterian newspaper, the Richmond, Virginia Watchman and Observer, from November 1847 to October 1848. My estimate is that only about one-half of the published Memoirs is strictly from McJunkin's manuscript.

Reverend Saye was the husband of Rebecca McJunkin (1818-1904), a granddaughter of Major Joseph McJunkin. This was a major factor in his gaining access to Major McJunkin's manuscript.

The McJunkin/Saye Memoirs have been used as an authoritative source by historians since they were first published in the Richmond newspaper. In addition to the published Memoirs, Reverend Saye provided copies of a great many of his interviews and letters to Lyman C. Draper. Indeed, Draper, in his well-known book entitled King's Mountain and Its Heroes, frequently cites the Memoirs.

This digitized version of the Memoirs incorporates some corrections and changes to the text as compared to the version published in the Virginia newspaper.

A few spelling corrections have been made. For example: Reverend Saye used the name "Fletcher" for the noted Tory who lived near on Fairforest Creek in Union County SC. The correct spelling of this man's name is “Fletchall.” which is the spelling utilized throughout this digitized text. The location where the McJunkin family first settled in South Carolina is stated to have been "Timber Creek." This is wrong. The creek name has been changed to reflect the correct appellation - "Tinker's Creek." Another correction worth noting is that "Sumter" is used instead of "Sumpter" for the name of the famous Whig partisan, General Thomas Sumter.

Most section heading titles, as published in the VA newspaper, have been reworded and several sections consolidated to facilitate reader access to the narrative contained therein. The various parts of the McJunkin Memoirs are accessible from the following 40 hyperlinks:

1. Introduction by Reverend Saye

2. Major Joseph McJunkin

3. Presbyterian Emigrants

4. Early Training

5. Colonel Thomas Fletchall

6. Joseph Robinson Aids Fletchall

7. Robert Cunningham, Loyalist

8. The Snow Campaign

9. The Cherokee War

10. Promotions of Joseph McJunkin and Thomas Brandon

11. Colonel John Thomas and His Family

12. Fall of Charles Town and Its Aftermath