General Griffith Rutherford

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

Rutherford, Griffith, General, a commander in the American War of Independence, was born in Ireland in the first half of the 18th century. He resided in the Locke Settlement, North Carolina, at the commencement of the Revolution, and was sent representative to the Convention at Newbern. Next year he led a force against the Cherokees, and was appointed a brigadier by the Provincial Congress. He led a brigade at the battle of Camden, in August 1780; was taken prisoner; and, having been exchanged, commanded the American troops at Wilmington when it was evacuated by the British at the close of the war. He was a State Senator in 1784, and was President of the Tennessee Legislative Council in 1794. Counties in North Carolina and Tennessee bear his name. Drake says: "He was brave and patriotic, but uncultivated in mind and manners." General Rutherford died in Tennessee after 1794.

Sources

37a. Biographical Dictionary—American Biography: Francis S. Drake. Boston, 1876.

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