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Bud Mullins - North Carolina
The first information found on Bud is his
Revolutionary War Application where he states that he was in Chatham County
during the war. Documents searched were the court records of Chatham County,
and a state census for that period:
Thomas Gregory is mentioned in Bud’s pension application as his Revolutionary
War Captain. This gives lots of
credence to Bud’s recollection of his location in Chatham County during the
war. Who were William and Thomas
MULLINS? Unfortunately, Bud was
never mentioned in the court documents of Chatham County.
As for Bud being his real given name, there is no information to suggest
that Bud is not his real name. There
were other Bud MULLINS living in North Carolina, so the name was not unique. The
book “Loyalists in North Carolina"1
gives the exploits of Col. David Fanning, a British loyalist, and his actions
from the summer of 1781 to the spring of 1782.
Fanning was commissioned by a Regular British Officer to fight in Orange
and Chatham Counties. He first
attacked the Court at Pittsboro in Chatham County, where loyalists were being
tried. Capt. Thomas Gregory was
probably captured as one of 53 prisoners he took at that time. During that period around the middle of September 1781, Col.
Fanning was attacked by 400 Continentals under the command of Col. Maybin and
General Butler. Bud also mentioned
these two, in his Revolutionary War Application, Major Maburn, or Mayburn and
Colonel Butler, who now must have been promoted to General.
Were
these events with Col. David Fanning in 1781-1782 the ones Bud mentioned in his
Application? It is likely.
The war began in 1776 with our Declaration of Independence did not end
for quite some time. Every male
citizen 16 years of age or over had to submit an oath of allegiance, required by
an Act by the Provisional Governor in December 1777.
In addition, there is no record in The Orange County Marriage records book (1782-1868) of any MULLINS
marriage, and Bud,
whether married or not and 18-19 years of age, would have had to register.
To find this registration list would be very helpful, but it has not been
located by fellow researchers. In
any case, these events listed here, most likely puts Bud in Chatham County in
the 1781-1782 period. By the time
Bud left Chatham County, he would have been about 25-28 years old. When Bud left North Carolina, and whom he traveled with to Georgia is uncertain. It is known from other historical accounts that several families tended to move together for protection from the Indians, and with hopes of settling together in the newly opened territories. There were few roads, actually mainly old Indian trails, expanded to accommodate the white man’s wagons. They would have most likely followed the lower Cherokee Traders Path2 out of North Carolina, into South Carolina, through Spartanburg, crossing into Georgia and there meeting The Augusta and Cherokee Trail, which went south-east closely following the border between Georgia and South Carolina. This path coming from South Carolina into Georgia (Franklin County) roughly follows today’s Interstate 85.
Patrick Mullins I John Mullins II Thomas Mullins II Bud Mullins
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